Kohlrus says there’s a stigma in the country attached to acknowledging or seeking treatment for HIV/AIDS, the single largest cause of premature death on the continent. “People died of ‘the flu’ or ‘pneumonia’ or ‘a snakebite,’ “ he says. “No one comes out and says they were losing weight for six months. People skirt around that a lot. “It’s more of a fear. They’re in this mindset, ‘I’m a poor, rural, Swazi. If I go to the clinic and test positive, chances are I’m not going to get antiretroviral therapy (which is administered to less than a quarter of Africans who need it). I’d rather live life and deal with it.’ “It’s hard to change those mindsets.” Kohlrus recounted how one teacher had spoken openly about testing positive for HIV. “She was ridiculed and shunned,” he says. “There weren’t people standing up saying, ‘Good for you for speaking up.’ ” Kohlrus says he lost track of how many funerals he attended — the Peace Corps provided the country’s 17 volunteers a two-day grief and loss conference — but found Swazis “amazingly strong-willed” in the face of death. “People have a lot of hope. Despite the dire conditions, they don’t let it ruin their spirits. I think the average Swazi is happier than the average American,” he says. “They place huge value in family, and in waking up and facing another day.”
Peace Corps volunteer Adam Kohlrus returns from Swaziland
Peace Corps volunteer returns to Springfield from Swaziland
Caption: Adam Kohlrus, 24, of Springfield recently completed a two-year commitment with the Peace Corps in the southeastern part of Africa. Photo: Suzanne Schmid/The State Journal-Register
By STEVEN SPEARIE
STATE JOURNAL-REGISTER
Posted Sep 07, 2008 @ 12:05 AM
Adam Kohlrus tells the story with awe and admiration: how his host Swazi family took in a small, nameless, ageless girl, orphaned by her mother, who most likely died of AIDS, abandoned by her father and neglected by her grandmother.
“Tata” had been left to her own devices, without food and shelter before Kohlrus’ host “gogo,” or grandmother, intervened out of desperation.
The story underlines the ravages of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Swaziland, where Kohlrus, 24, of Springfield recently completed a two-year commitment with the Peace Corps.
“What the disease is doing,” says Kohlrus, at the Springfield home of his parents, Chris and Betsy Kohlrus, “is destroying a whole generation. You hear a lot of stories like Tata’s.”
The stories also mount for Kohlrus, a Sacred Heart-Griffin High School and DePaul University graduate who served as a community HIV educator in the village of Emphini. For years, Swaziland, in the southeastern part of Africa, has had one of the highest HIV rates in the world: more than 200,000 of its 1.1 million citizens are affected. The country has a life expectancy of 32.2 years.
Particularly vulnerable are children: approximately 17,000 of the 40,000 children born annually are exposed to HIV through mother-to-child transmission. About a third of all Swazi children are classified as “orphans and vulnerable children.”
While HIV/AIDS education and community development programs have improved, according to Kohlrus, stigmas about the disease, particularly when it comes to sexual practices, persist. Kohlrus, other non-governmental organizations — or NGOs — and the international community have been critical of the Swazi government’s approach to combating the pandemic. King Mswati III, who has 13 wives, once argued that HIV-positive people should be “sterilized and branded.” In response to escalating HIV/AIDS rates, Mswati, one of the world’s last absolute monarchs, proposed a five-year ban on sexual activity.
Kohlrus says the Peace Corps’ emphasis on putting volunteers in rural areas like his station, Emphini, a village of about 1,000, where disease rates are higher, sets it apart from other NGOs.
“A lot of NGOs and organizations (in Swaziland) are trying to help, but not a lot are committed to the rural areas,” he says. “(People associated with NGOs) couldn’t believe we were living in a rural area, in a hut, with no running water and no car.”
Kohlrus says that approach, and learning the Siswati language, gave him cache in the community as its first Peace Corps volunteer. (The agency had been in Swaziland in the 1960s and ’70s, counting among its alumni “Hardball’s” Chris Matthews, before returning in 2004.) Kohlrus spoke regularly at area schools and the local clinic, emphasizing use of condoms, the importance of early testing, proper nutrition and the prevention of parent-to-child HIV transmission.
Kohlrus assisted in planning and implementing the 12-day, 120-mile Walk the Nation from Mozambique to South Africa, highlighting HIV/AIDS prevention instruction in underserved rural communities. A former soccer standout at SHG, Kohlrus organized the first girls’ soccer club at the Emphini primary school, and co-facilitated a girls’ soccer tournament involving area youth.
Kohlrus’ crowning glory may have been the construction of a pre-school building in Emphini, which included about $6,000 funding from donors in the Springfield area; the total cost was $9,100. The old one-room school had become cramped and didn’t have any desks or chairs.
Kohlrus says there’s a stigma in the country attached to acknowledging or seeking treatment for HIV/AIDS, the single largest cause of premature death on the continent.
“People died of ‘the flu’ or ‘pneumonia’ or ‘a snakebite,’ “ he says. “No one comes out and says they were losing weight for six months. People skirt around that a lot.
“It’s more of a fear. They’re in this mindset, ‘I’m a poor, rural, Swazi. If I go to the clinic and test positive, chances are I’m not going to get antiretroviral therapy (which is administered to less than a quarter of Africans who need it). I’d rather live life and deal with it.’
“It’s hard to change those mindsets.”
Kohlrus recounted how one teacher had spoken openly about testing positive for HIV.
“She was ridiculed and shunned,” he says. “There weren’t people standing up saying, ‘Good for you for speaking up.’ ”
Kohlrus says he lost track of how many funerals he attended — the Peace Corps provided the country’s 17 volunteers a two-day grief and loss conference — but found Swazis “amazingly strong-willed” in the face of death.
“People have a lot of hope. Despite the dire conditions, they don’t let it ruin their spirits. I think the average Swazi is happier than the average American,” he says.
“They place huge value in family, and in waking up and facing another day.”
Kohlrus believes the Peace Corps presence is making headway in the region, despite having been in Swaziland only for four years. Part of the success, he says, was partnering with a number of NGOs, like UNICEF, in programs and establishing a working relationship with the National Emergency Response Council on HIV/AIDS, which coordinates NGO efforts in Swaziland.
“I came back (to Springfield) with a lot of positive feeling about what I was able to do in my corner of the world,” Kohlrus says. “We don’t have all the answers, but we wanted to help out. I can’t imagine doing it any differently.”
The experience left a deep impression on Corey Kohlrus, Adam’s brother, who visited him in December.
“When you meet his Swazi family and you see how he lived on a day-to-day basis, it makes you appreciate what he did for two years,” says Corey Kohlrus, 22. “It makes me proud of him and the awesome work that he did. I have a lot of respect for him for doing it though it’s something I probably wouldn’t do.”
For now, Adam Kohlrus is decompressing and adjusting to life “not on Swazi time.” He’s also job searching and is hopeful the Peace Corps can continue to be part of his life as a state-side “program assistant.”
“This experience will shape what I’ll do,” Kohlrus says. “I need to have a job that has personal meaning to me. For me, it was a very formative experience, and I’m glad I did it for all the different reasons.”
Steven Spearie is a freelance writer who can be reached at 622-1788.
