Latest News #275 – Zimbabwe
March 18, 2004

Equipping visually impaired Zimbabweans for the fight against HIV/AIDS

A student from the Copota School for the Blind reads a Braille copy of the HIV/AIDS Scripture Portion, Living in Hope, during its launch on March 11, 2004. The National Director of TransWorld Radio, which partnered the Bible Society of Zimbabwe (BSZ) in recording the audio version, looks on. Harare, Zimbabwe. Photo: BSZ (ZIM04DJ-7.JPG)

Based on a report by Edward Mutema, General Secretary of the Bible Society of Zimbabwe

HARARE, Zimbabwe — "The visually impaired have been left out of the fight against HIV/AIDS." This statement by Mrs S Nyevedzai, a representative of the Copota School for the Blind in Masvingo, highlights the enormous danger facing the country's visually impaired community who do not have access to appropriate information about a disease that is killing more than 200,000 Zimbabweans each year.

While there are a number of government and NGO-run HIV/AIDS education initiatives, they often do not cater for the special needs of people with disabilities. That is why the Bible Society of Zimbabwe launched the HIV/AIDS Scripture Portion, Living in Hope, in Braille and on audio cassette on March 11.

The Braille version was produced in Shona in collaboration with Torch Trust, and recorded onto audio cassette in Shona and Ndebele (the two main indigenous languages spoken in Zimbabwe) with Trans World Radio and FEBA Radio – partnerships that have greatly encouraged the Bible Society. Funding for the production was provided by United Bible Societies.

Churches and other Christian organisations have been very supportive of the project and joined in the launch celebration. The Chairman of the Heads of Christian Denominations in Zimbabwe, the Rev Murombedzi Kuchera, thanked the Society for its initiative and assured it of the Church's commitment to help distribute the materials in the most effective way.

The Rev Mugaya, a visually impaired church leader, expressed his delight at the new resources: "I am happy that we, the visually challenged, have now been brought to the forefront of the fight against HIV/AIDS. I have read through the Bible Society's Braille version and am so pleased that it focuses on the need for everybody to prepare themselves for the reality of death, whether caused by AIDS or not, and provides practical and spiritual information for those who are already infected and for those who are affected by the disease."

In a country with the world's second-highest infection rate, and where more than one in four adults are HIV-positive, it is unlikely that there are many Zimbabweans who have not been affected in some way by the disease. It is not openly discussed, however, even among family members, and people with disabilities are sometimes disregarded in any discussions that do take place.

In fact, many blind women are encouraged by their families to fall pregnant, whether they are married or not, so that they will have children to take care of them when they grow old - advice that often has tragic consequences. Even more appallingly, blind women are thought of as soft targets by rapists because they are unable to identify their attackers.

The Rev Magaya, who is visually impaired, receives copies of the Braille and audio versions of the HIV/AIDS Scripture Portion, Living in Hope, during their launch on March 11, 2004. Harare, Zimbabwe. Photo: BSZ (ZIM04DJ-8.JPG)

For many, school is the only place where young Zimbabweans may learn about HIV/AIDS. But even in this context, sexual health is an uneasy topic for both teachers and students, as evidenced by a recent study amongst teenage students at the Copota School for the Blind in Masvingo – a small town in southeastern Zimbabwe. Most of them had a very inaccurate understanding of how HIV/AIDS is spread and felt unable to talk about it to teachers and other adults, including family members.

That is why students from Copota were delighted to travel 290 kms (181 miles) to Harare to celebrate the launch of the new formats of the Scripture Portion. They smiled with joy when they received their own Braille copies in Shona, from which they proudly read out loud as part of the dedication ceremony.

Mrs Nyevedzai expressed the school's gratitude for the new resources:

"What the Bible Society has produced will enable us to have access to information from the Scriptures to help us deal with this terrible disease," she said.

The collapsing economy in Zimbabwe, however, presents the Bible Society with many obstacles in getting the Scriptures into the hands of people who need them.

"The challenge we face is that the demand for the Braille and audio versions of Living in Hope far outstrips the number of copies that we are able to supply," explains Edward Mutema, the Society's General Secretary. "We need help in taking up this challenge and ensuring that our people have access to this very relevant information from the Scriptures that will help them meet this HIV/AIDS scourge head-on."

The Bible Society is in the process of developing a major new initiative, Spiritual Hope, through which it hopes to make Scriptures accessible to all Zimbabweans. (736 words - ZIMBABWE.18.03.04)