Re-infection is a medical term which needs to be understood from cultural and layperson’s perspectives. According to Bernard (2010, webpage), ‘‘re infection refers to an HIV positive person acquiring a second strain of virus from someone else with HIV’’. The first part of the meeting endeavoured to address the meaning of this process. It will be seen that several layers of understanding emerged among the members before a final definition was crystalised. This meeting endeavoured to enable that learning process and enhance meaning making.
All monthly meetings started with a prayer. This one included a plea for spiritual guidance from God for the health professionals regarding the topic in question. Members believed they needed extra energy and guidance from God to ‘soften’ their brains so the new information on re- infection and condom use would become easier for them to understand. They believed in the role of spiritual power to carry every member through difficult times such as this one where they were faced with the struggle to simplify complex health issues in a way that would meet their
138 level of understanding. It is an important aspect of the support group’s collective appreciation of spirituality as a support mechanism that was reinforced by the meetings but also became a uniting force between meetings. For instance, the prayer ritual at the start of each meeting was a feature of their bonding social capital relationship. This feature of spirituality as a contribution to learning is rarely mentioned in western literature but is referred to by Ntseane (2006), for instance, in relation to transformative learning and African perspectives. Basotho, like many Christians and Africans, believe in the presence of the supreme power for intervention and guidance when they need to perform beyond their ability. Therefore, this group invited God’s presence in their meeting with the same hope.
Chairperson: We pray for our health professionals and those we have invited to come today and share their knowledge Lord, that their mouths be filled with good information to educate us and show us the good way to follow in order to remain positive in life regardless of our HIV status, Lord. We have prayed and called for your love to be with us all, in Jesus Christ our saviour, Amen. (All said Amen and pulled their chairs again to sit down).
The chairperson reminded members of the previously agreed topic for the day (re-infection) and encouraged hunters to be ready to share their ‘prey’ (findings) across the room for all members to learn from. All members knew that some men had been appointed as hunters to seek out information from relatives, friends and neighbours to bring back their findings to the group, thus reflecting the self-directed learning dimension of a community of practice which made good use of social capital networks. Preece (2014) reflects on a similar process of self- directed learning in a very different context of university doctoral students. Preece further indicates that learning in a cohort system relied on collaborative and self-directed learners for the cohort arrangement to yield positive results. It was evident in the support group that similar learning strategies were being employed.
Chairperson: Three men took assignments to go and ask what re-infection means, how it occurs. (One of the men raised his hand to show he wanted to speak and was given a chance to report back).
Sticks was a short young man in his mid-thirties. He had a deep voice and great sense of humour.
Members laughed every time he spoke. He indicated that he had used his bridging social capital
139 networks of lay people, starting with relatives and friends and even proceeding to a neighbouring village, to seek his desired information: ‘I asked two friends living in a village across from mine about re infection’, Sticks said:
Sticks: If you have TB and use medication, then you get another disease, let’s say HIV, you are being re-infected because TB is an infection and HIV also an infection, so you have two infections together that is why it is called re-infection.
This interpretation missed the point of the above stated medical version of re-infection. Sticks said that two or more different diseases attacking one person at the same time was re-infection.
This was an indication that Sticks collected information beyond his level of understanding.
However, his interpretation provided evidence of how the community discourse differed from the medical discourse. Re-infection in his layperson’s term seemed to focus on the notion of ‘re’
meaning ‘two’ so that re-infection was interpreted as two infections.
From my observation, the explanations of re-infection seemed to be overwhelming to these support group members. Gupta et al. (2018) argue that people with limited health literacy often lack knowledge or have misinformation about the body as well as the nature and causes of disease. Such individuals usually remain naïve and misinterpret health terms. Labhardt et al.
(2014) also indicate that in many other countries, health knowledge deficit has a negative impact on behaviour and results in the misinterpretation of crucial terms. Labhardt et al. therefore advocate community learning support for individuals intending to understand the relationship between medical terms and their lifestyle. In this exchange, Sticks was looking down and playing with his bracelet while talking until another member asked him to face the audience (‘taba li mahlong’). Perhaps that was also an indication that Sticks was uncomfortable with a medical discourse which cannot be explained or translated easily as a cultural or behavioural issue.
This medical concept was elaborated further by the second hunter. Lucky was a man in his late forties. He usually volunteered to take on hunting tasks as he believed that his neighbours were always interested and helpful in ensuring that he did his assignments as accurately as possible.
His neighbours proved to be a rich resource for the group’s community of practice and they also acted as source of social capital. Both Woolcock (2001) and Cuddapah (2011) argue that suitable
140 learning can be accessed formally and or informally from individuals that surround the learner (neighbours, family and friends). In this case, however, it would be seen that the complexity of the term could not be fully answered through such bonding or bridging social capital resources alone.
Lucky: Re-infection is, if you are infected with TB and you take treatment to get better and finish your six months of treatment, but after some time that TB comes back again, you become sick and get more medication of TB which also has pills and injection and you can then be treated for more than 6 months. This is because you were re-infected with TB and had a much stronger TB; that is why you are no longer taking pills only but also taking an injection too to fight that re-infection. Re-infection is having the same type of disease twice, yet one had already treated that type of disease when it attacked for the first time.
This interpretation of the medical discourse for the term re-infection used the example of TB, thus showing it did not necessarily always relate to HIV. It also indicated the complexity of the term for lay people because they were supposed to be searching for HIV related re-infection.
However, the third hunter, Rocky also joined in. He was a man in his mid-forties, He usually took his hunting assignment beyond the minimum requirements. He never researched from one person alone but would go to different places for information seeking. He believed that a hunter had to fully understand the information that was collected before taking it to the groups. This time, he indicated that re-infection could also mean transferring the same infection to different people, for instance infecting a spouse and a concubine. He was confident that his explanation was right and simple to understand.
Rocky: I don’t recall this person’s wording, but he said re-infection occurs when one person, who has a certain disease, for instance, who has STIs infects more than one person, going to several people and infecting them can be some kind of re-infection, that person infects and re-infects and re-infects and so on and so forth.
Even the notion of re-infection had different meanings for individuals within this group, because, as a medical term it was effectively a theoretical concept. That is, the word had its own medical meaning. The meaning this hunter gave to the word was on the basis of his daily understanding of the notion of repetition. It appeared therefore that the lay concept of the word was interpreted either as an activity that repeats itself, as a repeated action on one person, or across several
141 people. This created confusion in the group. The explanations produced strong reactions from other group members. There was a roar of response from the men who were listening. They seemed to be roaring because they did not believe it. This was also indicated from the continued conversation below.
Chairperson: Let us keep quiet gentlemen and let these men finish what we have asked them to find out for our benefit. If you feel what he reports is out of line, just keep quiet and wait for your turn. (Looking at the second reporter), are you through my man with your report?
Actually, the chairperson had already realised that Rocky was not yet finished with his explanation. Rocky was hoping that the last portion of his hunted information might be impressive to the members. He believed that varied opinions from people from whom he hunted information gave him an array of information from which he could choose suitable answers for the group. This practice made him the usual hunter (researcher) because he normally contributed even if he was not appointed a hunter. Bates (2014a) indicates that usually socially strong groups need to recognise and accept the uniqueness of their individual members, to realise their different levels of commitment to improve working relations. Bates gave an example that levels of passion in human beings differ. Members need to encourage each other to strive for best performance regarding attainment of their intended group goal. For instance, in this group it was evident that Rocky was allowed to reveal a higher level of passion in hunting tasks than others in the support group.
Rocky: Let me finish off with this small clarification so that my peers (banna bana ba heso) cannot roar like I am lying. (He continued): This individual will first be infected with itchiness, others with very strong discharge (Seso se Setona) (literal translation is a male discharge which has been persistent even when treated with home prepared medication). Another infection will be a very offensive smell, later on he will be infected by the person who has some wounds around the genital area and definitely (kea o hlapanyetsa – I swear) our person will have the same wounds at the same area and you should know that when he has some wounds he is approaching death (o fothola kepa - dies) (he frowned and sat down).
This time, Rocky focused on the symptoms rather than the process of infection through interaction which once more took the audience away from understanding how re-infection
142 occurs. Rather the emphasis was put on what the infection itself may look like. It seemed he painted such a threatening picture in order to emphasise his points to the support group members.
But it also stimulated the group discussion so that several members contributed their own meaning making. The lay definitions of this term prompted several people to respond. Members could sense that each definition that had been collected from hunting was not right. Each of the hunters wanted to share what he had collected with the aim of giving the best information. But the confusion in explanations illustrated that some medical discourses needed to be explained by professionals. Zabie was a tall and slender man in his late thirties. He usually blamed the infection for exposing him to poverty because it drained all his funds before he realised he was HIV infected.
Zabie: I was murmuring because what this gentleman was told about STIs was not true.
But I would rather say, he forgot what was said, like he said, he forgot the words of the person who explained to him. What happened was that, this gentleman had infection, (pointing to a man near him) and that other person also had infection of some other kind, then the first and the second person infect the third, that third person will be infected and re-infected with two diseases. [The presence of] STIs did not mean that it was the STI which was from Mr. X who had STIs initially; there was no way doctors could see that this STI was from Mr. X.
There was a sense that this person was trying to shift the focus of ‘re-infection’ away from its connection with multiple partners because that was an activity that he, as a man, was unwilling to acknowledge in terms of its contribution to re-infections. Instead he argued that it was simply an infection of two separate diseases. Weiner (2015) indicates that a large number of males are unwilling to stop infidelity and cheating. Their behaviour is a set-back to re-infection concerns that usually centre on betrayal and multiple partners. Weiner argues that such behaviour is a threat in the millennial era where TB, STIs and HIV impact negatively on families and marriages. This attitude seemed to be reinforced by another member. Soony was a man in his mid-thirties. He supported Zabie’s opinion and the two were not willing to change their behaviour towards the practice of multiple partners, instead they found means to avoid how re- infection takes place. Their explanation avoided being specific on the negative impact caused by the practice of multiple partners. Soony endeavoured to distinguish between the different explanations, by diverting the group focus on re-infection of HIV to STIs so the concept would carry less weight:
143 Soony: Thank you, Mr. Chairperson, the first hand said exactly what I wanted to say, I wanted to ask the reporter whether he has ever had STIs, then how can one identify that three people who are infected and have seen the doctor were infected by one person?
There is no way how that can be identified, therefore, with your permission Mr.
Chairperson can we throw away this second report and pretend we did not hear it because it is misleading. Thank you!
He sat down and there was clapping from other members. That suggested there was a persistent denial among some of the members of the reality implications behind the medical discourse of re-infection. The suggestion that one can be infected through multiple contacts challenges their own lifestyles of multiple partners, so there was a sense that they chose to side-line the idea that one person can infect multiple partners.
The different explanations of the one term re-infection therefore suggested that lay interpretations of medical discourses needed constantly re-visiting because the lay interpretation was understood in relation to people’s existing meaning perspectives so one would only get a selective understanding. Murphy (2003) and Monyake (2010) argue that subsequently a lay person’s interpretation of health beliefs (for instance: it is a woman’s problem if the family does not have a child) remain embodied in their minds until education regarding such issues is internalised. Therefore, through discussion and further exploration the men would slowly come to terms with the medical version of the terminology. This meeting illustrated how the members were constantly trying to negotiate an understanding of medical concepts in a way that would enable them to internalise their understanding within their own meaning perspectives.
At that point the chairperson intervened and summarised the confusion as a way of introducing the health professional, a female nurse:
Chairperson: Ok! Ok! Guys it is true that re-infection seems to be a difficult topic for us to tackle alone. I am of the view that even the first reporter was not right in all the information he got from two people he asked.
The medical professional was invited to contribute to the understandings expressed in the group.
Since she had heard the men’s own understandings, she was able to build on what they knew and
144 thus provided a clearer explanation. The support group members had demonstrated their devotion to learning and their persistence in trying to simplify complex issues like, for instance, re-infection. They had heard of that medical discourse in health education sessions even before they tested for HIV. The chairperson also illustrated the effectiveness of this community of practice approach by acknowledging the nurse as a form of linking social capital, but only after allowing the members to conduct their own research and discuss their findings. He continued:
Chairperson: However, because we have two topics to discuss let us not waste our time and take too long even when the topic is difficult for us to give out what we know, let us give the nurse a chance to explain what is meant by re-infection so that we all learn from her. Nurse, we wanted to try re-infection on our own before you could help us through but it seems like re-infection is not child’s play, it might take us too long before we get it right. Therefore, I am giving you a chance to talk, we need to admit when we have failed to do our job, or when the task was very difficult for us to handle,… Quiet please! ...
Nurse the platform is yours.
The nurse’s approach also acknowledged the men’s individual efforts. It was significant that she had obtained a degree in adult education and thus appeared to utilise adult education principles by starting where people are. Pitikoe (2016) and Mosuoe (2016) for instance indicate the significance of starting from known learning concepts and proceeding to more complex and unknown issues relating to the same concepts. The nurse took care to encourage their learning strategies, ensured she did not belittle their efforts, and also appealed to their masculinity, thus paving the way for a more receptive appreciation of her own messages, as well as encouraging further efforts to learn independently. Mezirow (2009) argues that a learning process begins with a meaning scheme, which is the collection of concept, belief, judgement and feelings that shape a particular interpretation by linking known concepts to new learning. Mezirow (2009) believes that new learning begins with connections of simpler terms to complex ones. Therefore, it is argued that new learning practices generally need to be connected with older information already familiar to the learner to make learning easier.
Nurse (female): Thank you Mr. Chairperson, I want to thank every one of you gathered here for the sake of learning together. What you do is a great job. I have always wanted to congratulate you for the wise thinking of accessing free education in relation to health issues because you all know how expensive education is these days and I wish none of you is taking these efforts for granted. Education is a treasure that even the most