September 17, 2003 - Peace Corps Press Release: New Volunteers Arrive in Swaziland with HIV/AIDS Focus

Peace Corps Online: Peace Corps News: Headlines: Peace Corps Headlines - 2003: September 2003 Peace Corps Headlines: September 17, 2003 - Peace Corps Press Release: New Volunteers Arrive in Swaziland with HIV/AIDS Focus

By Admin1 (admin) on Friday, September 19, 2003 - 2:48 pm: Edit Post

New Volunteers Arrive in Swaziland with HIV/AIDS Focus





Read and comment on this Peace Corps Press Release that thirty-five new Peace Corps volunteers arrived today in the southern African nation of Swaziland to begin work in the area of HIV/AIDS education and awareness. Currently, the greatest problem confronting the people of Swaziland is the HIV/AIDS pandemic. In 2002, the HIV/AIDS infection rate of adults (ages 15 to 49) was 33.4 percent, and approximately 35,000 children have been orphaned as a result of AIDS. Read the story at:

New Volunteers Arrive in Swaziland with HIV/AIDS Focus*

* This link was active on the date it was posted. PCOL is not responsible for broken links which may have changed.



New Volunteers Arrive in Swaziland with HIV/AIDS Focus

WASHINGTON, D.C., September 17, 2003 – Thirty-five new Peace Corps volunteers arrived today in the southern African nation of Swaziland to begin work in the area of HIV/AIDS education and awareness. Last week in a meeting with Peace Corps Director Gaddi H. Vasquez, His Majesty King Mswati III praised Peace Corps for their previous 20 years of service and is please that Peace Corps volunteers will be returning to Swaziland to focus on HIV/AIDS education awareness and prevention.

Currently, the greatest problem confronting the people of Swaziland is the HIV/AIDS pandemic. In 2002, the HIV/AIDS infection rate of adults (ages 15 to 49) was 33.4 percent, and approximately 35,000 children have been orphaned as a result of AIDS. To assist the people of Swaziland in combating the pandemic, Peace Corps volunteers’ assignments will include: training teachers and community members in life skills aimed at HIV/AIDS prevention; initiating and promoting programs in HIV/AIDS awareness; identifying partnerships and resources alliances to fight the epidemic; strengthening existing HIV/AIDS intervention strategies and activities; mobilizing communities to respond to the effects of HIV/AIDS; and working with in-school and out-of-school youth and with orphans.

From 1968 to 1996, 1,185 volunteers have served in Swaziland, chiefly working in the areas of education, community development, and agriculture. Peace Corps arrived in Swaziland within a year of its independence from Great Britain, and the original program’s objectives were to respond to Swaziland’s need for educated and trained human resources by raising general education and technical skill levels.

Since 1961, more than 170,000 volunteers have served in the Peace Corps, working in such diverse fields as education, health, HIV/AIDS education and awareness, information technology, business development, the environment, and agriculture. Peace Corps volunteers must be U.S. citizens and at least 18 years of age. Peace Corps service is a two-year commitment.



September 12, 2003 - More about Women's Rights and AIDS in Swaziland



Young Swazi maidens who were performing in the country's annual reed dance react after a hail storm halted the last day of the ceremony at Ludzidzini, Swaziland, Friday Sept. 5, 2003. The annual reed dance brings unmarried girls from all over Swaziland to pay homage to the Swazi Queen Mother, Ntombi Thwala. In recent years Swazi King, Mswati III, has also used the occasion to select a new wife. Women's rights activists have slammed Mswati's marriage habits as feudalistic and health care workers have raised concerns they send the wrong message about AIDS.

Read more in this story from the Voice of America about King Mswati III of Swaziland and issues regarding women's rights and HIV/AIDS education in his country at:

Swaziland's Reed Dance at Odds with Democratization Process, Women's Rights

Swaziland's Reed Dance at Odds with Democratization Process, Women's Rights

Challiss McDonough

Ludzidzini, Swaziland

12 Sep 2003, 21:54 UTC

Last week in Swaziland, young women paraded before the king in the annual Reed Dance, wondering if he would choose one of them to be his next wife. But many of the girls did not want to be there. The annual event has focused attention on political reform efforts in Swaziland. VOA Correspondent Challiss McDonough attended the ceremony at the royal residence in central Swaziland's Ezulwini Valley, and has this report.

Thirty teenage girls from one village are singing traditional songs on their way to Swaziland's annual Reed Dance at the Ludzidzini royal residence. They travel in a group, led by two stick-wielding men chosen by their village chief to watch over them.

The Reed Dance is one of the most spectacular and well-known of Swaziland's cultural traditions. Every year, thousands of young women dance bare-breasted before the royal family at the end of a week-long ritual. One of the women, Zihla Bembe likes participating in the dance because, as she sees it, it is part of being a Swazi girl. "Because it's our Swazi culture, and we are proud of it," she said.

Officially, the ceremony is in honor of the king's mother. The girls cut and deliver reeds to her royal residence in order to symbolically re-build part of it after a long winter.

But the Reed Dance has also become known for another, more recently-developed tradition. Like his father before him, Swaziland's absolute monarch, King Mswati, has taken to choosing a new wife or two from among the young women. Swazi kings can have as many wives as they want. So far, King Mswati has 12.

The event sparked a major controversy last year, when the mother of his 10th wife filed a lawsuit in hopes of getting her daughter back after the king picked her out at the Reed Dance. It did not work, and the mother reluctantly dropped the case.

Critics of the tradition say an increasing number of girls, especially from the cities, are refusing to take part in the Reed Dance because they do not want to run the risk of becoming a queen. And some of the girls who do take part are desperately hoping the king will not notice them.



Swaziland's King Mswati III has chosen a 17-year-old girl to become his 11th wife, alarming health workers who say he is setting a bad example for a kingdom with one of the highest HIV infection rates in the world. The Royal Palace announced that Mswati, sub-Saharan Africa's last absolute monarch, planned to marry Noliqhwa Ntentensa at a ceremony next year when she will be 18. He will be 36.

Seventeen-year-old Nobahle Sihlongonyane enjoys the Reed Dance, she says, because it is a colorful ceremony and she likes the traditional woolen tassels and beads that the girls wear.

"I've got three sisters who have attended the ceremony. And unfortunately for them, they are nowhere to be found now! They cannot come back anymore because they have given birth. So I am the only one who is able to attend the ceremony," she said.

When asked whether she thinks the king will pick her as his next fiancee, Miss Sihlangonyane demurely says she doubts she has the qualities the king is looking for. "He's looking for a tall girl. She must be tall, slender, with that body! And of course you must be beautiful," she said. Would you be happy if you were chosen? She won't because, she adds, "I don't like polygamy. I hate polygamy."

Many of the other urban girls who took part in the Reed Dance have similar views. They must have given a huge sigh of relief when this year's dance was interrupted by a freak hailstorm. Just as the king was about to walk down the red carpet into the crowd of dancers to start examining them a little more closely, the heavens opened up and hailstones the size of almonds pelted the crowd. Ten-thousand girls made a break for it, stampeding through the stands, shoving aside diplomats and tourists. Within minutes, the field was empty.

It is not clear how much longer the king will retain his right to choose whoever he wants as a wife. Swaziland is in the midst of a slow process of democratization, under pressure from the international community. The king recently presented a draft of a proposed new constitution, which includes many new rights for women.

Women's rights activist Zakhe Hlanze of the Swazi branch of Women and Law in Southern Africa says the draft constitution would guarantee women the right to choose what cultural traditions to take part in, including whether or not to enter into a polygamous marriage.

"We feel that this is a progressive provision, and we feel that women will be able to choose whether to undergo certain customs or not," she explains. "And we feel that this provision in the constitution will actually help in changing the status of women."

But Ms. Hlanze says she remains concerned about the way the proposed constitution handles the delicate balancing act between law and tradition.

"I'm saying that it is encouraging, but I know that there are problems," she explains. "Because in the same constitution, you find that customs and traditions actually seem to be taking a superiority, they seem to be superior even to the constitution. So if it is like that, we may have problems when women try to actually access these rights that are in this particular draft."

Former Swazi Prime minister and current opposition leader Obed Dlamini believes change is inevitable because the people will demand it. He says the king will have to give up some of his absolute powers.

"All that we need as Swazis, without shedding at the expense of the nation our culture, is to ensure that democracy exists, and that culture should not supersede democracy," he said. "This is our demand. I cannot foresee Swaziland sustaining the status quo without making serious advances towards introducing a typical democratic dispensation. I just cannot see that."

Back at the Reed Dance, some of the participants were taking a more traditional attitude. Sixteen-year-old Lungile Shongwe says she would love to get the king's attention and possibly become the next Liphovela, or royal fiancee.

"Because I enjoy the life there, I think it would be nice, just sitting there relaxing, getting everything you want without working for it," she said. " And visiting overseas! Ooohh! With the airplane!"

Even though King Mswati did not have a chance to pick a new bride at the Reed Dance this year, the teenage Ms. Shongwe has a few more years to try to catch his eye. Constitutional changes are not likely to do away with the Reed Dance entirely, and unmarried young women with no children can take part in it every year until they are 21 or 22.

In the meantime, the Associated Press is reporting that the king has just taken his 12th wife - a runner-up in the Miss Swaziland beauty contest. At the time of the pageant, she told a local magazine that she does not believe in polygamy. But under Swazi law, if the king chooses her, she can not refuse.




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This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Swaziland; HIV; AIDS

PCOL7801
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By Anonymous (dhcp4397.4u.com.gh - 41.204.43.97) on Wednesday, December 27, 2006 - 10:11 am: Edit Post

I am gifted with Spiritual healing and HIV/AIDS is one, I shall like to give you details after your response

By Staecy Biggs (static-209-204-67-157.sniparpa.net - 209.204.67.157) on Wednesday, October 24, 2007 - 12:17 pm: Edit Post

I think the goverment should make a cure for AIDS/HIV.


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