Page 66 - The Power to Change Anything

Change the Way You Change Minds 55

many of the locals held completely inaccurate beliefs about
AIDS. For instance, some thought that you could be cured
of AIDS by having sex with a virgin. To demonstrate the cause
and effect of AIDS, writers created a flamboyant, macho, and
highly controversial truck driver named Mkwaju. He abused
his wife, wanted only male children, drank excessively, en-
gaged in unprotected sex with prostitutes along his route, and
bragged about his escapades. His wife, Tutu (a model for
female independence), eventually leaves him and succeeds in
her own small business.
The philandering Mkwaju (who eventually dies of AIDS)
became so real to the listening audience that when the actor
playing him went to a local vegetable market, villagers recog-
nized his voice and women actually threw stones at him!
To see the emotional and behavioral impact firsthand, we
(the authors) interviewed several listening groups just outside
Tanzania’s capital city. One family group consisting of a father,
mother, grandmother, aunt, and five grown children had reli-
giously tuned in to the wild antics of Mkwaju and had been
enormously affected. When we asked them exactly how the
program had influenced them, the father explained that at first
he had admired Mkwaju, but with time he concluded that the
truck driver’s reckless behaviors were causing pain to his wife,
Tutu, and their children.
After tuning in to the show for several weeks, the father had
come to sympathize with all the characters, and one day when
sweet Tutu was hurt by her alcoholic husband, a light went
on—his own wife was also suffering from similar treatment.
Although this avid listener wasn’t a truck-driving philanderer,
he had abused alcohol. A part of him was Mkwaju. From that
moment on he stopped abusing both alcohol and his family
members. It seemed strange that this self-discovery would come
through a contrived radio show, but as the transformed father
finished his story, everyone in his family nodded in energetic
agreement. He had truly changed.