Aids is, of course, a serious problem. People do tend to discriminate against Aids patients, tending to look at them as an animal which goes on spreading a disease.

But people should, on the other hand, know that psychological trauma caused by the rejection from loved ones can be quite harmful.

Families should understand that that the days of the patients may already be numbered, and that they should love and cherish each second of his or her life from then on.

Clever Murisa (not his real name), 17, is one of the many HIV positive orphans in the country.

Murisa, who lost his parents to Aids five years ago, says that ever since his parents died he has been abandoned by his relatives because of the chronic coughs he has had since childhood.

"Since childhood I have always coughed,” he says. "I used to live with my mother but she used to not discriminate [against] me like some people who say that I have tuberculosis.

My parents died of Aids and they did not show me any of my relatives because they themselves were discriminated against because of the disease.”

Murisa now lives with friends of his late parents who, he says treat him like their own family and do not show any discrimination.

They take care of him and other orphans at Gwiza Home in Nyagasambi.

John Twagira, the founder of Gwiza Home, has no kind words for people who discriminate against the sick since anyone can contract Aids.

"I do not discriminate amongst the children at Gwiza Home,” he says. "All children are the same and it’s bad to discriminate against any one.”

Taking care of the orphans is a great concern. Asked on how he finds people to take care of them, Twagira says that he welcomes volunteers who would like to lend a hand, being caretakers in the home.

However he emphasizes, however, that most of the workers come from churches and other religious organisations.

"It’s not easy to get people who have a passion for taking care of children living with HIV,” he says. "It’s by God’s grace to see everything moving on well.”

Gwiza Home has some HIV positive children, but caretakers try not to reveal their status, and no child knows about others’ status, even when signs of the disease show on some of the children, he says.

Dr Felix Nyakwera, the executive secretary of Amagara n’Ubuzima (Health is Life) Programme based in Kamonyi in Gitarama says that life is in the hands of the beholder whoever is sick should have a positive attitude towards treatment for a better health and to stop isolating themselves.

"As a doctor, I have all the records of those who come for HIV tests however this does not call for discrimination among them,” says Nyakwera.

Joel Sebucaca, Director of Health Services at Gitarama Hospital in Muhanga district, says that there should not be any form of discrimination amongst people, especially in Rwanda when we are still struggling with the effects of the Genocide.

"Girls and women were raped and some contracted HIV,” says Sebucaca. "Those people need love, comfort and care instead of them being discriminated [against] or isolated. Such victims should be shown enough compassion and love.”

According to Sebucaca, the health personnel at Gitarama Hospital are committed to ensuring that no worker is discriminated against on the basis of real or perceived HIV status.

"Stigma and discrimination thrive in a climate of silence,” he says. "We need to speak about HIV in places of work, at home, in schools and in our daily lives if we are to successfully challenge the foolishness that brings with it discrimination of any kind.”

He adds that since the arrival of anti-retroviral therapy, there has been a measure to combat stigma and discrimination.

The medical model which sees HIV as a clinical issue rather than as a social one tends to dominate in most of the hospitals in our country.

Dr. Nyakwera explains that those who are infected are treated with extra care and are provided with ARVs. This, he says, remains a secret within the medical staff and administration.

"Discrimination reduces the efforts aimed at promoting the prevention of HIV, and to successfully implement any Aids programmes and policies requires cooperation and trust between employers, workers, their representatives and the health ministries,” he says.

Abraham Musonera, an HIV victim and a fruit seller at Nyamirambo Market says that most of his friends who know that he is HIV positive do not segregate him. He says that gives him a reason to live.

"Though I am HIV positive, the people with whom I work treat me well,” he says.

"They never discriminate me. They even send customers to buy from me because they know and believe that I need money to [eat] well in order to live longer.

Although they make fun of me, they never mention anything about my HIV status,” he says.

However isolating Individuals on the grounds that he or she has Aids is the last thing someone should do. The should, instead, be treated with compassion.
 

Ends