After conducting interviews during the day, we joined Lise and Charles (volunteers) in the evening for a free meal, which they hold 6 days a week for people in the city suffering from HIV/Aids. Approximately 20 people turned up to join us for a 3 course meal, which to many is there only meal of the day.
All of these people had one thing in common, their illness, and that's where their similarity should have ended, however it did not. What they also share, is the common experience of having been outcast by society, abandoned by their families, and often left to fend for themselves. In the present day it is difficult to understand why there is still such a stigma attached to HIV/Aids.
Spending an evening in the company of so many people suffering from this awful disease, gave us the privileged position of being able to put a face to the issue, and it is this we hope to pass on to many others. There were people there with so much energy it was truly contagious, and on the flipside there were people exhausted by their medication. There were confidant people, and shy people, gay people, and straight people, French, Arab, African, and European people, male and female. To put it simply, we entered into a meal for people suffering from HIV/Aids, and left from a meal for 20 something individuals.
Again, we would all like to thank everyone for being so open, and for trusting our intentions. We can only hope the world wakes up, and begins to treat people suffering from HIV/Aids, as the human beings that they are.
No comments:
Post a Comment