Comments for Speaking Up!

Comment on About by Speaking up

Speaking up — Tue, 07 May 2013 13:11:34 +0000

Dear Anne,

i wouldn’t mind reading it I think I have replied to one of your emails forwarded to me by my frien Alice. Would you like to contact me on HIVSpeakingUp@gmail.com with more detail and time line?

Comment on My Story by Daniel

Daniel — Fri, 03 May 2013 14:12:03 +0000

I am 53 and an instructor in a small teachers college where I have been working for the last six years. For the last 6 years I have been on ART.I began ART with a CD 4 count of 24. Still I am below 200. If at all the test in here is reliable I am checking it every 3 months. I am Strong and well aware about the epidemic. I am also a member of anti aids club as it is known here. However, due to some cultural and life related factors I didn’t reveal about my HIV status except to few persons including my partner. What do you think should I do to tear of the silence. Need some advice.

Comment on Telling your child you have HIV by Daniel

Daniel — Fri, 03 May 2013 13:50:30 +0000

I got an opportunity to present some issues on the nature, etiology, incidence, transmission and prevention of the epidemic to staff in our College. ART and vaccination researches were also among the issues in stake. Though not directly from me I think that our staff has got rumors about my status. Of course, there are colleagues that have came out by breaking the silence. I hope we will keep in touch to do and act in the right way. Thanks a lot for your suggestion.

Comment on About by Anne Conley

Anne Conley — Fri, 03 May 2013 13:44:21 +0000

Dear Silvia

I am a romance writer, and have recently written a novel telling a woman’s story about living with the stigma of being HIV positive. I have gotten really good feedback from my beta readers, but haven’t been able to get anybody with actual experience with HIV/AIDS to read it. Would you be interested in giving it a quick read? I have spent days researching, but am still hesitant about putting it “out there” without somebody who has real-life experience with HIV/AIDS reading it first, and telling me if I’ve gotten it all right or not. If you aren’t interested, maybe you know somebody who is? My goal in writing it was to tell the story of an HIV positive woman living her life just like everybody else. She’s still the same person she was before her diagnosis, even if others don’t necessarily see that. Of course, I’m a romance author, so there’s a guy who gets thrown in there, and she has to deal with telling him, too. My beta readers were all fascinated with the subject matter, and told me that they learned a lot that they didn’t know about AIDS before reading it. I just want to make sure that I’m not giving out false information…

Comment on HIV Self-Testing Scale Up by Daniel

Daniel — Fri, 03 May 2013 13:27:02 +0000

All what was stated is necessary to the efforts against the epidemic. In countries like ours, there is a closed culture (fear, taboo, self blaming…) on issues related to HIV/aids. In the college where I work/teach we have a club with nice efforts to undergo self test initiations and awareness generation mini workshops. Still a lot has to be done. I hope we will keep in touch to share ideas.

Comment on My birthday by Kampamba Millie

Kampamba Millie — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 15:29:45 +0000

Silvia, you are such an inspiration xx

Comment on HIV Self-Testing Scale Up by Jill Lewis

Jill Lewis — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 18:54:40 +0000

A really interesting, clear and informative – and hopeful report – with all the issues it raises. Thank you for getting it into circulation for us all.
I wish that all the contextual fabric of information, engagement, counseling, support, understanding, community awareness, collective and personal agency resourcing etc could be more organically activated earlier too – around PREVENTION… if it isn’t, it might be hard to orchestrate it as effectively as we know is needed around testing – which still stands at the threshold into the unknown (and world of stigma and silences) for still such a high% of diverse populations. A project I am aware of recently is showing how the information, awareness-building approaches, fear, silences, diversity of knowledge circulate even in historically HIV-aware places like in the gay men’s networks in San Francisco. The absence of wider engagement in knowledge and ways of acquiring, transmitting, and of not doing either is still stunning – and deeply political.

Comment on Yoga and HIV by Speaking up

Speaking up — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 11:03:32 +0000

Ciao Simone,

Grazie per le tue parole. Anche per me continua essere incredible che sono fisicamente e mentalmente più forte e più sana di 20 anni fa. Nonistantw l HIV e… la vecchiaia che avanza…Davvero incredibile. ))

Un abbrqccio

Comment on Yoga and HIV by Simone

Simone — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 10:49:03 +0000

Cara Silvia, ho letto il tuo blog tempo fa, e non mi sono mai preso il tempo per dirti quanto ho apprezzato la tua testimonianza e quanto ti sono grato del supporto, se pur indiretto, che mi hai dato. Ho l’HIV dal 2001, e sono entrato in terapia dallo scorso ottobre. E’ meno di un anno che pratico Ashtanga, e devo ammettere che mi ha cambiato, e sta cambiando, la vita in un modo che non mi sarei mai aspettato. E come te, non mi sarei mai aspettato di sentirmi cosi’ in salute e pieno d’energie come mai prima d’ora. Grazie di cuore.

Comment on Telling somebody: ‘I have HIV’ by How do YOU Disclose HIV Status to Partners? | In Phase News

How do YOU Disclose HIV Status to Partners? | In Phase News — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 19:34:09 +0000

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