Women, Girls, HIV and AIDS

Women,Girls, HIV and AIDS
Songs of Life

RESILIENCE
The most remarkable thing about the women that I have worked with in this programme is their resilience . Women, who in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds manage to bounce back from depression, feeling suicidal, illness, abuse, poverty and still reach for life – not just survival but a full life with all the hopes and desires of any woman whether HIV positive or not. Hopes for belonging, love, babies, a home, a job, joy. They hold on to life with a tenacity that shouts, “HIV is not all of me!” I have worked with women left behind by partners who no longer want them because they are HIV positive. Left behind in grief by sons and spouses who have died from AIDS. Left to care for children stigmatized by communities, who refuse to understand that HIV is not a curse, cannot leap through air and does not change the fact that a child orphaned or grieving needs help, not hurt. Emotionally left behind by families who have consigned them to death with their cruel words of blame, barbs of shame. I have met the “S-heroes” unashamed to say that they are positive so that others might also feel entitled to their rightful place on earth. S-heroes who battle with medical mettle for their patients long after loved ones have given up on them. The S-heroes who embrace and mother the babes left orphaned by AIDS and discrimination. Those who mother the mothers too young to yet know what mothering is. Sheroes whose hearts are bigger that any epidemic and whose care is cure! Sheroes who struggle long after hours, above and beyond the call of duty and their pittance of a salary and at the expense of their health, to do their “calling”. I have seen here womanhood rise against HIV put shoulder to the wheel with men, forget the gender wars and fight the common enemy.

Ayana - St. Vincent & the Grenadines (32))

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LOVE
Friends, there is no one way to live with HIV/AIDS and no one way to respond to its challenges. I have had diarrhoea, allergic reactions, nausea, fevers, coughing, dizzy spells, fatigue, sometimes all at the same time. I have had to take lots of medication. Yes, it is rough and could be very scary. A few nights were filled feeling I would never make it. It was a very dark time. One way or the other, I carried on. Slowly, a glimmer of light started to drown out the darkness. HOPE seems to be more than just an elusive dream. I started to look healthy again and more importantly, felt like I was living instead of dying. Now life is more like a probability than just a mere possibility. But I couldn't have done this alone. I made sure that I became as informed and knowledgeable as I could. I listened, I asked questions, attended lectures, seminars, support groups and tried to experience LOVE as much as I could. Love from friends, families, colleagues, brothers and sisters living with HIV/AIDS and from Almighty God. It didn't take away the loss that seemed to walk with me everywhere I went, but as time went on, I began to feel a freedom from its grip and literally began to learn how to stop and smell the roses again. I am not sure what the future holds for me, but I know where I have been. Because of all this, I am able to take a number of pills per day(used to be 33 now 22 ). I am not cured , but in some ways, I feel healed . My body bears the scars of this virus and my heart and soul are deeply bruised. I am still here. There is still a lot to be done, a lot left to experience and a lot of life left to live. The late Martin Luther King Jr. said in his speech, “I believe that unnamed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality …….. I still believe that we shall overcome”.

Petranilla - Tobago (45)

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UNDERSTANDING
My sexual orientation has been a challenge for me everywhere but within my family structure. My family accepted my choice to be a lesbian quite easily and our bond as a family was never affected. However within the field that I am involved, though one would expect that things would be different there, keeping in mind that those I work with are all trained health care providers within the field of HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infections (STIs), these people have been my only challenge in the eleven years that I have lived with the choice I have made regarding my acceptance of my sexual orientation. Discrimination, discomfort and tears have been a result from my time with these people. I have but one friend among my co-workers and this friend is heterosexual, however the only one who seems to be comfortable with her own sexuality and unlike other members of staff, she is not moved by society associating her to being a lesbian as a result of her friendship with me. And this has been my biggest challenge as a lesbian, people calling themselves friends but being afraid that by hanging out with lesbians they may be stigmatised and branded as such. Nwanyioma - Trinidad (30) SILENT SOLDIERS - The challenge is discrimination. To care is to cure. They are the silent soldiers One in every nine Fighting the ultimate battle Their bodies the front line Their armour is their courage Divest of hair and flesh To win they must consume elixirs of death Unwillingly they march into the bloody fray Their struggle often secreted, ashamed by light of day They are the silent soldiers Our Mothers, Sisters, Friends The bravest ones among us We stand in awe of them

Ayana - S t. Vincent & the Grenadines (32)

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