|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
You Are
Here: |
Local News
 |
|
|
|
|
Monday, September 10, 2001 - Web posted at 9:34:50 am GMT 'Stuff the stigma'CHRISTOF MALETSKYAIDS has turned the Kavango region into a killing field and will wipe out enough young people to create households with only orphans and grandparents during the next few years. Galvanised by the crisis, a group of 130 HIV-positive people, most of them between 15 and 25 years, declared their status publicly at Rundu on Saturday. The event put a face on official statistics that Kavango bears the distinction of having one of Namibia's largest HIV-positive populations. The real impact was felt when the group, some with poverty written all over their faces but singing 'I surrender all', entered a packed St Mary's Parish Church, to the applause of around 600 people inside. They gathered, some out of curiosity, others to sympathise and a few concerned that they might have had sexual intercourse with one of the 130. The group is the Kavango branch of Lironga Eparu, which means "learn to survive". "Our people suffer and our children weep. AIDS is the wolf and we are the sheep," Father Dennis said as he opened the gathering with a prayer. The 130 members answered, "Lord, give us knowledge and strength". They wore t-shirts on which was printed "I'm living positive[ly]. Do you? " They prayed to be armed with courage, compassion and care.Spurred on by now veteran HIV-AIDS campaigner Emma Tuahepa-Kamapoha, as well as the frail yet courageous former secondary school principal Roswitha Maswahu Ndumba, the group's main aim is to break down the stigma, take care of the infected and affected and to set up a counselling centre." "In five years' time, we want to eliminate HIV [from the face of Kavango]. Coming out is the first step to do away with discrimination," Ndumba told the gathering. Better known as Roswitha, the 40 year-old lost her soldier husband two years ago due to an AIDS-related illness. She warned that those contributing to the stigma, "you don't know whether you are the next". Roswitha vowed to lead until she dies. "If I die, one of you will take over," she told the group who responded with a ululation. There were concerns that Roswitha would not make the ceremony. She had to fight off several bouts of opportunistic diseases, with bruises from the latest still visible on her arms. Health Deputy Minister Richard Kamwi was touched by what he saw and described the objectives of the group as "noble". "I admire you. You may be subjected to difficult situations but please keep up your good spirits. Your sacrifices will be worth it in the long run. You help us save lives. You have, indeed, taken on a great responsibility," he said. Kamwi said it was important that the infected and affected come together to share experiences and called on the Lironga Eparu national leadership to establish similar groups all over the country. "Welcome to our extended family. We must work together to fight AIDS. There is no choice about it," he said. He urged the church in the country to reclaim its historical role of leading the fight as it had against the apartheid regime in the past. Kamwi said around 16 per cent of pregnant women from Kavango tested HIV-positive during the last survey by his ministry. He said it was important to note that behind the statistics were humans. "They need to live with dignity," he said, through practical support that must be rendered by the community. "Prejudices reduce a human being to a thing - a thing like a disease. It destroys the dignity of a sufferer". Dr Yuri Yangazov, acting Medical Superintendent of Rundu Hospital, told The Namibian half the hospital's patients die of AIDS-related illnesses with the disease being the number one cause of death in the region. Some 70 per cent of their TB patients were also HIV positive, he said. Emma, the first Namibian to publicly declare she had contracted HIV through sexual intercourse, called for love, care and support for the group. "Don't isolate us. Don't throw us away," she said. She urged group members to keep the virus to themselves and to abstain from unprotected sex. "I told myself 'it is my virus, I'm not gonna infect somebody else'," the young woman, who discovered her status eight years ago, said. Most importantly, she pointed out that the group's move would be worth nothing if there was no supportive mechanism from both Government and the community to keep them going. Catholic AIDS Action national co-ordinator Lucy Steinitz said the group will change the face of AIDS in Namibia. "By going public, by sharing one's status with friends and family, the person who is infected with HIV breaks down the barriers of isolation and can live longer, more positively and more supported by others," she said. The ceremony was also attended by Basic Education Minister John Mutorwa. |
  |
|
| |
| Material on this site copyright The Namibian PO Box 20783 - Windhoek - 42 John Meinert Street Tel: +264 (61) 236970 - Fax: +264 (61) 233980 e-mail: info@namibian.com.na webmaster@namibian.com.na
|
