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June 4,
2004
Stephen Langa knows
about AIDS and failure firsthand. And that’s why he also knows about
success.
Stephen is from
Uganda.
The devastation of the African continent by AIDS is personal: his own
younger brother died. Stephen works in the schools where hundreds of
thousands of children experience the loneliness of life without
parents. To date, nearly two million
Uganda
children are orphans because of AIDS.
It takes looking
failure full in the face to be able to appreciate success. And that’s
why Stephen came from Uganda to visit the United States. He brings us
a story of success: Uganda alone in the world is turning the tide in
the battle against AIDS.
“I come from
Uganda,”
Stephen tells his audience, “and HIV has devastated our continent and
our country. In Uganda, especially in the early 90s we had whole
villages wiped out, where the entire adult population was wiped
out….Everyone of us in Uganda has either been infected or affected by
HIV.”
Responding to the
magnitude of the AIDS epidemic, Stephen left his career in electrical
engineering and founded Family Life Network, an organization that
sends teachers into the high schools to teach young people one simple
message.
All over Uganda,
teachers are working to prevent HIV infection “by teaching what we
call value-based sex education in secondary school,” Stephen says.
“Now, by value-based we mean sex education that has morals in it.
That’s what we teach.”
The message is as
simple as ABC. “A” stands for a personal commitment to abstain from
sexual relationships until a person is ready for marriage. “B” stands
for fidelity inside of marriage…”B” faithful. Finally, “C” refers to
condom use.
But Stephen warns
us about America’s reliance on the condom. “Condoms are not 100%
safe. You see, human life is precious….Now if there’s a chance of
failure, it means we are risking precious life. A life is priceless.
So we want to have something that can actually protect our people.”
And this is where
Uganda
has set the standard for the world, becoming a beacon light of hope
against the rising tide of AIDS infection. Uganda is committed to A
and B. Totally committed.
Ugandan President
Yoweri Museveni and his wife Janet provide the national leadership and
tone for their country by emphasizing the value of time-honored Uganda
cultural practices. They have inspired the Ugandan people to return
to abstinence and marital fidelity.
Under their
leadership, the commitment of a child toward abstinence until marriage
is given dignity and support. Students sign commitment cards, and
their name on the line is more than a momentary gesture to please a
teacher. It is a personal promise they are willing to keep.
Why do students in
Uganda
honor their pledge to remain sexually abstinent outside of marriage?
Stephen tells us it’s more than their fear of becoming infected with
HIV. “We go out there and we teach these young people about
sexuality. And we found out that if you teach sexuality and teach
young people about sexuality in relationship to all of life, then they
understand it. They see the big picture. When you see it from the
big picture point of view, they understand it and they behave.”
The results are
in. Uganda has demonstrated a cure for the AIDS epidemic. In the
early 1990s Uganda had one of the worst African AIDS infection rates,
but by 2001 Uganda had reduced HIV by 70 percent.
Cambridge
researchers confirm that Uganda’s success is “linked to a 60%
reduction in casual sex.” And they confirm Stephen’s warnings about
condoms. “Despite substantial condom use and promotion of biomedical
approaches, other African countries have shown neither similar
behavioral responses nor HIV prevalence declines of the same scale.
The Ugandan success is equivalent to a vaccine of 80% effectiveness.”
Americans, take
note. While our companies are loading crates filled with condoms onto
ships bound for Africa, Stephen makes us realize that America is
exporting failure. It’s time to make a change.
Is there a cure for
AIDS? Yes! And Americans have the answer within reach, imported
straight from Uganda.
Copyright © 2004 Jane Jimenez
See Archives
for past editorials.
April 30, 2004
Condoms: A Failure to Protect
March 26, 2004
Abstinence: The Real Deal
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