Workshop seeks faith-based approach to fighting HIV stigma
With the widely available information on HIV/AIDS in our region, it’s hard to imagine that some people still react with fear, even hatred against people diagnosed with the virus. But it happens… and more frequently than we imagine. What can be done? Well some believe that the way to change people’s attitudes is by going through existing channels, in this case, their faith in God and their dedication to the church. Today Jacqueline Woods met a man who has not only gone public with his HIV status, he is going to the pulpits.
Jacqueline Woods, Reporting
Forty-year-old Ainsley Reid, a Jamaican national, knows all too well what it is like living with HIV. Since he went public with his medical condition, Reid was not only fired from his government job, but he has been shunned by society, and repeatedly stabbed. Reid is not alone. It is reported that over five hundred thousand people in the Caribbean are living with HIV and AIDS. Most of these persons are being stigmatised and discriminated against because of their health status. Reid believes they should not be treated any differently than persons who are living with other diseases.
Ainsley Reid, HIV Positive
“Discrimination because I have been asked to leave my job. Discrimination because I have been hurt you know in ways that regular people, people who are not HIV positive are not discriminated against. I think for me, I have had so many painful experiences. One, I can remember I was stabbed up in Kingston and that has really been for me, been a big mark in my experience with living with HIV/AIDS.”
In Belize, the situation is no different. Many of the four thousand people diagnosed with HIV and AIDS are struggling to live a normal life as possible. Many experience withdrawal or take their own lives to escape from the misery. Only a few are propelled to stand up against all the hurt. Reid is one such person. Today he is at the forefront of building a faith based response to HIV and AIDS in the Caribbean. Reid, a member of the Caribbean Conference of Churches, is presently in Belize encouraging religious leaders, clergy, sisters, lay ministers and other community leaders to get involved in the fight to prevent the spread of HIV and AIDS and provide care and support for persons, especially those in their own congregation living with the disease
Ainsley Reid
“Faith based leaders are opinion shapers. When pastors, priests, fathers, reverends get in that pulpit, you know they are shaping opinion of regular people. The old lady with a little handbag who comes to church will sit down and listen; her opinion is shape by that sermon. The gentleman who is big and strong and sits on the choir, his opinion is shaped by that sermon. The children in Sunday School, in Sabbath school, in all those different faith organisations or organisations of faith, the opinions are shaped by what they are taught.”
It is hoped that as a result of the workshop the churches and faith communities will formulate a plan of action that they will use to help raise the awareness and help those who are in need. Jacqueline Woods for News Five.
