M Part 1

Sorry for the big gap between post's; it has been a long couple weeks

I just spent the last week in the children’s ward at the Temba Hospital. On Tuesday, I went to the Lula care center (a day orphanage for young children). In the afternoon, I, along with the other Forward Education staff run an after school study program for high school youth. One of the youth who has attended is a 16 year old named B. I got to know B last year. He was one of the youth leaders who taught the better choices program (a programmed aimed at helping youth make better choices; specifically surrounding HIV/AIDS transmission). B is a double orphan meaning both his parents are dead (most likely the result of AIDS). Since the age of 12, B has run a child headed house hold for his two brothers. This means that for the past 4 years, B and his two younger brothers have lived in their small brick house by themselves. And, B runs the house and is the primary care giver for his brothers. Remember, he has had this role since he was 12 and is currently only 16 years old.
As B and I were talking at the after school program, I asked him how is week went. He said it had gone well…..then a pause and he said “well, it went kind of good and kind of bad.” I asked him why it was bad. He responded by telling me his 11 year old brother M, the youngest, had been taken to an initiation camp and had been in the hospital since last Friday.
In some Southern African cultures, there has been a tradition were young boys and girls are taking through an initiation camp. These camps are designed to transform the kids into adulthood. Many different rituals and traditions take place. The biggest tradition that takes place in the boy’s camp is circumcision.
Back in the day, I believe these camps were a good thing and had a lot of positives. Back then, the children would go with children that they knew and would go through the camp with adults from their village. There was a sense of tradition and community that would take place. Times have changed and today these camps are extremely dangerous and have drawn countless controversy throughout South Africa. Please note that the information I am sharing comes only from conversations from people in the community and from stories. Therefore, not all of the information may be accurate. However, it is really all we have to go on.
Today, the camps are a business. Children are pressured to attend these camps and are sometimes even taken from their homes. Not much is known about what takes place at these camps because the men who run them warn the children that if they speak about the secrets of what takes place they will become mentally disturbed somehow. I know a couple of youth who have attended the camps and they are very fearful about telling me about what takes place. What we do know, or what is speculated, is that these children are exposed to all sorts of so-called tradition medications. They are also underfeed and the child to adult ration is ridiculously low. The children are taken to the wilderness for a period of time, usually one to three months (it is the same time every year and it just so happens to fall right in the middle of the school year so the children miss a huge amount of classes). It is also rumored and fairly widely thought that the children are involved in various sexual acts. Remember, M is 11 years old. Again, these camps are a business. One of the volunteers here, a woman who has become a friend of mine, told me the story of when here son went to the camp. She remembered seeing the leaders of the local camp waking up too her house. She said she fell to her knees because she knew he had gone to the camp. The leaders of the camp informed her that she must provide a blanket for her son and pay them one chicken and 80 kg of Mealimaze (the staple food in rural South Africa) as an entry fee for her son. When the camp was finished, she must pay them the same amount for them to release her son. The disturbing thing is that the children do not see any of this food. The men stock up so they have enough food to eat and sustain them for the year.
The biggest traditional aspect of the camp is circumcision. Males in this part of Africa are not seen as men until they have been circumcised. I know a couple of males who had yet to be circumcised and they were chastised by their community. The problem with the circumcisions that are done at the camp is that in many cases the men running the camp do not know how to perform the procedure appropriately and safely. Many times the same tools and instruments are used on all of the children and it is frequent mode of HIV/AIDS transmission.
So, that kinda sums up the initiation camp. Now back to the story.
B informed me that M had been taken to the camp last Friday. The leaders of the camp performed the circumcision procedure that day. Unfortunately, the bastards did not do it properly and M was horrifically damaged by the procedure. The leaders of the camp took him to the local clinic. The clinic then transported M to the hospital by ambulance. Again, this happened on Friday and I was talking to B on Tuesday. That means this 11 year old boy had been at the hospital by himself with no visitors for 5 days. B told me he wanted a ride to the hospital to see M. I told him I would definitely drive him. We made a plan to leave the next day to go see his brother.
I will write part two of the story, the most important part, in a couple days. Sorry to keep you hanging.