Understanding some of us and how we think, especially those tested HIV positive, makes you think twice about residing in some of our African countries. A primary school friend of mine who lives in Butare narrates that rich individuals from richer provinces and towns come to his village to infect young girls with HIV. They come with huge amounts of money and sleep with poor underage girls. If you’re among those who condemn the late Habyarimana’ government for the killings in Rwanda, there is no difference between the genocidiaries and these individuals who purposely go around spreading HIV virus. Some of these individuals, according to my friend, have degrees from some of our higher institutions of learning in the country. If our cultures do not teach us about the value of human life, at least education should do it. I am not surprised that HIV infection is on the increase because some of us behave far worse than animals. Some of us are good at choosing which law to obey and which not to. In other words, we’re not mature enough to walk away, respect the rule of law, and respect others regardless of their social status and gender. The same theory applies to those who go around having sex without protection. HIV, as far as I know, has no cure; infecting someone because you did not purchase it is just plain primitive symptom. In my opinion, eradicating poverty and vulnerability are some of the key ways to reducing HIV infection. If we inject financial resources to the vulnerable communities in our country, we empower less privileged individuals to say No to seducers. Some of you might be rushing to conclusions: the government should try hard to empower vulnerable households in Rwanda as a whole. However, the question is what have you, individually, done to help out? Here is the challenge: HIV infection is on the increase; what are we going to do about it – you and me? Biryogo
