From the USA

I am getting ready to head back to Europe after a couple of weeks in the US as an illegal visitor (as a person living with HIV I would not be allowed to come to the US unless I had a special waiver from the American Consulate). I had to hid my medications in vitamin bottles and prey at custom that I would not  get  caught.

Obama is working at changing traveling restriction to the US for PLHIV, and by the end of this year, hopefully, the travel ban will be lifted and we will be allowed to travel to the USA like any other European citizen.

Of course the US having more then 1,200,000 people infected with the virus has also a fantastic activist community. I would like to share with you a video interview I did with Regan Hofmann,  chief editor of  POZ,  another inspiring woman openly living with HIV. The interview was filmed last year in August when I was at the International Aids Conference in Mexico.

POZ – World AIDS Day : Video Interview: Silvia Petretti

I hope you enjoy it. And I also hope that the FBI and CIA will not track me down through this blog and arrest me for traveling to the US illegally!

Do What Africans Do or Life as an Immigrant with HIV

I am on holiday at last! And somewhere very very hot: Miami. It makes for a happy and relaxed me- at last!

I had a busy time before leaving. Last week-end I was in Bath where I facilitated the PozFem South West meeting. The aim of the meeting was to introduce PozFem to the women in the South West of the UK as well as get a picture of the experience of Stigma in the region.

We were in a lovely place just outside Bath: the Ammerdown Centre.  It rained most of the time – as usual for an English summer-  so we couldn’t really enjoy country walks, but we had a lot of time to bond and talk to each other.

The group wasn’t very big, we were 11. But Wales, Cornwall and Devon were represented. As well as Zambia, Zimbabwe and Kenya.

One of the  participants , I will call her A,  when we arrived looked very tense. She set at the margin of the circle of chairs and didn’t speak much. In the afternoon we completed the questionnaire for the Stigma Index. When we finished we opened the discussion. I think it is always important to have time to talk about what came up while completing the Index because it can be emotionally really straining.

A said: ‘ Living in this country as an HIV+ immigrant has robbed me of all my dignity. I came to the UK in 2003. In my country I was a valued member of my community. I worked as a teacher. However, since I became HIV+ two thirds of what I earned went into buying the medications I was on. The money left wasn’t enough to live on. I was really struggling. I thought that if I came to the UK I could work, earn a better wage, pay for my medication and have enough to live.

The Home Office took my passport in 2003. Since then I have been going to sign at a police station every month. Last year, once,  I went to the Police station and they said that my case had been refused and I had to be deported. They kept  me in a  cell at the police station for 5 days. I couldn’t wash, change clothes, or even brush my teeth. I didn’t even have my medication. I called my local HIV charity, but they said that nobody could come and help me – they didn’t have time. Finally another member of PozFem managed to bring me clothes and my medications. I was moved to a detention center. They said I would be put on an plane and sent back to my country. I asked to see the detention center’s doctor. I explained to him my situation, that I was HIV+ and if he could please arrange for me to have a couple of months supply of HIV medications so that I would have enough time to find out where and how to get ARVs in my country.
He said: ‘No, it is not possible.’
I asked him: ‘What am going to do then?’
‘Do what Africans do’  Those were his final words.

My lawyer managed to get me out of the detention centre and bring my case to appeal.  I continued waiting. I have waited for 6 years. I am fed up. I had to change ARVs and the combination I am on is not  available in my country. But I am so fed up, I just want to go back. I asked the Home Office to give me back my passport. I want to go. But  I am still waiting for my passport…’
A ‘s story stirred so many feelings within us. We were moved, sad, but above all really angry at the inhumane way she had been treated.  Almost as she was a criminal. But her only ‘Crime’ is to have been born in a poor country where HIV is still a death sentence for most people.

We realized once again that it is so important that us, PozFem members,  let others – and especially those in power-  know what is happening to people like A.

By the  end of our meeting A looked more relaxed. One of my best memories from the two days, was walking in the breakfast room  and see A talking animately to other members and burst out laughing.

What is Activism?

What is activism? Sometimes I am under the impression that many positive people think that to be an activist you need to go in the street with placards and banners shouting from the top of your voice. So often when I participate to support groups people tell me:” I am not  an activist…”, almost as if the word activist was an insult.

 Last week I went to the Annual General Meeting for a support group that is aimed to a mainly heterosexual crowd called ‘Str8 talk’.  I was pleasantly surprised when I walked in a crowded room with more then 30 people:  men, women, black white… a really nice mix.  

 During the meeting it was discussed the relationship between Str8 Talk and Terence Higgins Trust (THT) who has been hosting the group and the little funding they get from a contract with the Westminster Primary Care Trust. Many people who go to Str8 talk  were there because they were worried about some changes THT wanted the group to make, especially around collection of data for participants. I believe many people were worrying about THT taking too much control of the group. So they came to the meeting, to say what they wanted.

 It is funny but also there I heard a few people saying: ‘I am not an activist…’. But isn’t participating in a discussion on how you want the group that gives you support to be run activism?

 Wikipedia says:

 Activism can be described as involvement in action to bring about change, be it social, political, environmental, or other.

 So I will contradict many of you who take part in support groups: you are activists! – And I don’t mean to insult you.

 As a result of the discussion it was decided that Str8 Talk will be now hosted by Positively Women as an independent group. PW will not have a say on their policies however it will administrate their money from Westminster and offer some training to facilitators.

I think it is a very exciting turn. I was lamenting in one of my articles of the lack of involvement of straight men in HIV activism. I strongly hope that we are about to see a change and witness the birth of a stronger voice for all positive people in the UK.