NEW YORK - Having had some success dispelling the myth that the blood of virgins cures AIDS, Zimbabwean Betty Makoni is now also fighting what she calls a root cause of the disease -- poverty.
"Many girls don't have anything to eat or drink. Then a sugar daddy comes and says, 'If you have sex with me I will give you money,' and they are likely to take the money and get infected with HIV/AIDS," the founder of non-profit anti-rape group the Girl Child Network said in an interview in New York.
Zimbabwe's AIDS rate and poverty levels make Makoni's job no easy task. The country has one of the weakest economies in the world. Fewer than one in four citizens have jobs, and the inflation rate is the world's highest, hitting 7,600 percent in July.
One in five adults has AIDS, according to the United Nations, a level that has helped sink the country's average life expectancy into the 30s, from nearly 60 in 1990. Girls and women are far more likely to have the disease than men.
Makoni, who herself was raped at an early age, formed the GCN in 1998. A former schoolteacher, she was moved when two thirds of her girl pupils had left class by the end of the year because they got AIDS, were married away to members of religious sects, or had to return to work in their homes.
"Betty inspires these girls to do work I haven't seen in any other country," said Paola Gianturco, author of a new book titled "Women Who Light the Dark," published this month by powerHouse books, in which Makoni is featured.
The GCN now operates in the majority of Zimbabwe's rural districts with 450 clubs serving 30,000 girls and is beginning to expand into nearby countries.
