At this stage though, if Zenawi’s administration wanted to truly get to the core of this issue and put a brake on the accelerating infection rates that are hurtling us right into the obliteration of our young workforce, they would have involved the clergy of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church a long time ago. The way millions of people believe in the church system (mind you, not the word of the Bible as it was written, but the mechanism that creates the industry of the Church) could be utilized to respect the tradition, while solving a crisis that doesn’t give us the time to even think about attempting to deconstruct faith systems that have been embedded 3 thousand years ago.

I remember when I was a kid and the churches, after their services, would blare from megaphones as a way of community outreach for new mothers to vaccinate their kids against the polio virus. The number of infections the following year plummeted due to the church’s involvement in the campaign. The church needs to get involved in public outreach similarly. And the Zenawi’s administration prevention and education campaign MUST act swiftly to incorporate youth leaders in Churches to get out there and educate the community on the physical realities of HIV. In the specific case of Ethiopia, we cannot separate the church’s role in public opinion. We are the country that is the evolutionary and technological seat of humankind yes, but we need to get off our asses on this HIV thing!

By bringing in policies regarding disease containment and preventative measures that are communicated through Christian dogma, local knowledge, and local traditions, i.e. using “traditional” means to justify the “modern” means of dealing with endemics.

The thing I found interesting in Ethiopia as well was how pervasive these beliefs about HIV were - it was certainly not a fanatically religious few. For example, as I was researching my thesis at the University of Addis Ababa, I came across several graduate-level studies conducted around the role of holy water in curing AIDS (inconclusive). As well, one of my co-workers at a non-profit in Addis herself “knew” that AIDS could be cured through sufficient and meaningful prayer…this is someone who is paid by Canadian donors to fight against the disease!

The problem for me, is that as western, modern individuals we have knowledge. About HIV and prevention, survival, treatment. But we are groping in the dark for a cure. We rely on the dribs and drabs of news that come from the medical world with its talks of a HIV vaccine in the works..

That is hardly enough when faced with the implacable belief in god’s will. Who are we with our knowledge but no real answer to the question of cure when faced with unswerving belief?

Pedja, you are right that there may never be a “safe middle line”, and perhaps there will always be a bias reflected in the change that comes about. The only thing I would add is that as development practitioners, we have to come up with programs that suit the life logic of people (not impose our “beter/educated ways”. After all, the way to make effective change is to respect the rationale the local people use to govern their lives - we are no imposing missionaries (albeit receiving similar criticism from “arm chair scholars”). But how does one stop rampant diseases, abuse, oppression while not to a certain degree impose our “scientific/educated/western/modern” ways for which we are harshly and sometimes unfairly judged for by academics (after all there are some good benefits from modern science and the things it can teach us about HIV/AIDS - and it’s only fair that everyone has access to this knowldege)? It’s certainly not an easy job!

I guess in a way I am not just asking a rhetorical question (which I subtly answered in the article), but I am more so pushing for some food for thought on this subject, as I will be writing a bigger article on this topic.