I thought the article on "small houses" was really interesting. Especially because through my experiences in Zambia, I had decided that one of the greatest problems with the spread of HIV was unfaithful partners, and in most cases, the man in a relationship. It seemed that the women just expected that their husband would take another woman as a matter of course. Although they usually didn't know about it, and so were unable to protect themselves. And what can you do anyway? If you want to build a family with your husband, have normal sexual relations etc., you can't refuse sex or insist on condoms. You can't even know if he is sleeping with someone else. And so women who married as virgins and have remained faithful end up HIV+. The worst part is that they usually don't know this.
I remember the story of one of the nurses in the hospice in Zambia. Her baby had died. She didn't know why. Then her husband died. After death it was revealed he had died from AIDS. He had not got it from her. And now she discovered she was HIV+ too. Remarkably she wasn't angry with him. She just wished he had told her. She asked, "why didn't he tell me he was sick? Now I know why our baby died. And if only he had told me, I would have supported him, we could have got treatment, our baby could have been saved. I loved him so much, I wouldn't have been angry."
ABC fails married women, because it doesn't matter if they adhere to it.
Another really interesting thing on Kubatana was the article on endangered species. They have a good point. But at the same time I know that animals are important, because they are a part of the people's heritage too. But where do you draw the line when the people are starving and abused? This was one of my big mental debates when thinking about changing from Vet to Med. In my heart I care greatly about animals, and I hate to see them suffer and be abused. And I wondered if it really was better to care for the species that cannot speak for themselves. Also because in terms of development, animals are critical. And work by organisations such as Heifer International and Bothar (pronounced Bow-Hr, is the Irish word for road) is so important for providing long-term solutions to poverty. So which side do you choose? In the end I went for people. And I think its really because of a very selfish reason. I felt in myself that if I went to the developing world (because I do really really want to work abroad when I qualify) and worked as a vet, that the guilt would eat away at me. I couldn't live with myself if I walked past crowds of hungry sick children to help a cat, no matter how much I care about cats. Is it the right/better decision? I don't really know. And its still something I debate even though I have made my choice.
What do you think?
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