Braving stigma and shame

By JAMES APA GUMUNO
IT takes brave women like Wilfred Loye to lead the campaign to break the stigma and discrimination against HIV and people living with AIDS in the highlands.
This is a region where the stigma against HIV/AIDS is strong.
It is where people, known to be living with HIV and their families, are shunned. People living with HIV/AIDS and their families are shamed.
People whisper that they are cursed by God and do not go near them or to their houses.
But, Wilfred, who is living with HIV, believed this could change with the help of the community.
With love and affection from her family and tribesmen and women, she is living like nothing had changed.
“Life is normal. I cannot see any difference because I have lived with AIDS for nine years now,” she said.
Loye told a big crowd at the Pope John Paul oval in Mt Hagen during World AIDS Day celebrations yesterday that fear and discrimination were reducing the life span of those living with the virus.
She said with good support from her family and tribesmen and women, she was able to come out publicly, and was not ashamed to speak about her HIV status and what was needed to be done to contain the spread of the deadly virus.
She said she lived four years without ART drugs after her diagnosis, and then started taking the drugs.
She is a member of True Warriors, a group comprising 200 people living with HIV and based in Western Highlands. The group is actively involved in the campaign for HIV testing and counselling, for care and love and against discrimination.
She said there was hope where people with the virus would live long.
Loye appealed to other people living with the virus, but afraid to come out openly, to come and join her group.
She said together, as a group, they would support one another and live a longer life.
She urged them to also seek medication at the nearby hospital.
She also appealed to other people to go for voluntarily testing and know their HIV/AIDS status.
School children, women’s groups, non-governmental organisations including stakeholders involved in the fight against HIV/AIDS took part in yesterday’s activities.