Take a good look at all of the beautiful smiles in these photos. Just about each of these adults & children pictured here, with a few exceptions, are living with HIV or AIDS.
One Saturday Hayley and I received a random verbal invitation to visit one of the nearby primary schools. School was not in session, but there was going to be some sort of HIV-AIDS group meeting at the school, and one of the teachers at the school thought we might be interested in attending. Hayley already had plans to meet with some VSLAs in outlying villages that day, but I picked interest and decided to attend.
The group that met that day is a non-profit group that organizes a group of children living with HIV or AIDS to gather once a month. The name of the non-profit group means “grandmother.” The purpose of the name is that this group fosters a similar kind of care for children and young adults as a grandmother would have for her children and grandchildren… teaching them, while showing care for them.
Children in this monthly gathering learn how to teach each other about HIV-AIDS, they learn how to care for themselves, they play games together, and they eat a light lunch together. There is also a group of adults that meet at the same time. Most of them are also living with HIV or AIDS, but they learn how to take care of children living with HIV-AIDS.
While I attended that day, I asked permission to take photos. I explained to the children and adults that often in America we hear about HIV or AIDS and only think about sick people… lying and dying in bed all of the time. This isn’t to say that HIV-AIDS isn’t a terrible, horrible disease. This isn’t to say that HIV-AIDS isn’t really a problem or something the world population should be concerned about. But I wanted permission to take their photos so that I could show others that people living with HIV-AIDS can live well. That they can have joy in life… run… play… laugh… love. They were very willing to show others that there ARE people with HIV-AIDS…
LIVING WELL.
One Saturday Hayley and I received a random verbal invitation to visit one of the nearby primary schools. School was not in session, but there was going to be some sort of HIV-AIDS group meeting at the school, and one of the teachers at the school thought we might be interested in attending. Hayley already had plans to meet with some VSLAs in outlying villages that day, but I picked interest and decided to attend.
The group that met that day is a non-profit group that organizes a group of children living with HIV or AIDS to gather once a month. The name of the non-profit group means “grandmother.” The purpose of the name is that this group fosters a similar kind of care for children and young adults as a grandmother would have for her children and grandchildren… teaching them, while showing care for them.
Children in this monthly gathering learn how to teach each other about HIV-AIDS, they learn how to care for themselves, they play games together, and they eat a light lunch together. There is also a group of adults that meet at the same time. Most of them are also living with HIV or AIDS, but they learn how to take care of children living with HIV-AIDS.
While I attended that day, I asked permission to take photos. I explained to the children and adults that often in America we hear about HIV or AIDS and only think about sick people… lying and dying in bed all of the time. This isn’t to say that HIV-AIDS isn’t a terrible, horrible disease. This isn’t to say that HIV-AIDS isn’t really a problem or something the world population should be concerned about. But I wanted permission to take their photos so that I could show others that people living with HIV-AIDS can live well. That they can have joy in life… run… play… laugh… love. They were very willing to show others that there ARE people with HIV-AIDS…
LIVING WELL.
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