"I don't live in Cite anymore. Now where I live everyone is negative. I don't go out at night."
Okay. We understand that. But, the test we did was positive. The follow up test at the Doctor's office was too.
"No. Pa gen viris sa (don't have that virus) I feel good. I am not sick. I can eat. People that have the virus cannot eat."
Okay. We understand you don't believe. We want to explain this.
"I don't believe."
"Maybe from getting my nails done downtown. I do that sometimes."
"No. I don't think it is true."
You can feel fine and still be HIV positive. It is important to make decisions and to know the truth before your baby is born.
"My daughter she is not sick - it cannot be true."
Maybe you can go for another test to check and see if this is right.
"If I have it I want to tell my mother myself. I'll go for another test, but I don't have it."
Let's start with another test at a specialty program on Thursday.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
So much of the difficulty is not related to dealing with the actual disease. There are programs that offer the medicine free of charge. The greatest difficulty lies in cultural misconceptions, lack of truth, and fear of condemnation. Acceptance takes time. We hope that truth and love will prevail.
