Adele from the Global Fund and Karen from (RED)'s Rose Rwabasinga is their subject, a Rwandan woman who is the vice president of the national AIDS commission. She's a 45-year-old mother who has been HIV+ for the past 11 years, so she has experience has a counselor as well as a beneficiary of Global Fund programs.
--bn
Rose Rwabasinga profile and interview (translated from French)
By Robert Bourgoing and Adèle Sulcas
Shortly after selling her car and parcel of land to maintain the family and buy medicine, Rose Rwabasinga, an HIV+ widow from
Rose was discriminated against because of her HIV+ status, so she wanted to join with others who had a similar problem. She joined an association which helped her enormously – she felt free to speak as she wanted to about the disease, to discuss it with others, and felt relived that she was able to share her problem with others who understood. When she would fall sick, the other association members were the first to come to her aid.
All Rose’s 3 children are HIV-negative. However, many of the association’s members had HIV+ children, and this was one of the reasons they began campaigning for access to free or reduced-price antiretrovirals.
In January 2004, the government of
TRANSCRIPT
My name is Rose Rwabasinga. I am 45 years old and have three children. I live in
How were you getting antiretroviral medicine before the free drugs programme began?
I used to buy my own medicines but as a civil servant was not earning enough to afford them. First, I sold my car and was then able to buy drugs for two years. Then, because I was no longer working, I sold my piece of land to keep my children in school and continue buying drugs. It was a disaster! I had nothing left to sell and yet was too weak to work. We were doomed and had no way to survive. I didn’t have any hope left in life, and was even ready to commit suicide. I can assure you that many people felt the same way I did.
Was it around this time that free medicines provided through the Global Fund were made available?
Yes, the medicines arrived in January 2004. The Government provided these medicines to everyone who needed them. Finally, we really could access treatment. Now I keenly follow the doctor’s orders, and feel physically fit. The only work I cannot do any kind of work which is not too heavy.
Where do you see yourself in future?
These days I can make plans. I have always wanted to go to university. I thought about it in the past but concluded that it was useless, because at the time I didn’t hope to live for much longer. Now I make solid plans. If I find the money, I will enroll in university, because I know that I can survive for 15 years or more. I look forward to living because I can always make plans.
Have you heard about (RED)? What do you know about it?
I know that there is a campaign which relies on the sale of red products to raise some money towards helping people living with HIV/AIDS. I truly don’t know how to thank these people because they are doing humanity an important favour. They truly are prolonging many lives and reconstructing this country, because in
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2 comments:
Thank you, BN, for providing all of us with another compelling testimony from a woman (and a mother) who finds herself right in the middle of the AIDS emergency in Africa.
Anybody who could remain skeptical of (RED) and of the TREMENDOUS work that (RED) money does through the Global Fund is simply not paying attention to the bigger picture.
Because when families are kept intact and communities are stabilized - (RED) IS WORKING! When people are hopeful and "can now make plans" for their future - (RED) IS WORKING!
Thus, simply continue to do what you have always done, my dear friends at (RED)- keep finding those new partner businesses to become (RED), keep coming up with creative and innovative ways to market (RED) and continue to KEEP MOVING FORWARD.~
Time will prove (RED) IS CORRECT by the numbers of parents' lives saved and by the numbers of children's lives who are made better in the process.
And we will all be here to encourage you on to even bigger and better accomplishments for (RED). Count on me to be in the first row. (smile)
Take very good care of each other. Blessings surround you always.
ALWAYS (RED) AT HEART, debbie
Rose says "I know that there is a campaign which relies on the sale of red products to raise some money towards helping people living with HIV/AIDS. I truly don’t know how to thank these people because they are doing humanity an important favour. They truly are prolonging many lives and reconstructing this country, because in Rwanda there are many HIV infected people. When we see people making this kind of sacrifice - if they are really buying these products because they want money to help infected people – I really cannot thank them enough. It’s a very noble act! Please tell them that if you meet them. I think that there should also be a written message in the products that proceeds will go towards helping infected people, because that will bring out a lot more people. If I ever get the chance to meet some of the people buying these products, I will tell them just how thankful I am. "
for every one who wants to thank you and can't, surely she speaks their heart. to touch lives you don't know with meds you don't need on a continent that is not yours, that's love. unconditional love. thanx.
some of us are looking forward to buying a brew and sitting a spell in kingdom come with those who mean a lot to us outside our contact, like Rose feels here. me, i'm looking forward to having that opportunity with you all. and just maybe, just maybe, they with Rose just may want those same moments with you. or with those who purchase the items that make the pills possible. it's a great interconnectedness.
you and this venture . . . . you are much loved and appreciated, not only there but here.
stay close,
sammi =)
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