MCC-funded AIDS workshop a success in SomaliaFebruary 2, 2002 AIDS is on the rise in Somalia, where more than a decade of anarchy has shattered the healthcare system along with traditional family structures. Many in this Islamic country hesitate to acknowledge the AIDS problem, since it implies that people are not living by Islam's strict moral code. A Dec. 6 to 9 MCC-funded workshop in Mogadishu, the capital, helped break the silence. Organized and led by a Somali women's organization, the workshop included single, married and widowed women participants ages 17 to 55, from both urban and rural locations. Attendance grew from 30 to 80 over the course of the four days. "The woman presenting the lectures, an urbanite herself, was impressed by the awareness, comprehension and openness of the women from the countryside," reported MCC Somalia co-representative Chantal Logan. She and her husband, Mark, are jointly appointed with Eastern Mennonite Missions. A nurse gave an overview of HIV/AIDS and explained how it is spread. Women were encouraged to share stories and speculation they had heard about how AIDS is spread. As in many other countries, AIDS is often blamed on outsiders, Logan said. "It seemed as if everyone had heard a story about a Somali relative who came from a neighboring country with AIDS and died after arrival," Logan reported, "as well as others who were miraculously cured after returning home to a diet of camel's meat and mutton." Somali workshop facilitators handled the stories wisely, she said, observing that these treatments cannot be endorsed as cures but agreeing that God's hand should not be ruled out in mysterious healing. Participants shared ideas for passing on what they had learned and recommend that more workshops be planned. The event concluded in traditional Somali fashion, with poems and songs denouncing AIDS and thanking workshop sponsors. See the sidebar for a poem written to thank Mennonites.
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