Productions: Panoscope

Panoscope . Media Briefings . Island Beat . Our Own Voice . Le P'tit Nouvelliste
Order Publications

Panoscope Articles Index

Patricia Watson
Regional Director, Panos [12132007]

The children have spoken and it is now time for the leaders to act on the simple requests made by them.

On November 19, 2007, the Gleaner Newspaper in partnership with Panos Caribbean began publishing letters written by children living with or affected by HIV. For more than four weeks, the 13 children laboured on letters they wanted to send to Jamaican leaders, trying to find the right words and wrestling with their emotions. In the end they completed the letters, but only nine leaders accepted the invitation to have the letters delivered.

The letters dealt with various issues. One spoke about the need for parenting lessons for people living with HIV as the stress of the disease was making some parents and caregivers abusive. Another spoke of the need for special support for persons who become infected because of rape. One child in his letter another wanted to know if there was any support group for children living with HIV and another called for more intensive training for teachers, doctors and guidance counsellors in sexual and reproductive health issues including HIV. One letter to the Child Development Agency spoke of discrimination against persons infected or affected by HIV at the community level and wanted the CDA to find ways of helping children who are verbally and emotionally abused. Others called on employers to be open to hiring people living with HIV as parents need work in order to support their children. The Mayor of Portmore was asked to put in place programmes in the municipality to lessen the high level of stigma and discrimination evident in some communities and finally the youngest member of the group wanted to find out from UNAIDS what it was doing to ensure that the government kept its promises especially those dealing with discrimination.

In accepting the letters, the leaders have given their commitment to act on the concerns raised by the children and young people. These children will continue to follow up on the requests made and look forward to the responses from the various leaders on the issues they raised.

“Special Delivery” thanks the nine leaders who took time out of their very busy schedule to accommodate the young people. They appreciated the effort and look forward to working closely with you all in the future.

There were four very disappointed children who should have delivered their letters to Ministers of Government but who never got a chance to do so. Two of the letters deserve special mention.

One letter was addressed to the Minister of Education, Mr. Andrew Holness. The 16 year old youth who is living with HIV noted that it took him three weeks to write the letter as he cannot read well. His concern was that sometimes he could not learn what the teacher was teaching.

“The HIV is very hard on kids like me, some of us can’t even read and write properly and when the children laugh at us we feel very bad about it… All we are asking you please if you could help us with our education. We need a place where we can feel comfortable with our status and also learn. We want teachers who understand us and can help us to learn. We don’t want children to laugh at us. Education is a good thing if we are to be the best we can be. Education is our future and without it there is no life for us with this sickness,” the youth wrote.

Another young man, 10 years old wrote to the Prime Minister, the Honourable Bruce Golding. His request was also very simple. In introducing himself he said:

“I am ok with my life. I am taking my medication and I am a normal boy. I enjoy playing cricket and football. I have lots of friends at my school. One thing that I don’t like at all is keeping my illness a secret. But with this disease I have to be silent because I am afraid what may happen if people know. I am afraid that if I talk about it, people will hurt me and my mother.

“My best friend does not know that I am HIV positive. I can’t tell him that I am writing you this letter. Nobody at my school knows. I am afraid to tell anyone because they may not want to play with me and that would make me feel sad.

“Even though I am only 10 years old, I am concerned that people in Jamaica still don’t know or understand a lot about HIV. I think a lot about this because there are so many children living with HIV and some don’t know about their status. Some of us are so afraid because of the society we live in. People still don’t accept us who have the virus.

“With your help Prime Minister, I look forward to the day when Jamaicans don’t say mean and cruel things about people living with HIV. As one of the most powerful person in Jamaica, I am asking you to talk more about HIV and about us children living with HIV. Wherever you go, speak about HIV, because it is a very serious problem.”

The theme for World AIDS Day 2007 calls for leadership at all levels to address HIV and AIDS and asks every single person to keep the promise to do so. No doubt many of our leaders would have made speeches and delivered messages on December 1st. Let us hope that words and promises will be translated into concrete action, particularly for those in our society who are most vulnerable to the devastating impact of AIDS – our children.

We hope the letters which were a part of this campaign have given Jamaicans an insight into the lives of these children and how our attitudes and behaviour in addressing HIV and AIDS affect them. Together we must take action to eliminate stigma and discrimination when we see or hear it; to ensure that our children are educated about sexuality and sexual and reproductive health; to report acts of abuse of children and take action to protect children who are being abused. We need to all take a lead in making Jamaica a safe place for children living with HIV.

Patricia Watson is the regional director HIV and AIDS, Panos Caribbean.

- Patricia Watson
Regional Director, Panos