KHOPOTSO:   One of the major subjects offered at Goodman Vilakazi’€™s Siyophumelela Simunye’€™s adult education centre is on HIV and AIDS, which Vilakazi regards as filling a gap many AIDS awareness programmes have neglected.

GOODMAN VILAKAZI: What we are doing is ABET literacy and we are teaching our learners about HIV and AIDS because that’€™s very important. When I was doing my research I discovered that people with disabilities and the aged, most of the time, they don’€™t know about HIV and AIDS because when people talk about HIV and AIDS they exclude people with disabilities and the aged. And so, those people at the end of the day are suffering because their children, some of them, are affected by HIV and AIDS and they don’€™t know how to treat them.

KHOPOTSO: Most of the 144 learners at the Siyophumelela Simunye project, isiZulu for Together we will succeed, are pensioners – the oldest of whom was born in 1919. But, as much as it is important to teach and warn them about HIV and AIDS and how to look after someone ill with AIDS-defining conditions, the challenge is in how to deliver the message in a way that would suit them.

GOODMAN VILAKAZI: When I would teach them about HIV and AIDS we are not telling them about sex. Because they are our grannies and our parents it’€™s difficult to tell them about sexual intercourse.  

KHOPOTSO: As a result of cultural and other sensitivities, the emphasis of the HIV and AIDS curriculum is on the basics of HIV, how the virus is transmitted and how to prevent infection. Moving by wheel-chair due to Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI), a genetic disorder he’€™s endured since baby-hood, which is characterised by bones that break easily, often from little or no apparent cause, Vilakazi leads me to one of three white-painted classrooms, lining up side by side on the grounds of his home in Drieziek 4, in Orange Farm, and begs to disturb lessons just for a tiny bit.    

GOODMAN VILAKAZI

Fx’€¦ (Knock on the door) Let them give me the ramp first’€¦ Class, Ma’€™m. Be ngicela ukuniphazamisa nje ngasemihleni.

KHOPOTSO: Here in Class C, we meet 78-year old ntate-moholo Ariel Ramone.

ARIEL RAMONE: Ntate, re a rutwa haholo ka tsona, ntate. Motho ha eba o a kula, o mmona feela hore motho enwa o a kula o tshwanetse o mo shebe o kula kulo e feng, ke mahlaba of ke yona kulo ena e kgolo ena. O mmona ka hoer mmele wa hae o a ota, le mona o tswa makgwakgwanyana jwalo, le ho ja ha a je hantle, ho sebetsa le maleng haholo. Jwale ha o bona motho a le jwalo o tshwanetse a phalle a ye ngakeng, ebe ngaka e a mo hlola hore na bophelong ba hae ke eng ntho e mo tshwereng. Mohlomong ha se AIDS ke sikinyana e nngwe feela, feela e atametse ho ya AIDS. Jwale he ngaka e tla mo bolella hore o tshwanetse a je dijo tse jwang o tshwanetes a phele ka bophelonyana bo jwang ho bolaya siki ena e keneng ena e se ke ya ipha matla.          

TRANSLATION: There’€™s a lot we’€™re being taught about HIV and AIDS. We’€™ve been taught about the symptoms. When someone is ill you’€™ve got to be aware what their sickness is. If it’€™s this big disease (AIDS) you will notice that they will lose weight, they develop shingles on the neck, they no longer eat well, they have diarrhoea. If someone has those symptoms they need to rush to a doctor to find out what the problem is. It might not be AIDS, but some other disease with similar symptoms. The doctor will then advise what food they need to eat, what lifestyle they should adopt to counter the disease from spreading in their body.

KHOPOTSO: Ntate-moholo Ramone laments the fact that people with HIV and AIDS often die a lonesome death without the support they should be getting.

ARIEL RAMONE: Ntate, re a bona empaneng jwale ha re bone hantle hobane ha re ba tsebe. Setjhabeng sena sa rona re ultwa feela yanene o ne a thswerwe ke ntho eo. Ntate, ba a ipata, haholo. Motho ha a se a tshwerwe ke siki eo batho ha ba sa mo nka hantle jwale o a tshaba hore a tle bathong ho ipolela hore ‘€˜hee, ke na le ntho e itseng’€™. Ke ka hona hoo a ipatang.      

TRANSLATION: We see them, but no so much because we don’€™t know them. In our community we only hear that someone had died of AIDS. They hide themselves. It’€™s because if a person is infected people no longer treat them well. Now, they are scared to tell that they have the virus. That’€™s why they hide themselves.

KHOPOTSO: Having lost a grandson to AIDS, he speaks from genuine experience.

ARIEL RAMONE: Ntate, ngwana ka hona jwale tjeena, e se e le kgalenyana, e ne e mo tshwere ntho eo a ba a hlokahala. Ke setloholwana sa ka. O ne a sa hodile, e ne e se e le mohlankana a ka nna nyala feela o ne a eso nyale. O ne a ipatile. E itse ha ho bonahala hore o ipatile, mmae ke ha a bile are ‘€˜tsamaya o ye ngakeng’€™. Ngaka ya re ‘€˜o ena le ntho e itseng’€™. Kathe e se e mo qetile. Nako e ne e se e tjhaile. E ne e se e le ka mora nako. O ne a tshwanetse hore a potlake pele. E ne e se mo qetile.    

TRANSLATION: Some time ago my grandson, he was already grown and of marriageable age, had AIDS. He eventually died. He hid it from us. When his mother noticed she encouraged him to a doctor. The doctor told him he had AIDS. It had already finished him up. Time was not on his side. It was after a long time then. He should have sought medical help earlier on. It had finished him up.

KHOPOTSO: Such is the knowledge that old-timers like ntate-moholo Ariel Ramone collect from attending classes at the Siyophumelela Simunye Association for the Disabled and Aged. Tuition is free here and the four volunteer educators receive a stipend of R400 a month. The three classrooms designed from old shipping containers often used for business purposes in South Africa’€™s sprawling townships were purchased through the help of financial and risk services firm, Alexander Forbes. The centre is the only project aimed at the needs of disabled people and the aged in the area and still can’€™t reach all the people in the community of Orange Farm. Goodman Vilakazi, wishes to change all that, but funding remains a setback.

GOODMAN VILAKAZI: People with disabilities from other extensions can’€™t come to the school because we don’€™t have transport’€¦ Our aim is to start a school or children with disabilities, but we know that we’€™ll have this obstacle of transport.