Sometime in 1981,when Zimbabwe was barely two years old,medical scientists announced the discovery of a new human virus,called HIV.It sounded like any other discovery associated with American sophistication.Romours of the disease neither disturbed the regullar revellers who patronised the trendy night clubs of Zims towns.
The moral pervesion associated with these places of entertainment was not affected by the trifling references to this new virus.The culture of promiscuity that had become entrenched ,as a way of growing up,was not affected either.no urgency whatsoever was imposed by the consciusness of the new virus.This was partly because of its manifestations in the USA,where it was associated with drug peddlers and homesexuals.This made it easy for black people in Zim to dismiss AIDS as a white mans disease.thus the disease was added to the list of jokes that did the rounds in the urban ghetto.Many, a man in their ignorance .continued to buy the HIV virus and bring it to their wives as part of his marital obligations.The younger generation of the 80swere cynical of HIV/AIDS and made a big joke of the acronomy AIDS as something that referred to the American Idea To Discourage Sex.And in spite of the new virus life went on.