"In Kenya, there are approximately one and a half million people (0-49 years) living with HIV and recent data shows median HIV prevalence at around 6.7 percent. At the end of 2003, about 150 000 people died from AIDS related diseases. There are over one million orphans and it is projected that this number may double in the year 2015. Furthermore, the need for treatment, care and support will continue to increase for years to come. Only 14 percent of Kenyan adults know their HIV status, which limits access to care. HIV/AIDS epidemic has caused a staggering drop in life expectancy from 65 years in the early 1980s to about 46 years in 2003 (UNAIDS, 2006)."
Author Mjomba Leonard begins this 46-page article by stressing that, even in the above-described crisis situation, few resources have been devoted to reaching young people in Kenya (who represent the majority population) with HIV/AIDS prevention education. Leonard - who spent many years as a teacher and head teacher in several Kenyan high schools - elaborates by describing the many challenges that officially sanctioned school-based HIV/AIDS programmes have faced. For one thing, "communication for behavior change in Kenya valorizes literacy-based, Eurocentric approaches such as lectures, brochures, posters and ignores oral African traditional forms of communication which are a powerful transforming agent." Along these lines, most HIV interventions consist of a series of formal, one-day occasions that involve "extraordinarily dressed" HIV/AIDS experts "ceremoniously arriving in a convoy of big cars" who then speak from a high table to the students "as if they were empty vessels to be filled." While the "pomp" associated with this top-down form of communication can create a sort of "buzz" among students, Leonard notes, the approach fails to effect real social change - in part because it lacks what the author refers to as "the five Ps of contagiousness i.e. pervasiveness, popularity, persistence, persuasiveness, and passion..." These five Ps are also absent from the Kenyan Ministry of Education approach to HIV/AIDS curricula within primary and secondary schools, which Leonard has found to be "text-based, teacher-driven, didactic, non-participatory, and boring", as well as biased towards the use of English, "making it difficult for [students] to effectively articulate their needs, concerns, ideas, and feelings."
Having exposed and questioned "the hegemony of Western scientific methods in the production of knowledge" as highlighted by typical Kenyan HIV/AIDS education, Leonard here advocates the legitimising of other ways of knowing such as entertaining, participatory and culturally-relevant oral African traditional forms of communication. Specifically, this article examines how Ngoma - local cultural performance in Kenya - can be used as an alternative communication strategy to motivate dialogue and empower youth to adopt HIV/AIDS prevention measures. This approach is in tune with the long tradition that involves grassroots people in Africa (such as the Taita in Kenya - the author's own ethnic group) expressing themselves through drumming, singing, talk-singing, poetry, drama, dancing, story telling, feasting, and other cultural rituals. Rather than a separate art, Ngoma is "an integral part of everyday life" that serves as a form of rhetorical practice through which participants engage in dialogue and self-reflection for the purpose of change. Drawing centrally on Freire's and Boal's communication for social change theories/approaches (which are detailed here), Leonard's strategy draws on "participatory, grassroots, dynamic, and intimate experiences" to provide "an enabling forum for the youth to design, test, and generate knowledge on Ngoma's effectiveness as an HIV/AIDS prevention program from their perspective."
Specifically, the author, who is also a dancer/choreographer, used both participatory and grounded theory approaches to formulate Creative Ngoma Dialogue Circles (CNDC), which are 1- to 5-minute problem-posing pieces representing and problematising HIV/AIDS. CNDC is built upon 3 traditional communication channels, which occur in a classroom setting with participants sitting in a big circle: (1) Ngoma - in this case opening with a declarative statement, using call and response, dance songs, talk-singing (rap), drama, poems, and parable (2) Wachemshangoma, Peer Dialogue Motivators (PDMs) who perform the Ngoma and motivate dialogue, and (3) dialogue circles. The process is intended to be fully participatory for young people at all levels of its development because they are involved in characterising the programme as well as planning, implementation, and evaluation. (PDMs come up with ideas on creative Ngoma pieces and the researcher (the author) helps with choreography).
The research project was conducted over a period of one year with over seventy 14- to 21-year-old students from two boarding (residential) high schools in Kenya's Taita/Taveta district: Murray Girls High School and Kenyatta Boys High School. Qualitative methods of collecting data included the author's personal experiences as participant/observer and co-performer in the Ngoma, descriptive field notes, focus group interviews, video testimony, written student commentaries, and informal conversations. Findings indicated that CNDC helps mobilise youth from the position of Mchezewangoma, a passive spectator, to Mchezangoma, an empowered participant who takes part in the Ngoma and dialogue concerning HIV prevention. For example, the Murray girls who performed the creative 3-episode Ngoma piece Matatu-Mania (which shows how Manambas (drivers' aides) in the public transportation business contribute to the spread of HIV/AIDS spread among school girls in Kenya) responded to questions in the dialogue circles with the phrase "Kama angelikuwa mimi yule msichana, ningali...," which literally means "If it was me in that school girl's position, I would have....". According to Leonard, "The participatory and theatrical nature of creative Ngoma not only entertained, but also the audience members felt connected to the plot, the characters, and the situations."
Furthermore, the author explains, the use of Wachemshangoma (who lived with their peers in the dormitories) to catalyse discussion was an effective strategy in that it helped reduce the cultural distance between the researcher/resource person and the youth, making participants feel more comfortable with discussing sensitive topics. CNDC uses all locally available languages appropriate to Kenyan youth i.e. Ngoma (linguistic artistry) Swahili, Sheng, and Swanglish (medley of Swahili-Sheng-English), which was found to "make possible candid dialogue about sex and virginity, which are still taboo subjects in Kenya."
The author also found that, "After going through CNDC, respondents indicated higher levels of awareness and knowledge skills about how to avoid HIV/AIDS. The high levels of information- and skills-sharing observed in CNDC seemed to enhance their levels of collective-efficacy as well as self-efficacy." Participants expressed feelings of empowerment and motivation to change themselves and others. Leonard also describes participants' strong sense of ownership to the programme, increased social cohesion, and enhanced commmitment to social norms that may help prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS.
In conclusion, Leonard stresses that, by building on local cultural practices, CNDC "combines a high potential to entertain, educate, and motivate attitude and behavior change in contrast to conventional HIV/AIDS interventions that tend to be one or two-dimensional." He finishes with several suggested strategies for introducing CNDC into Kenyan schools as a complement to conventional school-based interventions, to motivate and empower Kenyan youth to combat AIDS.
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