Catching Up: Reflections from Kenya to NYC

Attending the International AIDS conference takes me back many years to the days of my youth. I was trained to become a peer educator on HIV/AIDS and Behavior Change in my Church. However, challenges and complexities of HIV/AIDS demanded a more comprehensive approach to poverty related issues. This epidemic has touched every family in Kenya. The church had no choice but to respond.

Those days, fear and stigma were so high no one dared to come out. We trained other youth and slowly came up with a team in each congregation that was dedicated to raising awareness about voluntary counseling, testing and prevention.

We have come far. Today, churches are at the center of the HIV/AIDS response. While HIV continues to affect families and communities, there are now many congregants who have come up openly about their status and are examples of people living positively with HIV in Kenya.

We still have far to go. It is hard to be here because I am reminded of David, the first person who ever dared to disclose his status during a Sunday service in my congregation. He dedicated his life raising awareness and advocating. He lived with the virus for almost 20 years. I am also reminded that despite my many years of peer education, close family members have died of AIDS; they discovered their status too late. I have sometimes blamed myself for failing to do enough. My reality though is that many of my relatives have no access to healthcare and others live far away from clinics that can do the diagnosis and offer lifesaving ARVs. Others are afraid of being stigmatized.

It is good to be here because it reminds me of the work that still needs to be done to fight stigma and discrimination, gender inequality and the many other social drivers of the disease. I am currently living in New York. During the day, I am surrounded by the UN, and affluence that Manhattan brings. One can almost be forgiven for forgetting about HIV/AIDS. In the evening, in the Bronx, surrounded by ordinary daily life – I still do not see the face of HIV, maybe because I do not know my neighbors, but I see glimpses of poverty and the burden of race, and racial discrimination.

The silence on HIV/AIDS in my little world is very loud. The US statistics are very loud. I keep asking myself why the silence? Is it ignorance? Is it indifference?

The reality is divorced from the response. Is it because of who is most affected?

The theme of the AIDS conference is Stepping up the Pace. A lot is being said about who is left behind. Who is missing? Who is not feeling welcomed in our communities’ response?  And in our pews? Is our theology one that empowers the discriminated and excluded?

So, I am here again (this is my third AIDS conference, I have been co- leading delegations of young adults for the last three conferences). I have many questions. I am here to educate myself; to catch up with the rest of the movement; the science (that is promising and challenged, as the search for a vaccine and cure intensifies). I am here to remember those we have lost to AIDS. I am here to celebrate the many that are living positively with HIV, to be in solidarity, to remind myself of my own vulnerability, to re-energize, to continue being hopeful that we will get to the three zeroes, and that an AIDS free generation is possible. I am here to celebrate life and dreams.

I am excited because we have an amazing delegation of young people who are attending the AIDS conference for the first time. Their energy and hunger to learn, but also their leadership is infectious. I am privileged to learn from other fellow ELCA and LWF colleagues. It is also affirming to be part of the faith community and hence am mingling and getting to know efforts of other faith communities. I am also keeping an open mind and mingling with groups of people who challenge me because they are “different” from me. I am listening to their stories and understanding their rage at us people of faith because we are still struggling to be inclusive and accepting of all God’s people, the way they are.

The call to all faith communities is to be inclusive and reach out to all, including the key populations; to show love, compassion and join others in stepping up the pace. We are called to be outraged by the lack of urgency in scaling up treatment to all people still waiting to get on life saving treatment. High prices for drugs, patent fights and putting profits first all contribute negatively to the fight against HIV/AIDS. We are also called to examine what we are doing, or not doing at all, in our communities.

Above all, I am here to cry, laugh and build networks and friendships that go beyond the conference. I am reminded everyday how beautiful the world can be if we all can be our sisters’ and brothers’ keepers.

So, look around you, join the movement of care, support and advocacy. You are needed now more than ever!