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Your
friend with HIV/aids is still your friend
Abdul
Samed Mukhtar
Center
for Islamic Research and Propagation
Old
Tafo Kumasi
(Ghana)
I
am presenting my paper from the perspective of my own country as well as
other African countries. In Ghana where I live, if a member of the family
is infected with HIV/aids, everybody abandon him or her for one reason or
another. It's obvious that, the first reason is that, we normally don't
want to interact with him or her to avoid being infected.
Another
reason is that, because, the affected person is a bad omen to the family
and the society as a whole and that the person affected is unfaithful or
better still a prostitute. Especially if she is a woman,
I
mean a married woman, she is being demoralised and subjected to so many
frustrations and many other bad behaviours. These behaviours of the people
around infected persons makes them believe that, they are not part of the
community and that they are not needed. So they think a lot and die before
their times, others want to end it up themselves by committing suicide and
so many horrible things.
Our
behaviour towards the people living with HIV/aids makes their conditions
worse than they already are. This behaviour towards the people living with
HIV/aids is mostly out of ignorance on behalf of many people who don’t
understand clearly how the virus infects due to little or lack of
education. I believe that, if people in Africa and the rest of the world
are very well educated to know how the disease can affect another from the
affected person, we wouldn't treat them like they are not part of the
community. And at the end of the day, we will all get to know and
understand and also accept the fact that, a friend with HIV/aids is still
a friend. |
