AIDS and Elia's Family, Saturday, January 28

When we returned, exhausted, Elia Godson Mchana eagerly invited me his house to meet his wife and family. When I arrived, he sent out one of his children to buy a soda and introduced me to his children, grandchildren, and wife. One part of the conversation, in particular, was eye-opening for me. (I may have these details wrong, but the point remains clear.) After introducing his niece, he said that her mother (his brother’s wife) had died of AIDS and her father was at the university. The next child he introduced was also his niece. This girl’s father (Elia’s brother-in-law) had died of AIDS, and her mother was very ill from complications of AIDS. These facts by themselves are sobering, but what really jolted me was the nonchalant manner of the conversation. He was clearly sad, but his tone was quite matter-of-fact as he recounted how siblings and siblings-in-law had all died of AIDS complications. The AIDS problem is so widespread that everyone here is constantly touched by it. Now AIDS has a face for me. It makes me wonder who, among those whom I have met, has AIDS? It’s not something I’m ready to ponder right now.