AFRICA
'I feel great about being back at work'
LIVING WITH HIVYAYU Messele is 35, a mother of two and a businesswoman who lives in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia. She is also HIV positive. She discovered that
she had the virus nine years ago, when tested after giving birth to a child who only survived for a few hours.
AT FIRST, Yayu Messele was ashamed and kept the diagnosis a secret. It was only after her husband was also found to be HIV positive that she declared her status. He died seven years ago.
Yayu now lives with her children in a one-room house, where she now runs a small business selling charcoal and farming on a small patch of land where she produces enough vegetables to feed her family and sell a small amount of surplus.
Her business was made possible by a loan from Mercy Corps through Dawn of Hope, which has helped her and others living with the disease to become self-sufficient.
Yayu Messele is one of 60 Dawn of Hope clients in her area whose life has been turned around with the Mercy Corps loan. Before she received her loan she struggled to find work to pay for school fees and buy nutritional food to manage and reduce the symptoms of the HIV virus. She now has an income of 330 Birr (£17.68) a month.
"Before I got very ill, I used to do the same kind of trading that I'm doing now," she says. "But when I got ill, I had to use all my money to buy medicine and good food and pay for my household expenses. This plus the illness made me stop work. I had used almost all my savings when the loan came along. It has helped me work again. I feel great about being back at work, feeling healthy again and having hope for the future."
'You have to have a HIV test here to marry'
WORKING WITH HIVCathy Griffin, 45, from Edinburgh travelled to Ethiopia last year to work with the Mercy Corps and the local charity Dawn of Hope, which helps people with HIV and AIDS to set up their own businesses to help them achieve a reasonable standard of living. She describes her job as "incredibly rewarding", but is constantly reminded of the grip that the epidemic has on Africa:
"I remember sitting in the back of a taxi in Addis Ababa when a crowd of people stopped the taxi, A young woman and her boyfriend got into the back seat and asked the taxi to take them to a hospital. They were frantic, hysterical, crying and screaming. It transpired that the young man had just been diagnosed with HIV," says Griffin.
"In Ethiopia you have to have a HIV test before you marry, and you cannot marry someone of a different status. The couple were about to marry, but she had attempted suicide upon hearing the news and had to be rushed to hospital. That was one of the harrowing moments when I realised that here this problem is everywhere, a part of everyday life."
"The two biggest problems people kept flagging up were unemployment and housing. 70 per cent of the people we asked who were suffering from HIV said first and foremost they would like us help them earn a living."
In response to the assessment, they arranged for 60 people to be given loans to help them start up businesses. As well as the initial loan, the project also provides financial training and advice on running a business.
This allows them to pay school fees for their children, and buy nutritious food, which helps their bodies to battle the disease. It also gives people a tremendous psychological boost.
"They are proud to be able to look after themselves and their families and are full of enthusiasm because they are able to bring about change in their lives.
"A lot of them have cited a feeling of pride, a sense of normality and hope for the future as things that this project has given them. Others are happy that it allows them to plan a more secure future for their children. It's wonderful to see the way in which people's lives can be changed so radically for the better."
THE FACTS24.5m
The number of adults and children living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa at the end of 2005.
2m
The number of people who died from AIDS during 2005.
12m
The number of orphaned African children that the epidemic has left behind.
70%
The percentage of the people across the world who are living with HIV/AIDS who live in sub-Saharan Africa.
15m
The number of Africans who have died from AIDS since the beginning of the epidemic in the late 1970s/early 1980s.
$30
$30 or (£14.60) is the estimated annual medical cost of treating AIDS for each person infected. Overall public health spending is less than $10 (£4.87) per head of population per year for most African countries.
2m
The number of people living with HIV in resource-poor countries who were receiving antiretroviral treatment as of December 2006. 7.1 million require treatment.
33
The average life expectancy in Swaziland. It has been estimated that this would be 66 without AIDS.
DONATIONSTo make a donation to the Mercy Corps visit
www.mercycorps.org.uk • For more information on World Aids Day visit
www.worldaidsday.org.uk BRITAIN
'It's very rewarding to be able to help'
WORKING WITH HIVAnnabel Mowat, 51, is an information and development officer with HIV Scotland, an umbrella organisation that works alongside groups including Waverley Care and the Terrence Higgins Trust. They provide people living with HIV and AIDS with advice and support, as well as promoting awareness through preventative measures, including education on HIV and AIDS.
"PEOPLE can go through a whole range of emotions from disbelief or anger following their diagnosis to frustration later on," Annabel Mowat says.
Mowat offers a number of different types of support to people in Scotland who have been diagnosed with HIV. From coping with the initial diagnosis to dealing with the social stigma surrounding HIV, advice and support is available at every stage.
"Our support can take the form of one-on-one counselling or group sessions, but there are also a number of more unexpected things that we find ourselves offering advice on as well," she says. "That could mean counselling a person on how to tell a child that they are HIV positive or helping a person through the process of finding employment after a period of ill-health."
HIV Scotland has encountered individuals who have been disowned by a parent, or have been harassed in the workplace. One of the big problems they face in Scotland concerns rural communities where it can be difficult for sufferers to remain anonymous.
"There was one case of a woman who, because of the stigma surrounding her condition, felt forced to leave her small community and move to Glasgow. In that case, the person was a single mother, and was unable to afford the move. We were able to arrange for her to have access to a small grant that would help her set up her new life.
"It does feel like a privilege when people feel able to share their experiences with you. It's rewarding to be able to help, even in a small way, to help people feel able to live their lives. At the same time, it can be challenging because the issues that people face can be very difficult. However, I usually find that the strength that these people have within them is often far greater than the strength that we can offer them."
'The support I am receiving here is better'
LIVING WITH HIVNorman, 52, lives in Edinburgh. He was diagnosed with HIV in 1993 and believes that he contracted it in 1990 from a previous sexual partner.
"I had a cough that felt very unusual, unlike anything I'd experienced before, so I went for an HIV test," he says. "In 1992 I meet a new partner who had full-blown AIDS. When I was given the results, for some reason I wasn't shocked. I suppose I saw my partner dealing with it, and I thought, if he can cope, then so can I."
Norman, who is originally from Scotland moved to England more than 20 years ago. However after a period of ill-health last year, he was unhappy with the support he was receiving and decided to move back to Scotland.
"I just didn't feel that I was receiving sufficient support, and hoped that I would find a better support system in Scotland. Moving back was a huge decision, but I'm glad that I did it," he says. "I've found the support I've received here to be far better, friendlier and more thorough."
He insists that even 15 years after his diagnosis, the support that HIV Scotland provides is vital. "I was diagnosed a long time ago, but I still need that support, advice and point of contact as much as ever. To some extent, I'll always need it," he says.
While the support that the organisations under HIV Scotland provides is very wide-ranging, Norman says that social contact is the area that is most important.
"A big part of the support that I need personally is the social side of things, especially after being away from Scotland for so long. I stopped working after my diagnosis, and it's very difficult to get back into work so that interaction is very important to me. Through HIV Scotland, Norman meets regularly with a number of other people living with HIV, as well as with support staff.
"I've been able to meet others socially, people who know what I'm going through, and people who I know will listen to me," he says. "It's invaluable, and it's also nice to be able to listen to others and offer a bit of advice of my own. When I was diagnosed, I thought that HIV was a death sentence, but I've come to realise that life goes on, and that it's important to live it as fully as possible."
INFORMATION• For advice, information or to make a donation contact HIV Scotland on 0131-558 3713 or visit
www.hivscotland.com • For more information on HIV and AIDS visit the Terrence Higgins Trust website at
www.tht.org.uk WORLD AIDS DAY EVENTS • THERE'S a production of Larry Karmer's play The Normal Heart to raise funds for Waverley Care at 2:30pm and 7:30pm today at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. Tel: 0131-477 4154 for more details/tickets.
• HIV & AIDS: Young People and Equality, is a conference presented by Oxfam, the Scottish Youth Parliament and the Roars Not Whispers project. Oakshaw Trinity Halls, Paisley, today from 1pm.
The full article contains 1886 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
