The power of positive living

There is no doubt that the HIV/AIDS scourge has devastating effect on the people infected, their families and the society at large.

However, being infected does not signal the end of life; or the end to living; or the end of ones existence. Even when positive, one can live an extremely productive life. Here I will highlight two such individuals:

Ron -

November 3, 2006 will mark seven years since being diagnosed – four days before my forty-first birthday – some gift, huh?

When I was told I had AIDS then about PML (Progressive Multi-focal Leucoencephalopathy), my T-cells were ten (yep 1-0) and my viral load was 500,000+ and given the bleak prognosis of dying in three to six months.

Obviously, I didn’t, but as my strength improved, my T-cells rose nearing 200 and VL dropped to maybe 15,000 by May 2000, I was removed from hospice because I was no longer considered a terminal case. BUT, I was reminded that 200 was the highest level I would maintain and my viral load (VL) 5,000 to 10,000 during the two (yep 2) years I could expect to live by all these “experts” that I traveled to or my sister e-mailed.

Well, I have surpassed my so-called expects to mark my seventh year with my T-cells at an all time high of 653 and my VL remains undetectable (has been undetectable since July 2001! Five years!)

I gave up on myself at the very beginning – my sister made me promise to fight in February 2000, and over time, I just did it all for myself. Exercise, therapies and diet – all probably helped me and the fact I never had any horrible side effects from the medications is key for me. I have been on Trizivir and Viramune for four years and with no ill-effects thankfully. I am very, very grateful.

I have now had seven more years and have learned so much more and think I have grown as a human being. I have accomplished things that I was told were impossible and re-discovered many hidden talents out of necessity, not a “re-birth.” I just had to re-prioritize my life and use imagination to accomplish things again.

Hell, here I am!

To read more of Ron's blog, visit here.

Asunta -

Asunpta shares her life through a weekly letter in one of the leading national newspapers in Kenya where she talks about bringing up her son as a single parent, the challenges of being HIV positive and on stigma and discrimination. She was diagnosed in 1989 at the age of 22 years. She is a founder of KENWA- Kenya Network of Women with AIDS which has given hope to a lot of disadvataged women who due to their status and/or gennder are discriminated.

You can read her story here.

Below is her sharing in her diary in November 2006:

To hire and fire

(The workplace is a crazy place at the best of times, more so for someone with HIV.)

I once read somewhere that a boss is like a nappy; he's always on your bottom! I recently shared this remark with my colleagues during an office meeting. The remark may be a tongue-in-cheek expression, but it sure captured the moos of the moment. Well, some of the junior staff members had raised the complaints about how they were too many bosses in the office and hardly a leader in sight. And even as I threw that boss remark, it somehow boomeranged.

My position as the executive director demands that I take stern action and at times such action is misunderstood as being high-handed and cruel although it is usually in our best interests.

"I lose sleep whenever I have to tell somebody that he or she can no longer work with us,” I told my staff members, but I could see that some of them didn't swallow what I was saying. “That’s why after some time you find that I have recalled that person," I added.

It was after that meeting that we agreed to have staff retreats, during which we could loosen our button, forget our job descriptions and do some bonding. In many organisations, a good percentage of employees are people living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHAs). You’re not wrong to call me biased, but my bias is for those who’ve been prejudiced against and are finding the going hard in the job market. So, in a sense, my bias is for a good cause.

I know now that the only way to understand my employees and for them to know where I'm coming from is through retreats. Then, I want then to see me simply as Asuh, not Asunta Wagura, ED. I want them to see me as a friend they can trust with their issues.

Sometimes it gets crazy in the office. Imagine there quarters of the people at work going through those HIV-related stresses and still having to handle clients who come in with their own issues. To say the least, it requires the balancing skills of a trapeze artist. We smile even though we are seething inside.

I think the best thing for us is that we can work in an environment that’s devoid of prejudice against PLWHAs. And so when someone’s in the firing line, it's not because of his or her HIV status.

I know there are many PLWHAs heading institutions but, for reasons best known to themselves, they prefer to live in the closet. With all due respect, it's my theory that an HIV-positive leader is in a much better position to understand the challenges of an HIV-positive employee. And at such a time as this, when jobs are hard to find, it's crazy for anyone to live with Damocles’ sword hanging over their head just because they're HIV-positive and a routine test is more than enough to render on jobless.

On any given day, I receive countless application letters form PLWHAs, but I can handle only so much. I'm not saying that PLWHAs deserve special attention. Far from it. What that frightened PLWHA up for promotion or on redundancy row deserves is fairness because, as someone once remarked, fairness is what justice is all about.

(This is the diary of Asunta Wagura, a single mother one who tested HIV-positive 19 years ago. She is also the Executive Director of the Kenya Network of Women with AIDS (KENWA)