Today is World Aids Day. It is being recognized around the world. Google and Twitter have changed their homepages to a red background.

Aids Epidemic Update reports that the total number of world-wide infections has been declining by 17% over the last 8 years. Still 33,4 million people are infected with HIV – that’s more than ever before. The victims live longer

due to improved therapies that weren’t available in the early stages of the epidemic. Treating these patients requires a lot of resources. Therefore every prevention of an infection is saving us a big amount of money.

Just imagine if some of this money not spent on treatments would flow into increased prevention efforts?

Based on an estimate 2.7 million people were infected with HIV last year. 2.3 out of these 2.7 million infections are estimated to have happened in the Sub-Sahara region. The second region of new infections is South East Asia with 310,000 new infections. Europe (40,000) and USA (52,000) have much lower numbers. Read More…

Posted under HIV / AIDS

A recent study on rape by the South Africa Medical Research Council came as a strong reminder on the severity of the rape situation in South Africa.

According to the study 1 in 4 men have already forced a women to have sex with him. Rape is generally accepted in wide parts of the society.

The police statistics show 86 women and 64 minor girls being raped each day.

30% of adolescents stated that their first sexual encounter was based on rape.

The reported number of rapes per year is 55,000. The University of South Africa estimates that the real number is around 1 million. If this number is correct one woman in South Africa is forced to have sex every 30 seconds. Read More…

Posted under Gender equality

Carl Jung, a Swiss psychiatrist and the founder of analytical psychology, described archetypes as the psychological and emotional energy patterns that are in the collective unconscious. These can manifest individually, in forms of physical symptoms, complexes, dreams, and patterns of behavior, or culturally in popular trends, music, and current economical and social events.

In South Africa,  we have seen a tremendous rise in the AIDS epidemic over the last few years, which has contributed to the current health and social welfare concerns.  An estimated 6 million out of the 45 million people in South Africa are living with HIV/AIDS, the highest officially recognized total of people in the world (South African Department of Health). But underneath this crisis may be a larger social injustice at play that needs attention: sexual violence and gender inequality.

Sexual violence is not a new phenomenon. Dating back to antiquity, women have always played a lesser role in society. Most myths and fairytales depict the feminine as a weak victim in need of rescue. Rape has been used as a medium of torture and humiliation in war, whether between countries or tribes. Sexual abuse is one of the most annihilating forms of enforcing power, one that strips away personal choice. It is most damaging in the context of a trusting relationship, such as in the case of child sexual abuse and spousal rape. Read More…

Posted under Gender equality

We have spend quite some time on screening many organizations doing great work on the ground in South Africa.

Today we are happy to announce a far reaching partnership with the South African organization Sonke Gender Justice. This is a milestone for Ubuntu Now / South Africa Project since we consider Sonke Gender Justice an excellent partner for our rape & HIV/AIDS prevention program. They have an amazing team and their programs, including One Man Can, are simply outstanding. Read More…

Posted under Everything Else, Meeting South Africa

I just read another article full of disturbing facts in the German magazine Der Spiegel and have to share this with you:

The new Health Minister in South Africa, Barbara Hogan just stated: “We know that HIV can cause AIDS”. It is hard to believe but this an almost revolutionary shift in South Africa’s official policy. She also stated that the “policy of our government has failed”. FINALLY! Read More…

Posted under Gender equality, Meeting South Africa

According o a report by BBC news, “a female born in South Africa has a greater chance of being raped in her lifetime than learning how to read”. The number of child rapes in South Africa is so embarrassing that the government has placed a moratorium on government crime statistics, stating that they needed reassessment. There are many reasons contributing to this issue.

One is the belief in the “virgin myth”; that sex with a child or baby will cure AIDS. Virginity testing is growing and often occurs in schools, where the girls must lie on their back with their pants and underwear off and legs in the air. Poverty and lack of access to AIDS drugs is another reason for these atrocities. The median income for Blacks and mixed race in South Africa can be as low as $300 a year, and the cost for AIDS drugs average $40 to $50 per month. Desperate people seek desperate measures.

As a woman, a mother and a human being I am beyond disturbed. While our children are worried about cliques and fitting in at school, those in South Africa are concerned about personal safety and whether their teacher, classmate, uncle, neighbor or stranger on the street will rape them.

How can a country with so many natural resources watch their people become so desperate?

How can we as a nation with so much luxury look the other way?

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Posted under Post-rape care