Pope Benedict XVI's recent comments on condoms and the fight against AIDS has provoked a lot of furor. While embarking on his first visit as a pope to Africa, he proclaimed that condom use was "absolutely and unequivocally wrong" and that it will do more harm than good in Africa, especially in the light of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. He called for abstinence.
Such religious rhetoric should be expected from the pope, considering that he was visiting Cameroon and Angola, two countries in Africa that boast of large populations of Catholics. He must attempt to minister to his congregation by taking controversial but religious stands.
Are the comments he made in tune with the reality on the ground, from Yaounde through Luanda, Soweto, Kampala, Kumasi, Arusha, Port Novo, Port Harcourt, Gaborone to Ouagadougou?.
According to the AFP, Guyana's Health Minister, Leslie Ramsammy, stated that the pope was "wrong." At a news conference in GeorgeTown, the minister who is also the president of the World Health Assembly, said that, "the statement by the pope is inconsistent with science, it's inconsistent with our experiences and it is not in sync with what Catholics have experienced and believed." Many more have disagreed with the pope from Seoul to Seattle, in news prints, radio, television and even on Youtube, some claiming that he is ignorant about HIV and AIDS.
Africans themselves have mixed feelings about the subject. Many were excited to see the pope in Africa but his comments may not change minds. In Africa, you have both secular and traditional religionists. Most Africans traditionally are polygamous. African Muslims as with Muslims generally, are free to marry more than one wife. Christians, on the hand are monogamous but a large percentage of them are promiscuous. Some married Christians are so adulterous it borders on insanity and utter disrespect for their spouses. Men blatantly cheat on their wives and the wives are no less adulterous as they are fornicators. It's a cyclical groove of degradation and shamelessness in the name of sex.
Saying "No" to sex is simply a taboo. Using condoms on the other hand is a major problem. Some men feel it is utterly unnatural to put a "jimmy-hat" on before intercourse. It spoils the mood besides it is too Western, artificial, highly unnatural. It will never feel the same as being bare boned. African manhood have no need for prophylactics. It desensitizes the "bura n'tashi", so to speak.
Abstinence? That's a bigger problem. All the world is an island full of those who willfully practice abstinence juxtaposed with oceans and oceans of those who can not control their libido. To these many, abstaining from sex is like being on lockdown, all by yourself in a cell atop Mount Kilmanjaro.
The pope's comments may be befitting to adolescents and teenagers who are not sexually active and who are not readily amenable to peer pressure. In almost all the religions in Africa both institutionalized and traditional, the clarion call is for abstinence before marriage. In most traditions, especially in rural Africa, a woman who has lost her virginity before marriage is often considered loose and not whole, therefore not fit for marriage. Not so for the man. Patriarchal, eh? You bet! Don't know if that mentality will ever change. Another major problem.
For those who have not had sex, if they can abstain from it before marriage, they stand a better chance of not contracting HIV/AIDS or other venereal diseases. For those who are sexually active and are not HIV positive, condoms are a must unless of course they are devoted to their partners or spouses and are very sure they are not cheating on each other. For those who are already with the disease, abstinence and condoms should inevitably be part of their lives.
A lot of health organizations, both international and local have invested time and resources in trying to combat the AIDS epidemic and to throw all their ship loads of condoms away in the name of abstinence will be highly irresponsible. We are dealing with human beings with their frailties and foibles, and not monks, angels or saints. Above all, we have a deadly epidemic in our hands. We have got to do the right thing. The multi-national pharmaceuticals whose sole interest is to make money off the needy and downthroden need to rethink their strategies in dealing with this crisis because when the rain falls it does not fall on one man's house a alone.
The call for abstinence by the pope is religiously inclined yet positive in some ways but abstinence in the face of a growing epidemic should not be the only call. Health education is important. Whatever the propositions are on eradicating the AIDS epidemic, educating the masses on health concerns and demystifying the myths surrounding the disease is imperative. Using prophylactics is something African men need to accept. "Na condition make crayfish bend. Abi no be so."
Akpor Otebele
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