Aids can be heard

Aids can be heard

Malaika (23) does not have Aids. Regard this as a miracle, because in Uganda she witnessed her whole family being killed by the virus. She was able to go from Uganda to the Netherlands. Now she is studying Humanitarian Management in Leeuwarden. This is where she started the organisation of Voice of Invisible People. This organisation wants to offer Aids victims more than medicine to stay alive.

In what way has Aids affected you personally?

‘Like a silent thief Aids has taken away my entire family. First my mother had Aids, then my nine brothers and sisters. It takes years before someone dies after being infected with the HIV-virus. So as a child, I had to witness how the life slowly disappeared from the people I loved. Whether I wanted to or not, I had to wait for death together with them.  With each death, a piece of me was taken away. That is why I can still feel very empty, completely soulless. As if Aids has killed part of me, too.

Can you believe in God?

“I believe in God for the full 100 percent. My mother tried to raise me as a Muslim and a Christian at the same time. But then, as a child, I came across a book about Joseph and his brothers selling him to Egypt. When I read what God did for Joseph, I wanted that God to be my friend, too. Since I had that book, I have always felt close to God, even in those terrible years when everybody around me died. Yet I have always bombarded Him with many questions about the misery in the world. What is the purpose of life? Why me? I still do not have all the answers, but I do know why I am alive and what my aim is in this world. At the moment I am not looking back anymore, I am living now.”

What is God’s part then, in the Aids epidemic in Africa?

‘God does not have a part in human suffering, because He is a just and loving God. He is not the problem, He is the answer to the misery. This He has shown through the life of Jesus. The government in Uganda is corrupt  and does not help anyone, but I have seen good people that truly know God help others.’

Why is your organisation called Voice of Invisible People?

‘There is a lot of Aids prevention and medication, yet there is little attention for emotional destruction that is caused by Aids. If you discover that you are HIV-positive, you lose all your humanitarian rights in Africa. You will be fired at once, and wherever you go, you will be given the cold shoulder and you will be abused. The national news only shows statistics, and as an Aids patient you are just part of the figures. With Voice of Invisible People I want to give these people a voice. It is important that people hear your voice, see who you are. That is why we make radio programmes in which lawyers get in touch with Aids victims. They can give legal aid when you have been fired, for example, because of Aids. There should be tv programmes that give advice and take away the stigma that those infected are not worth living. Life ought to mean more than just ‘not dying’, also for African Aids victims. People need a shoulder to cry on, people that want to bear the sorrow with them. The spirit of a human being can be a stronger remedy for Aids than medicine.

Gorilla

Uganda is called the Pearl of Africa because of its masterful rivers, mountains, lakes, wild animals and jungle. It is indeed one of the three countries where gorillas can still be found in the wild. Unfortunately the country has been wrecked completely because of the Aids epidemic, poverty and civil war that have been tearing the nation apart for more than twenty years.

Aids 2 – Fight against Aids 1

0-1   Aids is losing ground

The number of people that die of Aids world-wide every year is decreasing. Medicine are getting better and are more easily accessible to people in less-developed countries. Years of Aids information are beginning to pay off, and more and more people realise they have to be careful with sex. Last year 33.2 million people were infected with the HIV-virus throughout the world. In 2008 there will be an estimated 6.3 million infections less.

1-1   Aids has not been beaten yet

All over the world still a lot of young people, as many as an entire stadium can hold, die in 2009 every week because of the consequences of Aids. Almost seventy percent of those people live in the southern point of the African continent. In these areas Aids is cause of death number 1. More than 61 percent of all victims are female. In the rest of the world the victims are mostly men. Women often fall victim to sexual abuse in these less-developed areas, they are expected to take care of sick relatives (thus risking their own health) and especially young women appear to be more sensitive to infection than others.

2-1 An own goal

Most people that are infected in these countries are not even aware of being infected. These young people, that are supposed to be the backbone of the country, ruin their future without realising. A whole generation is dying out. Good teachers are lost and the development of many countries has thus been paralysed by the disease altogether.