Source: The Citizen
Many tourists visit Tanzania to experience Zanzibar, climb Kilimanjaro, or visit the famous national parks. Tanzania is blessed with a beautiful landscape, friendly and obliging people, and interesting flora and fauna. But the social reality and way of living of some of this country's poorest is a far cry from the glamour of the tourist industry.
Many are living with HIV and Aids, which is often compounded, by unemployment and abject poverty. Luckily, there are many courageous citizens who are willing to support their less fortunate brothers and sisters.
In the Kilimanjaro region, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) has taken up the battle against the deadly disease. Women Against AIDS in Kilimanjaro or Kiwakkuki as they are more popularly known, are taking a non-conventional approach to the fight against HIV and Aids by offering "Social Reality Tours" to tourists in Moshi.
Social reality is a bitter pill to swallow
The tour is operated by social worker Fudasia Kishe who joined Kiwakkuki in 2005. For 10 US dollars, she takes foreign visitors on a guided tour to see first hand how local people are affected by HIV and Aids. During the tour, they are introduced to the staff at Kiwakkuki and apprised of the NGO's operations. All monies paid for the tour go directly to those who are either infected or affected by HIV and Aids.
Fudasia Kishe, a 55-year-old nurse, also provides home-based care to sufferers of the disease. "I started my work as an HIV and Aids counsellor at Mawenzi hospital in 1989, only a few years after the first case of HIV and Aids was documented in Kilimanjaro district," she says. In 2011, over five per cent of the adult population in Tanzania is living with the disease and the prevalence rate is 6.2 per cent.
"These people need help, because the disease has a severe impact on individuals and families," Fudasia says. "The main problem is that people with HIV or Aids are stigmatised, socially excluded and deprived of access to education and employment. Most of them cannot earn a living, leave alone expensive healthcare. When they die, they leave behind children and elderly family members who cannot care for themselves. This is where we Kiwakkuki steps in to support them."
On one of the Reality Tours, tourists meet 38-year-old Richard*. They are invited into his living quarters where he has been bed-ridden for two years because he cannot move his legs. Richard* developed a type of cancer called 'carposis sarcoma' as a consequence of the HIV virus. "I visit him as often as possible, because he has no family to care for him," Fudasia explains: "I clean his room, give him money, and ask the neighbours to support him. All the patients who are part of the Tour consent to our project, and are happy about guests and their gifts."
But being open about HIV and Aids is a big challenge for the afflicted. "It may be hard but it is so important to gain the courage to talk about your situation, to disclose it to your family members and friends, and to ask for help. Otherwise, it can be too much of a burden to fight the disease or make the necessary arrangements for your family to handle it," Fudasia says.
Touching touring hearts
Eliza* a 42-year-old mother of two is only able to walk with great effort and pain. Her condition worsened because she refused to disclose the truth about her illness for fear her parents would disown her. "Even when she told her mother, her mother refused to exercise with her and as a result her legs stiffened," Fudasia explains. Eliza tested positive three years ago and with the help of Kiwakkuki takes antiretroviral drugs to fight her disease.
She can no longer work, and tries to earn some money by selling fish in front of her house. "It is so difficult in the cold season, so much so that sometimes I do not know how to feed my little daughter," Eliza* says. Lena, a German tourist, feels sympathy and decides to give Eliza* a leg massage.
Lena has a degree in occupational therapy. The act of kindness builds a bond between the two women and they chat and laugh together as the massage goes on. "This is the mutual benefit the Tour aims to accomplish," Fudasia says, very pleased. And she gets her massage, Eliza's eyes are sparkling.
After the Social Reality Tour Lena is overwhelmed by emotion. "I have seen things here that I have never seen in Germany, things I would never have seen if I had never come to Moshi: faces of poverty, suffering and such despair.
I have read about the problems developing countries in Africa are facing. But this personal encounter makes them more human and less abstract, and that really touches my heart. I'm going to do everything I can to help," she says. Lena has promised to promote the good work of Kiwakkuki internationally and to source donations from her home country of Germany. "And of course, I will stay in touch with Fudasia!"
* Names have been changed to protect privacy.