Neither living nor dying, I’m an HIV AIDS patient

By, Jamila Achakzai, Daily Times (Pakistan), August 31, 2007

Islamabad: Jamal Khan is one of many who repent their extra marital sexual relations, which have made them to lead life with HIV-AIDS.

Now aged 31 and admitted in the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), this father of four says he has lost good health, honour, money, relations, peace of mind, and in a word, everything to the deadly disease and has no charm in life.

Lying on a bed in a general ward, Jamal, whose name was changed on his request, has his sunken eyes and cheeks. Excessive loss of hair has rendered most of his head bald and his skin has turned black. He looks like a skeleton.

Belonging to a poor family of the conservative Malakand agency, Jamal was employed in a private construction firm in Saudi Arabia as a labourer and used to return home on vacations every year. As usual, he came back a few months ago to see his small family. Here, he had high fever for many weeks despite medication. Upset by his condition, he consulted doctors who recommended him for certain medical tests. To his horror and distress, the tests declared Jamal HIV positive two months ago and thus, landed him in a PIMS ward. He has been under treatment there ever since.

Jamal had contracted the deadly virus from a sex worker in Saudi Arabia. He insists he might have committed suicide if he knew he was an HIV-AIDS patient to avoid social stigma attached to a sex-related disease. Except for his brothers, his entire family is oblivious of his medical condition, as he has kept it in dark for the fear of abandonment. He knows he has not a long life ahead of him and wants to share all this with them at the earliest possible. Jamal says he is not a man of bad character and had committed just a mistake. “I wish my family and society forgives me because I regret having sex outside marriage. I feel ashamed to think about the time when my wife and children would learn about my disease and the immoral and un-Islamic act that caused it. They will abandon me which I cannot afford,” he told Daily Times.

With tears rolling down his cheeks, Jamal said he was neither living nor dying and was just like a living dead body. He regretted being looked down upon as an AIDS patient and disliked being avoided as if he was an untouchable.

“My message for people is that they should prevent themselves from establishing extra-martial relations to prevent HIV-AIDS by waging jihad against desire,” he said.

According to figures of National AIDS Control Programme (NACP), Pakistan has so far 3,198 HIV/AIDS registered patients. Independent estimates, however, put the number at 70,000 to 80,000, which means the country’s 0.1 percent population is suffering from the disease.

Source: http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007%5C08%5C31%5Cstory_31-8-2007_pg11_9

Margaret Zania, "Taking care of my HIV+ grandchild has changed my life"

By, IRIN PlusNews, August 1, 2007

Margaret Zania, 60, a petty trader in Bukavu, capital of South Kivu Province in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), is all that seven-year-old Mwajuma Rajabu has in the world since her parents died of an AIDS-related illness in 2005. Zania's life has been taken over by caring for her grandchild, who is often ill. She told IRIN/PlusNews how her life had changed.

"As a single mother, I was already living with one of my sons when my daughter started getting sick. She and her husband tried to deny the fact that they were suffering from AIDS but it was there for all to see. My daughter was a lay preacher and her husband was a football player. They had two other children before they had this little girl, Mwajuma. I thank God that the other two children do not have the virus.

"My daughter's condition worsened in 2005, and she died in September, with her husband following her soon thereafter.

"Before taking in Mwajuma, I used to sell soap and second-hand clothes at the market, and this could sustain me. But since there was no one else to take care of Mwajuma, I had to stop the small business in order to be there for her. She was always sick: her stomach would swell so much, then she would have diarrhoea and many other ailments that I don't know their names. It was very stressful for me and my son's family.

"I took Mwajuma for testing soon after the deaths of her parents and she tested positive. I was devastated: What do I do now? Will she grow up like other children?

"That is when I sought help from Foundation Femme Plus [a Congolese non-governmental organisation supporting people infected and affected by HIV/AIDS]. Now Mwajuma is on ARVs [antiretrovirals] and her bouts of sickness have decreased. She is now healthy, she plays like other children and I am even looking forward to seeing her go to school.

"Looking back, I know that HIV/AIDS has changed my life: I have learnt to accept the people living with the virus, and I know that with proper care and medication my grandchild will grow up to be healthy and go to school. Who knows, maybe she will be an important person in our community one day.

"Now that Mwajuma is no longer as sickly as she used to be, I wish I could get financial help to enable me resume my petty trade. Look at me - I am 60, and can still try to fend for myself. When she goes to school, I would like to have my life back, the life I had before 2005."

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