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Linked to the notion of HIV-as-danger, a number of euphemisms emerged from the learners’ story- telling activities and focus group discussions. For example, one learner commented:
I am afraid of HIV. I heard that it is as dangerous as electricity that is why when someone is infected people say “u hatile thapo ea motlakase” (She/he has stepped on an electricity wire/cable). This means that she/he is in great danger because electricity kills (Lebohang, 06 September, 2013).
Similarly, a study conducted in the Caprivi, the region hardest hit by HIV and AIDS in Namibia;
found that people referred to HIV and AIDS as simbandembande (fish eagle). This was due to the stigma attached to the epidemic, and was also meant to scare people from engaging in risky behaviours since the people believed that HIV and AIDS takes away people’s lives, much the same way as the fish eagle takes away small fish from the water (Thomas, 2008). For the same reasons, another study conducted among the Ovambo people found that HIV and AIDS was referred to as ekiya (thorn), Katanga kamufifi (hot ball), and oyawapa (HIV infected) (Thomas, 2008). In South Africa, the youth have developed a special township language to refer to HIV and AIDS. For example, the phrases udlala ilotto (playing lottery), ubambe ilotto (won the lottery), and driving a Z3 (the BMW car that was mass produced in the 1990s) are used to refer to an HIV positive person (Selikow, 2004). Arguably, the language used to describe and discuss HIV and AIDS and its related symptoms contributes to and is associated with the cultural silence and taboos prevailing in communities (Selikow, 2004). The words or phrases that people often use to refer to something they think is embarrassing or unpleasant sometimes to make some of these things more acceptable than they really are might influence how young people understand and respond to the phenomenon, including the HIV and AIDS epidemic.
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A second set of euphemisms is linked to the taboo against talking about sexual intercourse or sexual organs prevalent in Lesotho communities and social institutions such as schools. For example, learners indicated that in the HIV and AIDS special day session for boys, their teachers taught them about HIV prevention and told them that in order to protect themselves from HIV they must put on
“likhohlopo melamung ea bona ha ba arolelana likobo” (this literally translates into: they should wear gumboots/rainboots before sharing blankets, a euphemism for having sex). In Lesotho gumboots or rainboots are mostly worn by herd boys and men during the rainy season to protect their feet from water and mud. In the Lesotho context where speaking about sexual organs is taboo, particularly between adults (including parents and teachers) and children, condoms are referred to as gumboots and the penis as a stick (molamu). Like the gumboots, condoms are made from plastic which when properly inserted cannot allow semen or vaginal discharges to pass through. To elaborate on this, one of the learners commented:
I had been listening to a radio program with my younger brother and there was a lesson on HIV and AIDS. The educator indicated that to protect themselves against HIV infection, people must wear gumboots. To my surprise, in the evening when we were about to sleep my younger brother told our mother that he wants to sleep alone with his own blankets and that I should lend him my other pair of gumboots so that he can put them on in order to protect himself from HIV infection (Tšeliso, 06 September, 2013).
Another learner added:
One morning I went to my classmate’s house. He was still fast asleep when I entered the hut in which he sleeps. Next to him I saw a gumboot inserted on his walking stick that he uses when going to the veld to look after the cattle. I woke him up and I asked about the walking
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stick next to him and he reminded me that our teacher advised us that to prevent ourselves from contracting HIV we have to put our walking sticks into our gumboots when we go to sleep (Thabo, 06 September, 2013).
Whether these stories really happened was not ascertained in this study. However, the fact that learners brought these up as part of their understanding of HIV and AIDS is still a cause for concern.
This might be a challenge as these euphemisms tend to distort HIV and AIDS messages and might hinder the development of effective responses to the epidemic.
A third euphemism included reports of a teacher who had told boys “ho qoba ho theosa mpilo”. This literally translates into “avoiding going down Mpilo”. Mpilo is a steep four-way cross road in Maseru, the capital of Lesotho. In this lesson, the teacher meant to teach the learners to avoid sexual intercourse without protection/condom. There is a possibility that some learners might have never been to Maseru and did not know this road, and to avoid going down this road might not make any sense. What it does suggest though, is that the use of these euphemisms is not effective or appropriate as it might distort the learners’ understanding of HIV and AIDS and their responses to prevention messages.
Further, euphemisms used to refer to HIV and AIDS and the infected people are discriminatory, and this might lead to people fearing to get tested for HIV or to disclose their HIV status, thereby reinforcing the stigma and discrimination against those who are infected. Such stigma and discrimination often lead to violence and rejection in families. If educators continue to use the euphemisms in teaching learners about HIV and AIDS, message distortion is highly likely. The consequence of this is that learners might organize their responses to HIV and AIDS according to the