From the
depths of distress, disillusionment, dejection and the certainty of untimely
death occasioned by HIV infection through blood transfusion at the tender age
of 12, Gloria Asuquo, has risen to become a vibrant, assertive and ambitious
young woman who is taking a decisive and incisive battle to one of the world’s
most dreaded infectious disorders – HIV/AIDS.
In an
encounter with Sola Ogundipe in Abuja, the energetic 24-year-old recounted the
frustrations of living as a pauper in addition to the ignominy of HIV stigma
and discrimination.
Today,
Gloria who once contemplated death until sheer luck and doggedness turned her
fortunes around and brought unhindered access to the elusive, life-saving
treatment has undergone a transformation. The same HIV infection that took her
to the brink of total despair is today a source of her blessing. How did it
happen? She tells it all in this encounter.
Excerpts:
Living with
HIV stigma
I’m a young
person diagnosed HIV positive at 12. I was in Primary six going to JSS1. I got
infected through blood transfusion. The stigma was so much I couldn’t bear it.
There were drugs at that time, but they were too expensive for my parents to
afford. Each time my father raised the money to pay for my drugs, my mother
would challenge him. Why are you giving her the money? she would ask. We know
that she would soon die. Why is she taking the drugs? Why are we wasting money? My mother went to the Church and told the
Reverend who announced my status to the community.
He advised
I should be taken to one of the General Hospitals and abandoned there to die.
But my father refused to heed such advice. Rather, he challenged the Reverend
to take one of his four children to the hospital and abandon her there to die
first, only then would he obey the instruction. The pressure became too much.
My mother
separated me from the rest of the family. She demarcated my own part of the
house separate from the others. The stigma became too much.
Escape from
home
One day I
could not bear it again. The pressure was too much for me to bear. I had to
break the window and jumped out to escape from home at the age of 12. I escaped
to an unknown village called Oki. I went to Jabi Park in Abuja, I had only
N800. I didn’t know where to go, but just wanted to leave and even die.
Death wish
I wanted to
die. I was in the bush; I had stopped using my drugs which at that time cost
N15, 000 per month. Test for CD4 count was N6, 000, viral load N12, 000. Where
was I going to get that kind of money? I wasn’t working, I just told God to let
me die.
Before
then, I went to NTA and shared my story. I told them I was HIV positive; I
wanted to declare my status to the world. They said I should cover my face, but
I said no. I wanted the world to know my story so that if I die, everyone would
know what killed me. Breaking the stigma is an individual thing. If you want to
come out to testify, nobody can take that away from you
Saved
Then I met
Dr. Anthony Agu, a lecturer at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. When he asked
about my parents, I burst into tears. He took me to the University and I told
him my story. He took me to his house, gave me a room to stay. But he told me
not to disclose my status to his family. He enabled me continue my education
and in 1996, I finished my school.
Back to
treatment
Dr. Agu
then told me that he heard that the drugs were now free that I should go and
try. So I went back to Gwagwalada General Hospital where I met Dr. Ajayi. When
he asked if I had been taken my drugs, I said yes. I lied to him because I was
afraid that if I told him I had not been on drugs, he would send me away.
But he
placed me on the drugs. That night I went back to Nsukka, but never went back
home. Dr. Ajayi got all my details and related to Dr. Pat Matemilola and
Professor Babatunde Oshotimehin who were all looking for me. Eventually, it was
Godwin Odemije of Radio Nigeria that came to look for me, and brought me back
home. In 2006, I developed typhoid and ovarian cyst. Doctors said I would be
operated upon because I stopped using my drugs for a number of years. To the
glory of God, I’m still on firstline drugs.
HIV
infection as blessing
God first,
but the treatment has kept me alive till today. If there were no free drugs, by
now, I would have been a forgotten issue. People would have forgotten me, my
name would not be written anywhere. HIV has become a blessing to me. I am
sitting with important people. If not for HIV, I would not meet Ministers, and
Ambassadors and so many important people. If not for HIV, I would not have ever
fly in an aircraft. I’m proud to be HIV positive. Today, I’m a testimony in my
family, there is no meeting at which they do not seek my opinion. I’m proud
that I’m HIV positive.
Make
treatment available
I’m still
pleading to the Ambassadors and everyone in the country to make these drugs
accessible especially the youths and women. We are the most vulnerable and do
not have anywhere to go. We are tomorrow’s leaders. We may be driven out when
we are diagnosed with HIV because the general belief is that HIV is contracted
through promiscuity. But HIV can be contracted through many ways.
The three
zeros
If the
drugs are made to be more available, only then can we truly have the three
zeros, that is, zero related deaths, zero new infection and zero stigma. As a
young person I cannot come out but keep quiet and spread it, but if we provide
access to treatment, give free education, employment and there is no stigma, I
bet you, these three zeros will be achieved.
Ambition
I’m
dreaming to become a medical doctor. I want to achieve this. HIV has nothing to
do with my future. I would match it and overcome it. I need you to help me
achieve my dream and also to find a cure to HIV. I want my name to be great, so
that it will be said that Gloria Asuquo found a cure to HIV. I want a scholarship
so that I can achieve my goal.
Source: Vanguard
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