pitching condom and prevention information in the right way. He said: "It's OK translating an info leaflet into Swahili - but what if the service user
can't read?"
Another significant development of the seminar was evidence that African
men are beginning to work with and find issues in common with gay men.
Che Chiremba said: "Our people love to judge. We judge homosexuals;
we judge people with HIV. We need to remember the saying about removing
the speck in another's eye when we have a log in our own."
Simon Nelson, Black Gay Men's Development Worker at the THT, presented
a report which found that a significant minority of African men in London
reported having sex with other men. He said: "People tell me that
African men who have sex with men are not in need of any targeted prevention
work. Hello? This is a group that straddles the two highest prevalence
groups in the country: the gay community and the African community. Of
course they are a priority!"
Grace Kintu said: "It was a very successful day. It showed what a
big thing HIV stigma still is for men. Up till now there's been a supposition
that men deal more 'courageously' with their HIV than women, when in many
ways the opposite is the case. We need more men-only spaces where they
can discuss their own issues. In many ways African men and gay men have
a lot to learn from each other."
page 3 of 3
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