Rotarians are secular. It is easy to forget that there are secular groups in America who are mainstream and not religious in any way. I applaud their effort to fight AIDS. We need to present a secular face to the world in this fight. My question is, “Are we presenting a secular face to the world?”
A press release today announced that a Rotary Action Group Helps Launch Major Public-Private HIV Prevention Initiative in Kenya. On the surface I am happy. It is deep down where I feel my discomfort. Something is not right here.
The Rotarians have partnered with the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). And partnering with the Bush Administration comes with a few strings attached. Like limits on what services can be provided. Here is an example of the help Kenyan children between the ages of 10 and 24 years of age will receive.
For example, one partner, a division of Warner Bros. Entertainment, has worked with PEPFAR to create an interactive, multi-player computer game, "Pamoja Mtaani" ("Together in the Hood") to show teens how to identify and avoid risky behaviors. Another partner, the toy manufacturer Hasbro, will carry the message to the younger set with specially designed toys and games.
A video game that teaches what? Abstinence?
The game features five characters brought together through random circumstance, each having lost what is most precious to them; together, they must seek justice and recover what was taken, as well as help an injured woman and seek guidance on their quest from the mystical Mama Africa. "As they work their way through various neighborhoods, they uncover and experience barriers and facilitators to behavior change,"
I video game in economically challenged Kenya where 40% of the population is out of work and poverty is a fact of life. I don’t get how this makes sense. Also, the video game teaches a child how to behave – is anyone else bothered by the overt attempt at evangelism? It feels like the fudie effort to replace Evolution with Intelligent Design in public schools. You know, just don’t call it religion.
The program suggests that we can prevent AIDS by preventing children from having sex until they are married… Say what? If you don’t call it abstinence, then it is not a Christian effort to control behavior. Condoms work better than abstanace programs. Where are the condoms?
Oh, and call me a cynic, but this also smells like market development. No?
