HIV/AIDS STIGMA - The awkward hush - Hassana Suleiman

I wondered if she didn’t feel out of place, if she didn’t care that everyone there saw her face. She laughed and looked at me, beady eyed, the most determined eyes I’ve ever seen. She said, what’s there to hide anty. If anyone would look at me and laugh at my predicament or make mockery of me, what does that make them? Why trample on somebody that’s already down. Why would anyone want to kick a person who has hit rock bottom into the curb? Her eyes watered a bit as she said these words. She didn’t seem like a person in despair. She had accepted her fate and she was determined to push forward. I wondered how she managed to seem so calm despite all that has happened to her. I knew there was chaos and a storm in her head but she carried it well with a confidence I’ve never seen before and a graceful poise that could never be broken by any form of condemnation. She was a warrior designed to push forward through her own path. There are thousands of people like this lady I have just described, living with HIV and Aids. Carrying the heavy weight of shame and self loathing due to a destiny that many of us might term an ‘unfortunate destiny’ There’s a silent storm brewing. It’s 2024 but the stigma against people living with HIV/AIDs or rather fear of HIV still hangs over our heads. From the sly comments, to the silent ‘Godforbid-bad-thing-can-never happen-to-me’-mentality, to people not even realising the need to learn about HIV we can tell how ignorant people are concerning the message passed across through various platforms and ads meant to educate people on the topic. The humor here is that, alot of people assume merely talking about HIV could bring bad luck or bad omen towards them. How funny. Did you know that the reason why there’s daily increase in the numbers of newly infected individuals is because people have refused to learn, have lived in denial and refuse to associate themselves with anything related to HIV.

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