What the Scribes Saw, Heard, and Scribbled
By David Aduda The journalists who contributed to this book went through diverse experiences as they sought to interview and document accounts of teachers living with HIV. In all, the exercise offered a unique chance for journalists to talk not only to individuals infected and affected by this epidemic, but to engage and interact closely with a group with multiple roles in society. Teachers are professionals; they are perceived in a different way and are expected to lead a different lifestyle. But they are also parents, husbands or wives, and members of a community. While the tendency is to view them as professionals or opinion shapers, hence insulated against the vagaries of nature—like diseases—our interaction with them demonstrated that they also have their frailties, which are rarely open to the public. The media in Sub-Saharan Africa is replete with stories on HIV. In most cases, the stories are reported in general terms. At times, the situation is exaggerated and made to look too gloomy. Those affected are treated as statistics; figures without faces; and facts without flesh and blood. Whereas in the past HIV was a captivating, in fact, compelling story, it has become a common subject in recent years. Journalists no longer treat
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