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Men Talking to Men –

In Africa generally, and especially in rural South Africa, all attempts to contain the spread of HIV and AIDS, meaning the increase in new infections, have fallen far short of expectations. The dissemination of the disease is rampant.

UVHAA believe that one of the most effective approaches to dealing with the spread of HIV/AIDS is to encourage behavioural and cultural change in men, thereby reducing promiscuity and multiple partner habits which are significant causes of the spread of the disease, especially when coupled with a bias against using condoms.

We are proponents of a method of educating the male population through the process of ‘Men Talking to Men'  meetings where a trained male speaker organises a public meeting with other males in our communities, arranged in association with the Tribal Authorities and municipal authorities. We have begun to instigate these talks, with funding from a local corporate sponsor, Sappi Saiccor Cellulose Manufacturers. After an initial pilot meeting at Dududu a training programme has been set up.

10 Men are presently being trained by an experienced peer educator and gender specialist from the Aids Foundation of South Africa. Training workshops cover specifically the gender aspect. These workshops form an integral part of our training process and those attendees ultimately selected as suitable candidates will take the message throughout our district. We estimate that there is a demand for at least 12 such speakers. Two talks have been completed thus far, and the response has been very positive.

We hope this will be a life changing experience for the teachers and the recipients. The task for the teachers is challenging and takes courage to perform due to the complex social issues being discussed, and ideally changed over time. We have found a real desire to take on this task from those men who have come forward in order to attend our teacher training workshops.

Difficult aspects of male dominance, respect for all individuals and especially women are covered in detail and elicit intense response and many questions. A positive emphasis on the role men can play in thier communities and society as a whole, is presented.

A Kenyan group MMAAK have worked in this field since 2001 and have produced an excellent manual – “Men can make a difference” which is a detailed tutorial guide for peer educators covering all aspects including gender. UVHAA believe that insufficient work is done in South Africa under these specific gender lines.

Unless we can get men and women speaking together on an equal basis, and alter cultural habits which lead to the rapid spread of the HIV virus, efforts to curb this epidemic will be severely handicapped.

We urgently require further funding in order to be able to expand this long term educational project . We estimate that 20 small group Men Talking to Men meetings should be held each month in order to communicate these important issues effectively and form small support groups in far flung rural communities.

Please use the website to donate online if you would like to support this project.