Speaking at the official launch of the
People Living With AIDS (PLWA) Week at Phatsimo Primary School in Francistown yesterday, Ditsebe-Mhone told the audience that the occasion seeks among other objectives to show that people living with HIV do exist in society and that they do not believe that AIDS can kill them because they are living positively.
“We cannot face the monster alone. Let’s unite and bury our differences. Time is running out for us,” she pleaded at the week whose theme was, “Positive Voices, Positive Faces, Positive People, Positive Lives”.
She further poured scorn on those who resort to suicide after testing HIV positive. She contemptuously labelled them as cowards.
She also took issue with people who have ostracised and condemned people living with HIV to a mass slaughter similar to the eradication of cattle lung diseased cattle.
“A lot of people who point fingers at people living with AIDS are themselves cowards who are afraid to go out and test for HIV. A lot of them do not know their HIV status. They frustrate efforts made in the fight against the pandemic,” she cried.
Another HIV/AIDS activist and one of the first locals to go public with their HIV positive status – David Ngele, who is also director of the Botswana Network of People Living with AIDS, praised people living with AIDS for their commitment towards creating awareness of the scourge and helping avoid the prevalence of new infections.
He said that it shows that they are not just a problem anymore but part of the solution. He argued that as people living with AIDS they have the subjective reality of the stigma and related effects and as a result are best placed to disseminate the message of the fight.
“I encourage PLWA to join support groups to avoid isolation. It is through support groups that we stand to gain information on positive living, strength as well as hope. Support groups are good and accessible because they are formed by and for the people,” he said.
The week resonates with COCEPWA’s belief that both the infected and the affected need to take responsibility in the fight against the disease and the emergent stigma and discrimination.
The week sets out to be a place for open deliberation and interaction for those infected and affected in order to form bonds that will help in the fight.
The event which started in the morning with four marches from different points in the city managed to bring together people living with AIDS and related stakeholders from as far as Lesotho, Swaziland, Namibia and South Africa to meet and share experiences with their fellow COCEPWA colleagues from centres in Francistown, Gaborone, Molepolole, Maun and Serowe as well as the wider public.
