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Keiskamma Altarpiece
photo by Bob Butler	The Keiskamma Altarpiece was created by more than a hundred women in the impoverished village of Hamburg, South Africa to remember their family and friends who are sick with HIV or have already died of AIDS. Approximately one third of Hamburg’s 3,500 residents are HIV positive. Most of the dead are men who leave behind families. Many of their children, some also infected, are now being raised by their grandmothers.The altarpiece was the idea of Dr. Carol Baker Hofmyer, who started an AIDS clinic in Hamburg in 2000. At the time no one in the village knew why so many peope were dying. A few of the women began to come in for AIDS testing, but men stayed away. Dr. Hofmyer found an ally in Eunice Mangwane who began the arduous task of educating villagers about the disease.
photo by Bob Butler	Mangwane took the stage dressed in colorful traditional Xhosa clothing fitted with small bells that jingled as she moved. She began her remarks by singing and then detailed her struggle to convince people that AIDS was the problem. In the beginning people did not believe what she was saying and she had a very difficult time overcoming their cultural biases. In fact her family in Hamburg tried to banish her by literally packing her clothes and belongings. Mangwane refused to back down. The doctor suggested a sewing project as a way to bring in revenue and win the trust of the villagers. In 2004 the villagers began work on the altarpiece, which is patterned after the Isenhein Altarpiece of the 16th century.
photo by Aaron Morrison	“What I need to emphasize is that altarpiece was the actual breaking of the barriers between those that were infected by HIV/AIDS and myself and the others who were trying to let them know that they were not dying from being bewitched, they weren’t dying because there were White men in airplanes that sprinkled AIDS powder,” Mangwane told the crowd at Grace Cathedral. “We had to educate them to let them know that they are not dying because they were not performing their rituals in the proper way for their ancestors. We had to let them know this was not a cultural illness. Those were the reasons people of Hamburg knew that they were dying.”
photo by Aaron Morrision	This is not uncommon in Africa, where the lack of education, especially in rural villages, make people more readily accept folklore than science. When Mangwane told villagers about the project many were reluctant to participate for fear that they would get AIDS. But slowly people got involved when they realized it was a way to memorialize their loved ones. The villages worked in groups of ten and people began to share personal stories as they grew more comfortable with each other. The Altarpiece is a one-ton structure that resembles a mural. The outside shows a woman and some children standing at a grave. The bottom depicts the funeral of a man who died after swimming in the river. The inside panels contain pictures of grandmothers, including Mangwane, and the grandchildren they are now raising.
photo by Aaron Morrison	“The people of Hamburg, when they realized they were not dying of the things I mentioned, (that) they were dying of a virus, they wanted to share the altarpiece with others.” Mangwane said residents in Hamburg now undergo testing. Those who contract HIV, including many of the child victims, are able to take antiretroviral drugs. Men still publicly resist going to the clinic but Mangwane says some are now willing to get tested in private. The altarpiece is on display at Grace Cathedral until May 27th.
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