Visit to HIV infected women

Visit to HIV infected women
3rd December 2008

On Wednesday, our team paid a visit to the shelter for HIV infected woman. The shelter provides facilities, care and accommodation for women living with HIV and other illnesses. As we made our way down to the shelter, I was little bit nervous because I didn’t know what to expect. We were greeted with around 15 women. Although they were smiling, you could tell from their wary faces, the kind of difficulties they’ve been through.

We sat down with these women and asked them to share with us their experiences, thoughts and feelings on living with HIV and how it has impacted on their lives as well as their perception of society ‘s attitude towards HIV infected people.

Many women spoke of the inability to tell their closest family members of their condition as they fear that they’ll be judged or shunted out of their lives. I can’t begin to imagine how it feels like to live with HIV and have no one to support you…

In particular I asked one of the women how she contracted HIV. She said to me she didn’t know but only realised she was HIV positive through a routine blood test. She didn’t even know what HIV was until the doctor explained it to her that day….this pinpoints the importance of having knowledge and being armed with such knowledge in order to prevent and protect from HIV!

Many of these women are unemployed either because they are sick or because of the stigma surrounding HIV. People still discriminate! Confidentiality is not well respected. For example, one woman told us she has a red stamp on the front of her medical file at the hospital, so everybody knows that she is HIV positive and treat her a certain way. Our role in raising HIV awareness and educating the public is an important one and will make a difference how ever big or small, but certainly a difference to those around us.

As we were leaving we gave hugs and words of encouragement to these women. Some of them were crying….and asked us when we will be returning. It’s sad to see simple things such as having a conversation or giving them a hug could move them to tears.

Looking back on the experience, for us it has been inspiring and certainly enjoyable. Being able to come face to face with these women allows us to see that HIV is very much real. The visit helped us to develop a deeper understanding of how HIV is impacting on our lives.