PROGRAMME TITLE: THE WAY WE ARE
BROADCAST DATE: MAY 20, 2006
BROADCAST TIME: 1815HRS – 1830HRS
PRESENTER: NED ELUE   
PRODUCER: ‘MUYIWA OJEKUNLE

MUSIC – LIFE NA JEJE BY DR.AIYK

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NED: That was the music of Dr. Aiyk from his album, LIFE NA JEJE…
Bisi (not real name) never imagined that HIV would touch her life. She had it all: she was a wife and a mother, a vibrant church worker, had a good education and was running her own fashion business. 

But then, her whole world came crashing down and changed the course of her life. She tested positive and before she was told of her status, she had noticed that relatives and friends had withdrawn. To make matter worse, her second family, that is, her fellowship group deserted her…nobody wanted anything to do with that vibrant, pretty young woman that was initially full of life.

The spread of HIV/AIDS depends on, and thus, exposes every weakness in society. Most especially in the face of poverty, illiteracy, lack of public health, and corruption when it becomes part of daily life. Yes…corruption prevents the possibility of earnest and adequate response by the government. It is for these reasons that HIV/AIDS is not simply a medical disease but also a social one.

Hello and welcome to THE WAY WE ARE, a 15-minute enlightenment programme that focuses on HIV/AIDS, the challenges and aspirations of people living with the virus, and its acceptance by the society.

Today, we focus on our society. We look at the general acceptance of people living with HIV/AIDS amongst us. I am NED ELUE and joining me on this power-packed 15 minutes is…

SENAMI: Senami Idowu

NED: And…

VICTOR:  Victor Omosheyin. Thank you.

NED: HIV/AIDS, let’s take a clear case of Bisi, whose house fellowship group decided to shift its house fellowship venue to another member’s house simply because they were told in touch that she had tested positive. This is actually a clear-cut example of how our society accept HIV/AIDS. Senami, what do you think is really responsible for this unsociable attitude? 

SENAMI: First of all they claim to be Christians and if I remember well, Christians are supposed to love their neighbours as they love themselves. They should embrace Bisi despite…she’s not dead, she’s not rotten…she’s a human being like them. But I’ll just call them hypocrites. They don’t practice what they preach because I wonder, if they treat their fellow members like that how will they treat someone that is not even close to them.

NED: Alright. Just before I ask you any other questions, our phone lines are actually opened now. So you can make your views heard. The number to call is 8168463. Let’s hear your contribution. Call us now on 8168463.

NED: HIV/AIDS are highly associated with attitudes and social responses. A person living with HIV and AIDS needs genuine compassion, as Senami has rightly said and good counseling and acceptance at all places. Or what do you think?

VICTOR: I think people lack information because if people are not informed, they tend to be ignorant and that gives birth to such a situation whereby you see
these people behave in such a manner…(phone rings)

NED:  Hold on, we have a call…(cuts)

VICTOR:  So, what I’m saying is that the church…that is, the people that decided to despise Bisi, are ignorant of the fact that they do not know anything about HIV/AIDS…(phone rings)

NED: Let’s receive this call. Hello, good evening…(cuts)

VICTOR:  For the fact that these people don’t have the basic information about HIV/AIDS, then you should expect that they will have this kind of discriminating attitude towards persons living with HIV/AIDS…because you won’t expect somebody to behave in such a manner…(phone rings)

NED:  Excuse me. Hello, please tell us your name and where you are calling from?

CALLER:  “Chima is my name and I’m calling from Ebute-Meta…thank you”

VICTOR:  I think Chima has a very good point there…Christ has laid an example for us to follow. Even the church. That we should love our brothers and sisters. For the society, some people see people living with HIV/AIDS are seen as people who are promiscuous, fornicators, adulterers. Even Christ came for sinners. So, there’s this responsibility and the call on the church to wake up, give care and support.
SENAMI:  You’re saying the church…the church is you and I. Every Sunday, most people just go to church, sit down there and listen to the pastor and after that, on Monday, they go back to their normal lives. Something different from what they went to do in church.

NED:  Alright Victor, in light of what is attainable in some parts of the world, let’s say, for instance, in Europe and America where discriminating and stigmatization against persons living with HIV/AIDS could become a serious problem, could be taken as an offence. But, back here it’s not the same. What do you think is…(phone rings) Hold on, let’s take this call before you answer that. Hello…good evening…(cuts) I was going to say, what do you think is the problem?

VICTOR:  What I think is the problem is that the people are lacking…the fact that there is no information for people. Aside from that, we want to look at the legal aspect of it. In Nigeria here, there is no bill, as in anti-discrimination bill that could be a legal instrument to back us if our right is violated. As a person living with HIV, I cannot be able to enforce my rights in the law court…(phone rings and cuts) To do that is very difficult.

NED:  To deduce from what you’ve said, you’re actually saying that enough policies have not been created?

VICTOR:  Yes.

NED:  And that’s why we don’t have such things on ground?

VICTOR: I think even if we have it, the implementation is another challenge.

SENAMI:  The thing is, the people who are going to implement it…how much do they know about HIV? How much? The people should educate themselves as much as possible because if you have to teach someone, you have to know very much yourself.

NED:  Taking into cognizance what the media has been projecting now, I’d dare to say that they haven’t done enough.

SENAMI:  They haven’t.

NED:  I think they’ve done reasonably well.

SENAMI: Just a minute amount, because most of them have projected news. It’s not until painfully recently. It’s only until recently that people have taken it upon themselves to go all out to air their views on HIV/AIDS. (phone rings)

NED:  Please hold on…let’s take this call. Hello, good evening…

CALLER:  “My name is Dele. I’m calling from Akute. You see, what I want to say is this…. if we change some of the interpretations given to HIV/AIDS, I think it will go a long way in embracing people who are living with HIV/AIDS. Thank you very much”.

NED:  Thank you. I think I can translate from what he has said.

SENAMI:  He’s talking about misconceptions about HIV/AIDS

VICTOR:  And the native name people call person living with HIV or the virus itself is ‘incurable’. I won’t want to say that. In Yoruba, what I interpret HIV to be is “kokoro inu eje”, that is, “a virus in the blood”. And I think that is what it is!

SENAMI:  It is!!!

VICTOR:  So, Dele has a good point.

NED:  Victor, you have been tested positive for how long now?

VICTOR: Since last year February.

NED:  We’ve talked about Bisi…(phone rings) just after this call; I’m going to ask you a question. Hello, good evening. Please tell us your name and where you’re calling from?

CALLER:  “My name is Jerry. I’m calling from Ikorodu”.

NED:  Thank you Jerry. Please make your contribution.

CALLER:  “Well, I think this thing of HIV/AIDS…They should create a seminar for everybody and pastors should talk about HIV to many people…thank you”.

NED: Thank you, Jerry. We can assure you, we are doing just that. We are caring for all of them. We are actually going to take a time out and when we come, Victor, there will be a question for you.

VICTOR:  I know…I’m already prepared for that.

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NED:  You’re still on to THE WAY WE ARE, and today we are talking about societal acceptance generally, not just the church now. And the number to call is 8168463. Please call us now and hear your views. Victor, I was going to ask you…you’ve been tested for over a year now

VICTOR: Yes.

NED:  Now, we looked at the case of Bisi. Bisi was just an example of such. Did you ever face such?

VICTOR:  My case was a bit different because my community was taken as an intervention community, where the Society For Family Health had an intervention programme called ‘Make We Talk’. So everybody in the community was able to talk, were trained, given basic information about HIV/AIDS. Even my family was part of the peer health educators. That gave me an opportunity. When I discovered my status, I went to my younger sister who was a trained peer health educator and I disclosed to her about my status. Then, she gave me the courage to go ahead to disclose to my parent who gave me the best support I ever needed. And I think, for the fact that my family stood by me, the society had no choice other than accept me for whom I am. So everybody in the society was like, “this guy…maybe he’s lying…it’s not true”.

SENAMI:  Everybody in the society, your school, friends?

VICTOR:  Yeah, my friends…everybody. But what I think is that if your family are there for you, then the society is not there to discriminate against you.

NED:  OK, so it’s apparent now that there has to be a massive attitude change in our society in order to reduce the stigmatization of people living with HIV and AIDS. A more positive attitude and right social responses are needed to combat the spread of the disease, specifically we need to accept people with HIV and AIDS as a 'normal' part of our society. Sena?

SENAMI:  Yeah.

NED:  How can we change people's attitude?

SENAMI:  It boils down to the individual. What you believe in…accept…they are normal people like me.

NED:  What are beliefs based on?

SENAMI:  I have my beliefs, you have your beliefs. It’s different. I can be…there are some people that are just plain wicked. When they just hear that this person is living with the virus, they automatically tend to like you at first. Later they change. (phone rings)

NED:  Hello, good evening…

CALLER:  Good evening.

NED:  Please tell us your name and where you’re calling from…(cuts)

VICTOR:         What I think is, the government has a responsibility to play in this aspect. People need to be educated. Information and enlightenment programmes have to be taken to the grassroot so that these people could access…(phone rings & cuts)

SENAMI:  There’s a limit to what government can do. Individuals also have contributions to make as well.

NED:  I’m going to create a mental picture for you right now. The media has depicted people living with HIV/AIDS to be very raw-boned, emaciated, skeletal, looking very unkempt and almost dead. Naturally, being a human being, you get to see such things on TV and then you hear, “this guy is positive”. What will be your response? Because you were saying that my belief is different from your belief.

SENAMI:  How much do I know about HIV…It’s not all of them that look…Well, I’ve never seen…Look at Victor. Victor is healthy. He’s healthy and hearty. All those pictures were concocted from, well, God knows where they got them from. Most of it is a misconception. Really, the HIV virus is not…how would I put it? Once you’re well taken care of, you take your regular multivitamin, your drugs regularly, you can live healthy and normal life like any other life. (phone rings)

NED:  Hello, good evening. Please tell us your name and where you’re calling from.

CALLER:  “Good evening. My name is Musibau. I’m calling from Mushin…don’t send them away. Encourage them”.

NED: That’s what we are doing.

VICTOR:  A person like Musibau has just given someone like myself hope.

NED:  Before we round off, we should confront unfair social attitudes that shun individuals and families through education and appropriate policy systems. And if we are to confront unfair social attitudes, education and public awareness is the most important policy option. People should know more about stigma and denial. The fear and shame, which are the causes of exclusion and denial, need to be addressed at the family, community and national levels. Our society should learn how to accept and embrace people living with HIV/AIDS and give the maximum support and compassion. Thank you all for joining me today.

SENAMI:  I want to say something. Ignorance is no difference. As much information you can gather, get it. Please accept these people.

VICTOR:  And, remember don’t discriminate against people living with HIV/AIDS.

NED:  And that concludes this edition of THE WAY WE ARE. Be sure to keep a date with us for another HIV/AIDs related issue. I am NED ELUE

SENAMI:  I am SENAMI IDOWU.

VICTOR: And I am VICTOR OMOSHEHIN.

NED: THE WAY WE ARE have been a MUYIWA OJEKUNLE production in collaboration with the POSITIVE YOUTHS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA and NigeriaHIVinfo.com

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