Sizwe’s Test: A Young Man’s Journey Through Africa’s AIDS Epidemic
At the age of twenty-nine, Sizwe Magadla is among the most handsome, well-educated, and richest of the men in his poverty-stricken village. Dr. Hermann Reuter, a son of old South West African stock, wants to show the world that if you provide decent treatment, people will come and get it, no matter their circumstances. Sizwe and Hermann live at the epicenter of the greatest plague of our times, the African AIDS epidemic. In South Africa alone, nearly 6 million peopl… More >>
Sizwe’s Test: A Young Man’s Journey Through Africa’s AIDS Epidemic
Topic: africa, african aids epidemic, aids, decent treatment, sizwe, village dr
The fundamental question that Mr Steinberg wrestles with is why people may choose not to take drugs that may preempt death. His honesty, sensitivity and tenacity enable him to explore the dynamics of a rural South African community in a way that I’ve not encountered. And yes, the man can write.
Rating: 5 / 5
So much more than a book about AIDS. This is a nuanced, personal, revealing account of one man (Sizwe), his interlocutor (Jonny) and a doctor who figures out how best to deliver services to HIV+ people in the countryside. It examines personalities and policies with equal depth and wisdom. There are no cartoon-character bad guys, just complicated situations, ignorance, bureaucracy, and a great deal of stigma. It is gracefully and thoughtfully written, never trite, seldom judgmental, and sharp as a new blade. I, however, will be trite: “If you read only one book on AIDS in sub-saharan Africa, this is a great choice.”
Rating: 4 / 5
Heartwrenching account of the conflicts between modern medicine and daily life in Africa in the midst of the worlds most horrific AIDS epidemic. A stirring call for action and compassion. Should be required reading for all world leaders.
Rating: 5 / 5
The first half of Sizwe’s Test contains some of the best first person ethnographic writing I have read in years. It is nuanced, funny, sad, truthful and horrifying to read. But about roughly half way through this book the author shifts gears and does something so despicable that it made me want to throw this book away. The ethnography of HIV in this book turns out to be a foil for the author’s own struggle with the morality of HIV disease, hence the name Sizwe’s Test which boldly suggests that the HIV test that the title refers to is indeed a moral one. I found this implication so repugnant and so totally in opposition to the thrust of the first part of this book it filled me with speechless anger at the author when I realized his slight of hand. This book is not about South Africa, or HIV, it is about morality in it sneakiest guise. Everything, race, poverty, sexuality, mortality, is subsumed to this drive in the author to have clarity for himself at the expense of others. Lastly, the author, who is a white South African, has a palpable hatred for his post-apartheid government, in particular Mbeki, and takes up the stick that has been used many times to use the HIV epidemic to beat and tarnish black rule in South Africa with the accusation that the malfeasance and nepotism of this government coupled with its non-scientific HIV policy-making is to blame for the deaths caused by HIV. This is a malicious distortion of a complicated public health problem that only perpetuates a host of racist and moralistic interpretations of death. I am sorry to everyone who wants to feel levity when they think of the dying world beyond their door, but there really is no Test.
Rating: 2 / 5
Mr Steinberg has written a very interesting book which I highly recommend to readers who want to learn more about the economic, political, medical and cultural obstacles in the fight against HIV in South Africa (and I think much of what Steinberg writes about is also very relevant for other African countries).
I particularly liked the sections of the book (which are largely prevalent) where the author simply reports on events and conversations. The book becomes more speculative and in my opinion just a bit pretentious when he tries to theorize about his experiences. But this is a little downside in a very well written book which apparently (judging from the very low number of reviews and the Amazon ranking) not enough people have read. I am grateful to the author for his work, and to “Sizwe” and the other characters of this book for sharing their thoughts and experiences with us.
Two books you may be interested in reading if you liked this one are LeBlanc’s “Random Family: Love, Drugs, Trouble, and Coming of Age in the Bronx” and Racine & Racine’s “Viramma: Life of an Untouchable”. Very different subjects for sure, but both are equally interesting and well-written books about lives of individuals in troubled environments which most readers will be only marginally familiar with.
Rating: 5 / 5