A Positive Look at AIDS

AIDS. Just the mere mention of the word brings a variety of images and thoughts to people. Sympathy. Apathy. Maybe disgust. How does that feeling change when it affects someone you know or someone you care about?

I had been in Uganda only 2 weeks when I arrived in Buremba, a small village near the western border with Congo. I was doing one week rotations for a month and a half to better understand the work Samaritan’s Purse is doing in Uganda, before settling down in one place.

The night was just starting its disappearing act on the surrounding mountains as our Nissan pick-up arrived at our office in the hilltop village. Melanie, an American, was there to greet me. But before she could even say hi, a dark small child in her arms screamed “HOW ARE YOU!”-- almost a statement rather than a question. Happy at my unexpected welcome, I quickly grabbed his tiny extended hand, I responded in usual Ugandan fashion, “I’m fine.”

That hand belongs to little Elijah* (name changed), our self-appointed ‘office child’. In his short life he has already experienced a lot of sadness. He was born to a mentally disturbed woman 3 years ago, although looking at his small frame would make you believe he joined this world more recently. One day, when Elijah was about 9 months, his mother was found lying on the side of the road near Buremba. Her little son was clinging to her breast.

She was taken to the small clinic in Buremba, but died shortly after of unknown causes. Even after her death she continued to give life, as Elijah drank the nourishment from her body, deceiving the doctors into thinking she was still alive.

Mentally ill people in Uganda, and generally all over sub-Saharan Africa, do not go to institutions like we are used to in the West. They tend to wander around, getting food from some compassionate person they happen to stumble upon. Elijah’s mom had stumbled upon the village of Buremba, and no one there knew who she was or where she was from. Now, here was this little boy, born to a “mad woman” as Ugandans say, now orphaned with no family.

Luckily, a notably large woman named Mariam happened to be at the clinic that day, and following Ugandan fashion to take in the needy with no questions, decided Elijah should become part of her family. Where else would he go?

Mariam took him into her home, and slowly fed his malnourished body back to good health.

AIDS, and the HIV virus that causes it, have frankly wreaked havoc around the world. It is something that is 100% preventable and treatable (not curable), but yet it affects millions around the world, and continues to infect many more.
It is believed the virus originated from Uganda, or somewhere in central Africa, somehow making its way from apes to humans, maybe through contaminated meat. Yet the first case was found in the US in 1981, believed to have come from Haiti.

Generally, when people think of AIDS, they think of the continent of Africa. A lot of media coverage has surrounded the epidemic of AIDS in Africa, especially with rock concerts and celebrity pictures. And there are many places in sub-Saharan Africa that have high AIDS rates, and are a huge burden on these countries’ economies—for healthcare, for the work not being done because so many infected are in their prime working ages. But AIDS isn’t a problem just in Africa. In fact, there are many countries (like Burkina Faso), where the national HIV rate is actually lower than certain areas of America. And many places in eastern Europe, like Ukraine, are reaching epidemic levels themselves that are at risk of, if not stopped, possibly killing an entire generation.

After finishing my month and a half rotation, I was assigned to come and work at the Household Water Project in Buremba for the remainder of my time here in Uganda. I was very excited at this, as I knew I would be able to spend a lot more time with Elijah. I had gotten close to him in the week that I was there.

Elijah is just one of those kids that seem to steal a little bit of the sunrise’s show every morning. When he sees you, he tries to keep his small mouth from opening wide to reveal the perfect white teeth inside—he knows that when he loses control of his smile, it takes several minutes to get it back. Some kids are just born with the joy of the Lord. Elijah is one of those children. He is honestly the first child that I have known that is sad when a tickle is over, and grabs my hand to his chest when I’ve stopped, so we can have another round of him laughing so hard he forgets to breathe.

When he’s with you, his mere presence makes the worst of days into the best. If a child with a history such as his can be so happy, what is my excuse? When he’s not practicing his English to me and mispronouncing my name as “Jophesy” (I go by Joseph in Uganda), he walks around the area of our office singing the tune to “This is the day that the Lord has made.” A humbling reminder .

You can imagine the dread that spread through me when we realized the possibility of him being infected with HIV. He had been having recurring thrush of the mouth, a common sign of HIV in children. And, with his conception quite possibly being the result of an unprotected rape, there was a good chance he could be infected.

He had never been tested, for obvious reasons. Results can be scary. But Elijah had continually been getting sick, with fevers, and we knew that if he was positive, the best option would be to get him started on treatment as quickly as possible to guarantee a longer, healthier life.

Uganda has been a great example of a country’s responsibility to combat the illness, especially in the developing world. The Ugandan government in recent years has made a big push to get everyone tested. Treatment for those infected is free for life, and a lot is being done to reduce the stigma associated with AIDS patients. In fact, many Ugandans brag about when they got tested, and have no problem revealing their status. Although statistics can often be hard to get, and even harder to understand, due to the work that has been done, the rate of new infections has dramatically dropped, and infected people getting treatment has increased. There is still more room to grow, but it is a start.

I first heard about AIDS in 1991 when Magic Johnson revealed his status and retired from basketball. I remember asking my mom what AIDS was and how one got it. Wondering how to answer this question to a 7-year old, she simply said, “He inappropriately touched some girls.”

As I grew older, I learned more about AIDS, and its effects on poor countries. I learned how it was transmitted, how to prevent it, and that in 2000, there were already 70 HIV-positive people in my home area alone.

I also heard the rhetoric in the church, that AIDS is simply a result of someone’s sin. In America, it was because of all the gays. In African countries, it was because of infidelity. There was a lot of talk about not supporting AIDS, because it was a punishment from God. Why should we support something that is prevented if people control themselves? Most charitable donations for medicine went to diseases that are completely ‘preventable’, like obesity and heart disease. Funny how we turn a blind eye on some of our own problems, huh? In fact, there was very little funding for HIV research until the 21st century, almost 20 years after the first documented case.

As I got older and started to do more research, I learned more about AIDS. I studied it, took classes on it, taught about it in middle schools, but I had never really been around someone with it.

Before moving to Burkina Faso in 2006, the Peace Corps asked me to take an AIDS course run by the American Red Cross. So I signed up and went on a cool spring morning to a classroom of about 13 people.

The teacher walked in shortly thereafter, and we began the class. It was a short class, just a couple hours, but I was shocked and angered by what she said. We had watched a few videos, and then she explained that in order to avoid getting infected, we should avoid all homosexuals and not eat with anyone infected! Seriously!

Well, you can imagine the reaction from the class. We all tried to calmly correct her, and she accepted our corrections, apologetically saying she was just a fill-in teacher. But what shocked me the most was how ignorant she, and so many others can be about the disease. In addition, why does it matter to so many people who others have sex with? We spend so much time hating others for things that are not really our business in the first place, that we continue to spread ignorance about problems like HIV. When we should all have a good understanding of the disease and try to move forward, like Ugandans.


Sex is a topic not discussed in the places it should be, like churches and homes. We avoid talks about sex, as if it doesn’t happen, despite the fact that there are almost 7 billion people in the world. They had to get here somehow, didn’t they? Frankly I think we should take more initiative and learn to talk about the spread of HIV. For example, instead of saying it is spread by bodily fluids (misleading people into thinking this includes spit and sweat), we should not be too immature to say things like semen, vaginal fluid, and blood. Education really is the key to understanding and stopping this problem.

I talked with Elijah’s guardian mother, and we set a date to go get him tested. After failing a couple times, as the local government run clinic is rife with corrupt health staff that often don’t show up for work, we decided to take him to the private clinic. The price for the test -- $2.50.

The walk to the nearby clinic was somber. In fact, I was surprised how easy it was to take him. He showed many of the signs of HIV, and a test would merely let us know what already was. We arrived at the clinic, talked a couple things over with the nurse, and then he took an alcohol swab, cleaned Elijah’s dusty arm, and pricked him with the needle.

Now I know many adults that have a very hard time getting blood drawn. So it must be traumatic for a 3 year old. Elijah immediately started crying and trying with his free hand to pry the nurse’s hand away. We calmed him, and after a few long seconds, they had the blood they needed..

I made Elijah give me our trademark fist bump, and a smile came to his face as the passing dusty wind dried his big tears. They said it would take about an hour to get the results

We walked back to our office with his guardian, and she returned to her nearby restaurant. It was 10:50. I realized the next hour would be the longest hour of my life. We put a band-aid on Elijah’s arm, and then I hopped on my computer and started working. I tried to keep myself distracted, but every time I looked at the clock it just seemed to be going by slower and slower.

11:05…

11:15…

11:20…

Finally, at 11:45, it was time to go. This time, the walk seemed much longer than when we first took him an hour ago. Every step was a step towards the inevitable bad news. A thousand reasons why I should turn around and go back with the easy current of ignorance of his status, but one good reason why I should continue.

Few words were spoken, and we arrived at the clinic. The nurse, Adam, gave us the paper and said the other nurse would be with us shortly. I looked at it. Gibberish, at best, was all I saw. Next to his status was “CHR”. None of us had a clue what that meant.
The other nurse, Innocent (seriously his name), grabbed the paper, looked at us, and said, “Negative.”
“What?” we asked, wanting to make sure that we had heard correctly.
“He’s negative. Elijah is negative, he doesn’t have HIV. Congratulations.”

A wave of emotion swept over me. I had convinced myself so much that he was positive, that it was a huge surprise, albeit pleasant. It was such a huge relief I could barely hold back the inundation of emotions going through my mind. All we could manage to say, was, “Well, that’s good. Praise God!”

You know, I have studied a lot about AIDS, worked on AIDS outreach activities, and known people that are HIV positive. But this is the first time it affected someone I care deeply about. Elijah doesn’t have any real parents, so there are many of us that fill in that void for him. If he had been positive, we would have dealt with it. I don’t know what it’s like to have a loved one infected with the death sentence. And hopefully, I will never have to know. But regardless, millions of people around the world are suffering. Science is working on a cure and a vaccine, but have not yet found either. So in the meantime, we should be educated about this disease, which is not just in Africa.

We need to be smart. And regardless of what people do in the bedroom, AIDS is not a punishment. We all sin. And many people, like children, have nothing to do with their status. There are other ways of getting HIV than sex. And even if it was, all of us struggle in life (hence the aforementioned obesity and heart disease problems in America). Plus, AIDS is everywhere, in every community around the world. Let’s join together to stop this epidemic from continuing to spread.