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Life Onboard |
LAST UPDATE
July 12, 2005
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| site design imagesparkle.com |
| February 2, 2004 |
Being Positive about HIV – Jose Araujo Lima Filho |
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| Araujo taking medicine during his presentation |
The first thing that strikes you about Jose Araujo with his square rim glasses and healthy tan is his unassuming nature and the warm and captivating smile that emanates from the core of his being and suggests a real joy at being alive. His strength and positivity in some ways sits at odds with the stereotypical of image of people living with HIV.
Araujo contracted HIV at the age of 22, at a time when awareness about the existence of HIV was a mere blip on the social radar screen. The common perception in Brazil at the time was that it was "a disease of the promiscuous in Europe". He went for a test "more out of curiosity than anything else". Five months earlier he had donated a kidney to save a friend's life and tested negative for HIV at the time. So when the second test came back positive, he felt like "the world opened up and that he was falling in" and said that he could feel nothing. Because the disease was still so new when he contracted it in 1985, there was no prognosis other than death. For Araujo however, death held less of a grip on him than the fear of isolation. The fear was not baseless and hit home when he approached the owner of the shop he managed at the time in the hope of support - but was fired on the spot.
The process of overcoming and transforming the shock and negativity of the situation into a stimulus for "living positively" was by no means instantaneous and simple. What has carried Araujo through the last 18 years was a refusal to allow himself to be defined by his CD4 cell count (a measure of the strength of the body's immune system) and a indomitable lust for life.
He lost many friends over the 15 years it took for treatment to become universally available in Brazil. Even those with access to treatment are often unable to maintain the oppressive and regularly changing medicinal cocktails which often involve 18 types of pills to manage the virus and more for the side effects. Families and friends often suffer doubly, losing a loved one to the disease then having it compounded by discrimination by association.
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| Demonstrating a safe sex technique |
'GIV', an NGO which offers hope and support to children with HIV, offered a source of strength and a sense of purpose to Araujo, after he came into contact with them through a TV documentary. GIV currently visits the homes of 140 children infected with HIV. They help prepare meals as well as offering psychological support for the sufferers. One of the main activities is its education campaigns, one of which centers around the prevention of mother-to-child transmission. Araujo has also been instrumental in the fight for universal access to HIV treatment for Brazil's estimated 540,000 sufferers, a fight which has seen him take to the streets and tackle politicians head on, on many occasions.
Onboard, Araujo offered workshops covering diverse topics ranging from the situation surrounding HIV in Brazil and Japan through to in depth discussions of sexuality. His frankness about topics, which many people shy away from is disarming, combined with a deep sense of compassion makes him a powerful force for change, in helping us all to "live positively". |
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