There is no Siswati word for consequence, outcome or result yes but not consequence. Consequence implies that you have some control over your actions, and that a good action will result in a positive outcome; while a negative behavior or action will result in a bad outcome. The control lies with the individual, and in a Western individualistic society we really believe that it does. However, in a fatalistic animistic society, the control is external. Things just happen…
All this to say, we tried to teach a lesson on values and beliefs and to talk with the adolescent girls at camp about how behaviors have consequences, and during the lesson the girls told us there was no Siswati word for consequence. When we looked up this word in the dictionary at home, we found this was true. Some concepts just don’t translate.
How do you teach about preventing HIV or teen pregnancy, in a country with one of the highest rates of HIV infection and disease in the world and one of the lowest life expectancies, when the idea that behaviors have consequences is a foreign one?
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