Living Positively
Today, December 1, is World AIDS Day. In commemoration, we asked Mike Lenda, the US Director of Operations for Blood:Water Mission, an organization that exists to empower African communities to work together against the HIV/AIDS & water crises (and one of our Quench the Thirsty partners), to share on the powerful effect that this disease continues to have throughout the world and how you can help those living positively.
Under a shady tree in the desert community of Marsabit, Kenya, I sat on a tree stump as I listened to them sing songs. “We sing so that others may know our joy,” they said. Yet, as I listened to their stories, it was evident that this joy wasn’t always there. As they shared, you could see the pain in their eyes as they recounted the memories what it was like to be kicked out of their homes, shunned from their families, ostracized by their community. Learning they were HIV positive was only half of the story – sharing the news with those that were close to them changed their worlds forever. I could feel the loneliness through their words as they talked about how it felt to wonder if life was worth living.
Then they met Kabale.
Kabale took that same risk – telling her family that she was HIV positive – a life changing test result she received after taking care of her dying sister. Although the fear of revealing her status was something she had to overcome personally, she decided to take that step to inspire others in her community. She saw how people were treated, and how the fear of addressing their health kept them from even getting tested or receiving the medical care available. She wanted to change that.
Kabale formed the first HIV/AIDS support group in the region, acting as a role model to show that with HIV you can have a healthy life, there is access to medication, you can have hope. So, Kabale took her story to the homes and villages of this remote village community – sharing her story so that others, too, may live. Through the support of the Tumaini Clinic (Tumaini means “hope” in Swahili) started by Blood:Water Mission, Kabale is are seeing more people take the same risks to get tested and tell their status to others. Before the clinic and before Kabale’s willingness to share her story, many were dying in silence and fear. Now, she is seeing people live. Live positively.
Now, that same group of 250 people who thought their story ended with a test result are now talking about what it means to find strength in the community each other, in their faith, in their future.
Kabale is an example of our story – empowering people to become the heroes of their community & address their needs. The story of HIV/AIDS is 30 years old, and it’s easy to think that it isn’t relevant anymore because it doesn’t capture the headlines like it had decades ago and many of us don’t personally know someone impacted by the disease.
Yet, Kabale and the 20 million people like her in sub-Saharan Africa remind us that it is relevant. As the second highest cause of death among 20-24 year old worldwide, AIDS is robbing the world of future leaders, But it doesn’t have to. We can, and we are, changing the end of the story.
Through programs of education, treatment and support, we are seeing the impact. Our desire is the find more people like Kabale who are changing their communities from the inside out. However, change in Africa wouldn’t be entirely possible without others across the globe seeing their role to give of themselves – their time, their creatively, their money - so that someone else might benefit. So, this World AIDS Day, we invite you to be a part of the story. To meet Kabale, hear other stories and learn how you can make an impact, visit www.bloodwatermission.com/AIDS so you, too, can say, "I Know Someone," this World AIDS Day.