People with H.I.V. speak out
Statistics indicate that virtually every adult Belizean is acquainted with someone who carries H.I.V., the virus that causes
AIDS. What makes it interesting is that you don’t know who they are. The question News 5’s Jacqueline Woods confronted this morning was: should it matter?
Jacqueline Woods, Reporting
Look at the faces of these men and women. How many of them would you say are H.I.V. Positive? The question may be a difficult one to answer but the truth is all of these persons are living with the virus. The message is powerful as it drives home the point that H.I.V. and AIDS does not discriminate; it affects anyone.
Emmerson Talbert, Activist, H.I.V./AIDS
?That?s one of the main factor about this disease because people underestimate it. People are looking on the outside and say but I can?t see H.I.V. there. A lot of people say that me and I try to take away that misconception immediately.?
Thirty-four year old Emmerson Talbert is presently serving time at Hattieville Prison. However most of that sentence is spent talking to fellow inmates about H.I.V. and AIDS. It was four years ago that he found out that he had contracted the virus.
Emmerson Talbert
?The first two years were really rough; how to cope with it, how to accept myself as I am and dealing with family support and friends. It was really hard but after the third year, I kind of got a wake up call and I decided that I got to take charge of my life.?
There are just under twenty-five hundred people who are H.I.V. positive in Belize. But because the number represents only those cases that have been recorded, the Ministry of Health suspects that an even larger number of persons may have the virus and do not even know it.
Rodel Beltran Perera, Executive Director, Alliance Against AIDS
?That again is something sad to say that it is not improving, the numbers continue to increase and I think that our response is not happening as fast as it can be.?
Alliance Against AIDS Executive Director, Rodel Beltran Perera, says because persons with H.I.V. look healthy it is easy to be deceived by the appearances. So how do we fight against the disease? The Central American Regional Network of H.I.V. positive persons better known as REDCA has brought together twenty-three of its participants to share their experiences and discuss what can be done to improve their living conditions.
Rodel Beltran Perera
?There are people from Panama, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras that are here and all these delegates are opened about their H.I.V. status.?
?The importance of holding a meeting Like this in Belize is going to show Belizeans that the danger out there is not the person that is ill and has AIDS, that the dangers of the epidemic or the pandemic as we are describing it is that people that look normal and look very healthy can be H.I.V. positive.?
Thirty-nine year old Edith Tristan, a Panamanian national, has been living with H.I.V. for the past fifteen years. The disease claimed the lives of her husband and seven-year-old son. Today, Tristan is a member of the International Community of H.I.V. Positive Women
Edith Tristan, Delegate, Panamá
?The International Community of H.I.V. Positive Women is fighting for recognition for their rights, for protection, to improve our lives and to empower ourselves not only as women but also as H.I.V. positive women.?
Emmerson Talbert
?Where there is life, there is hope and that is what I as an activist and as a person living positive, try to bring through to other people even those who are not infected but are affected by this virus.?
?I feel quite uncomfortable to think about the situation and how far backwards we are as a nation and to be dealing with our own people. This is why I am a part of this workshop right now so as to help empower and educate my fellow Belizeans to accept us. We need them as much as they need us because no one can tell it better than a person who feels it and who knows it.?
Like REDCA?s Secretary Erickson Chiclayo. Chiclayo, a Guatemalan has been living with H.I.V. for the past thirteen years.
Erickson Chiclayo, Secretary, REDCA
?We want to strengthen, empower H.I.V. positive Belizeans. We want to do that in the entire region, we want to make more visible H.I.V. positive persons and we would also like to push the issue of access to medication, to see that medication is available to everybody.?
?I believe that H.I.V. positive persons are able to contribute to society in all areas and people need to recognise that not because we are sick we are no longer able to work and participate in our respective communities.?
Forty-nine year old Lydia Spain says when she found out that she had contracted the virus she thought about committing suicide. Today she is a lot stronger despite the many challenges.
Lydia Spain, Activist, H.I.V./AIDS
?Sometimes when you go around people treat you funny, people feel like if they hug you they are going to catch AIDS from you or if they drink out of your cup they are going to catch it from you. It is not like that and my opportunity, I have two weeks that I come out of prison and I really want to go forward and just teach people that even if you have AIDS you can still live. You can come out of that dog hole that you are in and just come and find help, seek help because if you don?t you?ll just stay there and die.?
The participants say now that they have come forward it is their hope that people–especially young ones–take anyone for granted and take the necessary steps to protect themselves. The information shared will be included in a document called the declaration of Belize by persons living with H.I.V. throughout the region. Jacqueline Woods for News 5.
