wfn.org | LWI 2009-068 FEATURE: It Is Not a Death Sentence

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FEATURE: It Is Not a Death Sentence

LWF Rwanda Supports Local Groups to Fight AIDS Stigma

KIGALI, Rwanda/GENEVA, 27 November 2009 (LWI) - "I am sorry I
infected you and did not tell you," Innocent Niwsi murmured as he
lay dying on his bed. He had summoned the courage to admit to
Beatrice, his young, second wife that he was HIV positive and
dying. His first wife had also died from an AIDS-related
illness.

That was in 2000, when the stigma associated with HIV and AIDS
was very high. Niwsi was being treated by a traditional medicine
man, which may have accelerated his demise. When Beatrice was
finally able to convince her husband to come back home and get
proper treatment, provided free at hospitals and health centers
across Rwanda, he was already paralyzed, and he passed away
shortly afterwards. 

Today, 35-year-old Beatrice is a person living with HIV. She
married Niwsi when she was just 22 and they had two children,
Nadine and Yves. When she was expecting her second child, she
started having severe abdominal pains and went to a family
planning clinic in the capital, Kigali for a check-up. While
there, the doctors encouraged her to go for counseling and
further testing. She was diagnosed as HIV positive, news that hit
her so hard that she at first contemplated suicide. But the
thought of the impact this would have on her family made her
change her mind.

>Income Generation

After her husband’s death, the mother of two decided to move to
Nyamata in Bugesera district, just half an hour’s drive from
Kigali, where she settled in with her mother. Thinking that death
was imminent, she preferred to be buried close to her. 

Beatrice recalls her first few years in Nyamata, saying she felt
like she was "wearing a scarlet letter 'I' for 'infected,’'" as
everyone knew her status and avoided her. She was unemployed and
living off her mother's small plot that they cultivated together
to feed the family.

In 2007 she heard of a local association called Kotwibu, which
helps people living with HIV access treatment and other forms of
assistance. Upon becoming a member, she received a goat to help
her earn some income. The goat was a welcomed gift and it soon
reproduced. The sale of the baby goat generated a small income
that Beatrice stretched to make ends meet for a while. 

Rwandahas an HIV prevalence rate of an estimated three percent
in a population of around 9 million people. Kotwibu, remarks
Beatrice, is a sign that the AIDS stigma is decreasing in the
country, and that there is hope. As an association member, she
benefits from resources and benefits such as training programs on
HIV prevention, trauma counseling and savings and credit
operations, supported by the Lutheran World Federation (LWF)
Department for World Service (DWS) country program in Rwanda. She
also benefits from medical insurance coverage, learns how to
weave baskets, manage a small business, and is encouraged to
revitalize her livelihood by selling artifacts produced by the
association. She has managed to save some money and plans to
increase her savings in order to access credit. In the meantime,
she has found a job as a cleaning lady.

>Hope

Nine years after diagnosis and despite the difficult and painful
experiences, Beatrice is a living testimony that being HIV
positive is not a death sentence, and that one can receive
treatment and lead a healthy and productive life. She socializes
with friends and relatives without feeling like an outcast, and
is ready to build a future for herself and her family. 

Her children have tested negative for HIV. Beatrice never
breastfed her second child on doctors' orders so as to avoid
mother-to-child-transmission. But she has no rational explanation
as to why her 13-year-old firstborn, Nadine, is HIV negative and
simply says: "It is a miracle." 

Beatrice actively participates in local and national
sensitization campaigns on HIV and AIDS, teaching people how to
live with the disease and how to avoid infection in the first
place. She is grateful to DWS Rwanda for the training and
awareness raising, all of which have enabled her to renew her
life and given her hope. (700 words)

(Sophie Gebreyes provided this feature article while working as
program coordinator for DWS Rwanda)

For more information about World AIDS reflections and resources,
please visit the LWF Web site
at:http://www.lutheranworld.org/What_We_Do/HIV-AIDS/LWF-HIV_AIDS-WAD09.html

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