"Condom Nation" reads the slogan used on the T-shirts of volunteers and pier educators at the Matata Road Show, a day of music, celebration and education in the Lubombo region of Swaziland. If only the problem of HIV could be solved in such a straight forward way and everyone used a condom each time they have sex. But the problem of HIV transmission has so many complexities and the message of condom use does not provide a complete solution. I was keen to explore the stories of those affected by HIV in Swaziland, a unique country in many ways, being the last remaining absolute monarchy in Africa and having the highest prevalence of HIV in the world: more than one adult in every four is infected with the virus.
Family structures are multifarios and often life in the homestead is complicated. A single compound can be home to large numbers of children that are related to one another through one parent but not both; absent parents are a norm. Men have far more power than women, and the culture provides little space to people who are anything but heterosexual. Formal polygamy is now on the decline but 45 year-old King Mswati III has fourteen wives and is soon to marry a 15th. It is widely accepted that men will have several girlfriends at the same time as an officially sanctioned wife.
Though HIV continues to spread, over 80% of the people who need medication to control their infection are getting it. That’s an extraordinary achievement in a country of 1.2 million people where 40% of adults are unemployed, where foreign investment is minimal and where personal freedoms are limited by a government appointed by the King. With Condom Nation I hope to show the story of a nation managing and learning against the odds. The stories of family life portray the people behind the challenging but changing HIV epidemic. Antiretroviral drugs have given Swaziland a pause, a chance to move beyond AIDS and death, an opportunity to conquer the virus and work out how the nation - the kingdom - can thrive.
