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It's been a couple of years since I worked with young, professional journalists in Malawi, Africa. You can learn more about my work there at http://www.malawiobserver.com.
Since I was there, two of the students have died. It's not surprising in a country where the life expectancy is under 40 years or so.
One of the big reasons is AIDS and HIV. It's not a fun or amusing topic, but this talk posted to day at www.ted.com is essential viewing.
Showing posts with label AIDS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label AIDS. Show all posts
Monday, April 05, 2010
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Rafael and Matthew vs the AIDS Epidemic
It was a Sunday and my Malawian achimwene (brother), Beston Tebula, was my passive guide as I explored the streets of Blantyre. Achimwene knew that I wanted to be open to anything that we stumbled across and anything that came our way.
Rafael and Matthew walked up and it seemed clear that they were hawking pirated DVDs. But we were wrong. They wanted to sell us a CD they had produced -- a CD of a song they had written and performed. Why buy a CD, I said to Achimwene, when we can have a live performance.
"Ask them if they'll perform for us."
I hardly had time to whip out my little digital camera when they began singing. Here's the song:
Of course, I was unable to appreciate the lyrics. The next day, I somehow rigged up a way for Achimwene to hear the music through headphones while I recorded him translating it. You can see that version on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITKVs1yF5eY. You can read more about Beston (Achimwene) Tebula earlier on this blog. We remain in touch and I've promised that we'll spend time together again -- either in Malawi or in California. When he comes, I want you to meet him!
Anyway, the lyrics turned out to be remarkable. It's a song about the "enemy" that has invaded their little country -- AIDS. It's about corruption and it's about spreading the word to young people to protect themselves. As they say it, nobody else is going to look after them.
Sometimes we think we know the motives of strangers.
Usually, we're wrong.
Rafael and Matthew walked up and it seemed clear that they were hawking pirated DVDs. But we were wrong. They wanted to sell us a CD they had produced -- a CD of a song they had written and performed. Why buy a CD, I said to Achimwene, when we can have a live performance.
"Ask them if they'll perform for us."
I hardly had time to whip out my little digital camera when they began singing. Here's the song:
Of course, I was unable to appreciate the lyrics. The next day, I somehow rigged up a way for Achimwene to hear the music through headphones while I recorded him translating it. You can see that version on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITKVs1yF5eY. You can read more about Beston (Achimwene) Tebula earlier on this blog. We remain in touch and I've promised that we'll spend time together again -- either in Malawi or in California. When he comes, I want you to meet him!
Anyway, the lyrics turned out to be remarkable. It's a song about the "enemy" that has invaded their little country -- AIDS. It's about corruption and it's about spreading the word to young people to protect themselves. As they say it, nobody else is going to look after them.
Sometimes we think we know the motives of strangers.
Usually, we're wrong.
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