In order to answer the research questions, my research sample was drawn from the diocese, the PHEP unit, and the congregations who were interviewed in depth and individually. The people who were interviewed were the diocese policy makers, the implementers of the diocese‟s HIV and AIDS programmes (diocese/circuit primary health coordinators and zonal educators),157 and congregants from one parish of each circuit which has an active public health education committee who range from young to old, men and women, widows and orphans and people living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHA). In total there were 49 respondents. Therefore my research sample was adequate because it drew from all levels involved in the HIV and AIDS policy and programmes: the decision making level; the implementation level and the level of recipients.
The first category of my sample consisted of the Executive Council of the diocese which represents the decision makers. The members of this council include: the bishop,
156 KKKT-DK, “Sera ya Dayosisi ya Kupambana na Virusi vya UKIMWI na UKIMWI,” p. 16.
157 Zonal educators are also known as public health education committee members of their circuits.
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assistant bishop, general secretary, deputy general secretary, treasurer, five heads of the circuits (deans) (all these officers are males), circuit layperson representatives and the chairperson for the Women and Youth Departments. Out of the thirty members, eleven participated in my study and therefore this number was an adequate representation of the Executive Council. However, only four of this group of eleven were women. The lack of equal representation of females reflects the male dominance in decision-making boards within the entire structure of the church since this is a trend in the whole diocese and circuit committees. This discrepancy means that women and their issues are at risk of being overlooked, taking into account that women and youth are the most vulnerable to HIV infection due to social, cultural, economical and religious factors.158
The age level of policy makers was between 45 and 67, and six of them were pastors with various positions, while five were lay men and women as mentioned above. All of these participants have attained secondary education except one man with only primary level education. Two of the females in this category were self-employed after their retirement from government positions, whereas two were still working as civil servants.
Their professions range from teaching to accountancy, secretarial work to health care.
The lay male was a peasant farmer. A lay man was included here because one of the circuits did not have a female on this council as mentioned earlier. For a lay-person to become a member of the diocese Executive Council means that he or she has to have been a leader in his/her parish as well as at the circuit level.
The second category of respondents in my sample of research was that of the implementers of the HIV and AIDS programmes of the diocese. This category consisted of public health education coordinators and zonal educators. Out of the five public health education coordinators, four were female nurses and one was a male coordinator. Out of the fourteen zonal educators who were interviewed, seven were males and seven were females. The public health coordinators and zonal educators were chosen because they were key people involved in HIV and AIDS work across the diocese. Overall, in the
158 Kessy, Mallya and Mashindano, “Tanzania,” p. 217. See also Petronilla Samuriwo, “Vulnerable Groups,” in AIDS Law Project, Gender and HIV/AIDS: A Training Manual for Southern African Media and Communicators, Johannesburg: AIDS Law Project, n.d, p. 101.
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above category of respondents there were more women than men. Of interest to this study is that while the category of decision makers at a diocese level is predominantly male, the implementers of the HIV and AIDS programmes are mostly women.
All of the public health education coordinators had secondary education except one, and their ages ranged from 44 to 60 years. Similarly, the zonal educators had different levels of education. Seven out of the fourteen had acquired secondary education of which three were women, and seven had primary school education of which four were women. The age range of the zonal educators was 34 to 68. Since being a zonal educator is a voluntary task, the participants had various professions in the government and leadership positions in the church. Some of them were church elders in their respective parishes.
They had varied professions including health care, veterinarian, parish worker, pastor, evangelist and peasant.
A third category in my research sample was the congregants. The group of congregants was divided into four categories. The first group consisted of PLWHA. Thus, four HIV positive females and three HIV positive males were interviewed. Three of the women were widows while the others were with their partners, who were also HIV positive. The inclusion of PLWHA in this study was an affirmation that HIV and AIDS exists within the church and not only outside the church. In other words, some church members are living with the virus and therefore a response from the church as the body of Christ is required. The age group of PLWHA was 34 to 51. Their age affirms the studies, which state that many HIV-positive individuals in Tanzania as well as other parts of Africa are infected during their reproductive years.159 The education level of all individuals of this category except one was up to primary school level. All were involved in small scale business and farming to earn their living. Only one of them held a position of responsibility in the church as the leader of a group of PLWHA in his parish.
159 Kessy, Mallya and Mashindano “Tanzania,” p. 217. See also Alan Whiteside and Clem Sunter, AIDS:
The Challenge for South Africa, Cape Town: Human Rousseau, 2000, p. 74.
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The second group consisted of older people. Three of them were females and one was male. They were appointed by their parishes because of their involvement with people infected and affected by HIV and AIDS. The age range of the older people among the category of congregants was 50 to 66 years old. One of the women was the chairperson of the Women‟s Department in her parish and a health worker in a government institution. The two other women were counsellors of PLWHA in their parishes. They were also health practitioners in government hospitals but one of them had recently retired and was running her own dispensary close to her homestead. The male older person was a parish fieldworker responsible for matters pertaining to orphans within the parish.
The third group of the sample of congregants consisted of young people. Despite the fact that all efforts were made to have equal gender representation among the youth, one female and three males took part. The youth held various positions in the youth departments in their local parishes. Two were youth secretaries, of whom one was a female; whilst one was a treasurer, and the fourth was a chairperson. The female and one male had secondary education, while the other two males had primary education.
The last group in this category was orphans, consisting of two males and two females.
The age group of the orphans and youth were between 15 and 29, which shows that they were old enough to give relevant information about the pandemic, since it was present in the midst of their families and communities. All of the four orphans who took part in the study were at different levels of secondary education from form one to four.