Scary films that scare us the right way

When I was a child my mother always warned me against watching horror movies at night. Now that I think of it, that was a rather strange warning, given that nobody watches horror movies during the daytime. Anyways, recently, I've accidentally come upon a different type of horror film that has started giving me nightmares or mildly disturbing dreams. This type of horror film is not scary in the traditional horror movie way. It's scary because of my realization that a lot of people may not be taking their lives and other people's lives seriously.

In my quest to become a more cultured individual with cultural knowledge from all over the world, I search for and watch tv shows from several countries. As a result of this, I stumbled upon 'Love games' from Zambia and 'Shuga' from Kenya. These tv shows started off on light topics of love and sex and progressed to HIV and AIDS very soon. They show lifestyles that cause the Human Immunodeficiency Virus to spread like wildfire. By this, I mean quite regular people living regular lives, except that some cheat. 

For example in season 1 of 'Shuga', this woman had a habit of partying and getting drunk, occasionally having sex with random men and forgetting to use condoms sometimes. One night she had sex with her ex boyfriend, who one would think is better than a random guy, but he ends up being the one to give her HIV. In another episode, this guy and his girlfriend got tested for HIV and decided to stop using condoms then on her birthday, he neglected her, so she slept with his best friend. The next day, she made up with her boyfriend had sex with him and the next thing you know, they all had HIV because the guy's best friend was an unknown carrier. 

In love games, the people who contracted the disease were more mature. For example, a woman who had been in a long term relationship contracted it from her partner who cheated on her. She found out long after when she wanted to get more intimate with her next boyfriend. Another woman had sex with everything that moved for everything she wanted - money, job, grades, etc., and she thought condoms didn't feel good, so she didn't use them. An old respectable, married judge had a woman on the side, who had another man on the side (with two wives and other women on the side) got HIV. The judge started getting treatment but neglected to tell his wife. Good thing she was always holding out on the sex and quarreling with him, so she did not contract the disease. 

These people, as do most people in life, swear that they are loyal to their spouses, but the diseases they carry tell a different story. Even messing up just once can lead to permanent illnesses! 

Of course the shows are about more than just the careless and reckless way people live, it also shows how they deal with the disease after realizing that they have it. They show ways to deal with it, like changing your lifestyle and managing your health. In 'Love games', an HIV negative guy married an HIV positive woman and they had an HIV negative baby together. They procreated the natural way, while following the doctors orders to a tee. I didn't know that was even possible until  I watched that tv show. 

These two shows that I've stumbled upon scare the shit out of me, but they also teach me a lot about this lifestyle disease that enough people don't seem scared of. Every time I think of cheating, I think of HIV, herpes and genital warts and the thought goes away. And every time the conversation of leaving the condom in the sachet comes up, I opt to trust the condom manufacturer a little more than my spouse. Trust is important, but spouses sometimes mess up and they may not mean to give you a disease, but they just might. So, avoid that mess. Wear a condom every time!!! Love safely!  (http://safelovezambia.org/category/love-games-zambia/)

Love Games - season 1 episode 1

Shuga - Season 1 episode 1