Today on World AIDS Day (WAD), my mind has gone back to 1999 when for the first time I interviewed a person that was positively living with the virus that causes AIDS. I had traveled from Malawi's capital Lilongwe for over 350 km to meet this lady in a rural area in Zomba. Connecting to her village, I had to cycle about 20 km with my recorder and notebook.
The lady had a story which I thought was worth pursuing and capturing for broadcast. What attracted me to her was the fact she did not hide she was HIV positive and to declare so in 1999 in Malawi was almost a taboo. Yet she defied all odds of the time even when ARVs were no there. Eight years down the road, it is still difficult to do away with the golden silence over AIDS in Malawi.
It was not easy for me to interview her as I felt I was being unfair because my view was that she needed my sympathy and everybody's. In the real sense, she had more boldness than myself and if you know such interviews, you could tell that she was actually in charge of the interview and not me. She taught me a lesson: Share your story in your own words and with the confidence you have in spite if what people may say or think.
Over the years, I have interacted and interviewed several people who live with the virus. They are just normal people. Thanks be to God for the anti-retro vial (ARV) drugs which have greatly helped lengthen many lives.
While the number of people on ARVs is still very low in Malawi, it is encouraging that there is some positive development. Cheaper and cheaper, more accessible and normal have they become hence that too has helped reduce stigma and discrimination which unfortunately is till rampant.
One lady shared an interesting two years ago about herself. She says there are some men who don't believe she is HIV positive and she says 'these guys propose love to me. If I tell them I am HIV positive, they say, "you are just running away."' These words say a lot about ARVs and how we relate to people living with the virus.
There are moments when doing a radio programme on HIV and AIDS can be very challenging as one does not know how to make information come alive. It seems sometimes there is just this AIDS information fatigue. How to present if afresh is not an easy job.
However, I noted something new last year when I was involved in production of special radio programmes which aired on the public and several private radio stations. These were done on behalf on the National AIDS Commission. One angle we developed was to bring in the human face in all the editions. And this meant letting every issue be reflected through somebody's voice and let people hear a personal story in that perspective. Thankfully we had a good number of people who were willing to share their stories.
I recorded several interviews and discussions with a cross-section of people. How amazing it was to note that there are lots of people who have rich stories that would help encourage prevention of contracting the virus and others have stories that would challenge someone to positively live with the virus.
Admittedly, it is not easy to disclose one's status because there are so many fears and consequences.
Though this years' theme is on leadership, I have some worry over the performance of most of our leaders in Malawi. A website on this years' theme says more:
World AIDS Day was originally organised by UNAIDS, who chose the theme after consultation with other organisations. In 2005 UNAIDS handed over responsibility for World AIDS Day to an independent organisation known as The World AIDS Campaign (WAC).
The WAC’s slogan for their work is "Stop AIDS: Keep the Promise". This is an appeal to governments, policy makers and regional health authorities to ensure that they meet the many targets that have been set in the fight against HIV and AIDS, and especially the promise of universal access to HIV treatment, care, support and prevention services by 2010. This campaign will run until 2010, with a related theme chosen for World AIDS Day each year.
The 2007 theme, “leadership”, highlights the need for innovation, vision and perseverance in the face of the AIDS challenge. The campaign calls on all sectors of society such as families, communities and civil society organisations - rather than just governments - to take the initiative and provide leadership on AIDS.
AIDS is an area where silence still reigns. I just pray and hope that as leaders, they (and some people claim I am also a leader in my own right!) need to be more aggressive. May be this year's theme will remind them (us) about our roles when it comes to AIDS.
I think the theme is ideal as most leaders are men in our region and yet very few of them ever disclose their sero-status. My observation is that it is mostly women who easily disclose their sero-status. No wonder that often when it comes to programming, most of the interview voices on air have been those of women who are free to say they are living with the virus.
For a little over a year, I have been inactive in programming hence I cannot say much as I am sure there are new trends so far within Malawi and the Sub-Saharan region where most of the AIDS is reported. How and why there are many cases of AIDS in my region is a question I have no answers to. A few people I have met in Europe ask this question to some of us especially that we are journalists. Honestly, I fail to answer this question. At the same time, there should be questions like how come about 85 percent of Malawi's population is HIV negative!
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