Simon

Saturday night after taking the three kids around it was time for us to take Simon back to school.  He has been staying with us for about 2 weeks now and is such a joy to be around.  I very much enjoyed him having fun dancing to music (Ugandans are SUCH good dancers!).  He is HIV positive and has been staying with us because he had pneumonia.  Dr. Emma told me this past week that he was well enough to go back to school.  And let me tell you, Simon was SO excited to be able to go back to school.  As much as he enjoys being with us, he really just loves learning at school.  Before he left the house Mary Ann asked him a lot of questions about school.  She found out that he really does not like it there and wants to go to a new school next year.  Why she asked.  The reason he does not like the school is because he is in boarding and so everyone sees that he is taking the ARVs.  (When he comes back from the clinic the guard at the gate of the school has searched his bag before and pulls out the medicine and exclaims "Eh! AIDS, you shouldn't be here."  When all of these people know that he is positive some of them decide not to be friends with him.  COG will be looking into putting him into a day school possibly next year so that he can take his medicine at home and be treated no differently from other kids at school.  My heart just breaks for Simon.  I cannot even imagine being in his shoes.  I pray that he continues to get stronger and continues to do well in school.

I talked to Maria, the COG staff who takes care of all the positive kids, about what Simon had told Mary Ann about school.  She told me yes there is definitely still a stigma on AIDS here.  It has improved over the years as people used to think you could get it from eating lunch with someone.  But unfortunately a lot of kids do not get educated on AIDS.  A lot of the kids have probably been affected by AIDS if they are not infected.  Whether it's a parent, relative, or classmate, they most likely know someone who is positive and most likely know someone who has died prematurely due to the disease.  She told me that there are still people who think that you can get it through saliva.  Even though scientist a while ago came out and proved that it is nearly impossible to get it through saliva.  She said the problem is most people have not heard that information.  So there is clearly still a lack of understanding about HIV/AIDS and COG is determined to do all that they can do to make sure our sponsored kids are well educated about it and do treat someone who is positive like they would treat anyone else.