With 4 kids, all male, and 2 older boys now on their teens, my wife and I have our share of being scared. While HIV was still a statistic, for these kids, it will be their friends, their relatives, or even their partners, jowa or whatever they will call them in the near future.
Come October 2016, I will be spending a decade of my life in this work. It will be my 10th year working with UNAIDS, with dear friends in the AIDS advocacy, and family members.
I would like to celebrate this decade not with the gloomy projections of seeing HIV cases in every city of the country, but by savouring every experience I have had, I am having, and will have.
Let me celebrate this length of time in HIV work by sharing that both my wife and I stand as “godparents” of a friend who was recently diagnosed with HIV and has initiated intake of life-saving ARV. Yes, we gave our wholehearted yes to a friend’s request to be his treatment partner having been his “sole” family left (his parents and brothers all passed away already). A yes, despite witnessing the horrors of the ARV’s side effects. Still a resounding yes as we share the pains of acceptance and possible stigma among friends, in his workplace, in his circle.
We see, we feel hope despite his HIV diagnosis. He is and will be working and living productively, like many other Filipinos. We realized that, indeed, it was one of his best decisions, to take the HIV test, know his HIV status, and own every past decisions he had and stay alive and healthy for the future.
That is my hope. That is my wife’s hope.
That all our kids, whom we dearly call the Tamborlings, will one day recognize our efforts, the country’s collective efforts, for providing them opportunities and empowering themselves against HIV… understand HIV, know one’s HIV status, so that they can do something for themselves.
We know that one day, they can tell us “Papang, Mamang, thank you. I know my HIV status”.
Zimmbodilion “Peter” Mosende
“I joined UNAIDS Philippines in October 2006 as Officer/Adviser for Monitoring, Evaluation, and Strategic Information”
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