Untold stories - People living with HIV/AIDS open window to their worlds

Laura Redpath, Senior Gleaner Writer

The National AIDS Committee is allowing for easier access to stories from persons living with HIV/AIDS, as well as those who are affected.

Persons living with and affected by HIV/AIDS will be generating their own written content as they blog about their lives on a weekly basis.

These blogs, personal accounts on the National AIDS Committee website, will be penned by at least five writers. They will provide readers with more intimate access to people with stories to share despite the taboo nature of the discussion that surrounds HIV/AIDS.

The National AIDS Committee is looking forward to feedback as it launches this blog just in time for World AIDS Day on December 1.

"We would like to see comments," said Soroya Julian, communications officer with the National AIDS Committee.

"A lot of persons may want to talk about their lives without letting people know who they are," she continued.

Free expression

In a release from the committee, Carol Miller, executive director, said the blogging facility would help in creating a space for persons living with HIV/AIDS to freely express themselves.

An excerpt from a blog entry under the pseudonym Mongrel Watch-dog tells the story of interaction with a woman who is known as 'Stripper':

"(Stripper) further explained that she is on treatment at the government clinic and that it is going well. So I ask about the social worker and how was that relationship. She explained, 'They said that they really can't help me either, but I am not giving up.'

"I was surprised to hear that because I have always thought that the social workers were doing a magnificent job visiting, assessing, providing a minimum package of social support and referring HIV-positive persons to other entities for additional help. I concluded that she is supporting the informal economy although her trade is not considered legal. She appeared worried about selling sex, the possibility of spreading HIV, abuse from her clients, and harassment by the police," Mongrel Watch-dog wrote.