Have You Tested For HIV/AIDS Yet?

During April this year, I attended a Pan Youth Against & HIV/AIDS Conference in Kigali,Rwanda where I met a young lady- a geologist from Democratic Republic (DR) of Congo. She sat next to me throughout the conference as per the sitting arrangements. We got on pretty well. She was French and could not speak English and as I could not speak French either, I communicated with her with the little French I learned from school. I occasionally used the sign language to supplement my shortcomings with the French vocabulary but sometimes got help from Ameko Raissa,a representative from the Republic of Togo who spoke good English and fluent in French.

Why am I giving you all this stuff? During our departure cocktail party, which I really enjoyed whilst dancing and wining with some Rwandese pretty looking ladies, this young lady from the DR suddenly stopped the music and asked us to lend her our ears; to which I retorted “for what”. To my utmost dismay and surprise, which almost made me dropped my wine glass, she said "many of you here do not know but I am an HIV/AIDS patient". This revelation sent shivers down my spine because she doesn't appear from her looks that she was an HIV carrier.

Prior to this shocking revelation, we had mingled well, and especially during lunch breaks. She was keen in teaching me some simple French words since I had the interest in learning the language. She was very soft spoken and her looks bowled me over for six . My party mood changed immediately after the shocking revelation. I dropped my wine bottle and it started clearing from my eyes in dejection. I could not believe my eyes.

I recollected a wise saying from my theatre arts class lecturer Prof.Martin Owusu during my days at the University of Ghana. He thought us a passage from Shakespeare’s Macbeth which I have always kept to myself. In Macbeth, King Duncan, whom upon hearing the report of execution of the treacherous Thane of Cawdor, said, ” there is no art to find, the minds construction in the face : He was a gentleman on whom I built an absolute trust”, which means that there is no skill or craft that can enable anyone to look at a person’s face and see what is going on in that person’s mind. I think the same goes for the deadly HIV/AIDS virus-when you do not get tested, you just might not know whether you have it or not no matter how good your looks.

A friend of mine on face book, Ellis Rock Perry posted this comment on my post “Fact is I haven’t been tested yet just because it’s the thought of being killed by this deadly disease that kills. Ignorance can kill but I’d rather stay away from being tested” No!!! my good friends, that is not correct, it is better for you to know your status now and to know your do’s and don’ts rather than to leave ignorantly with it and eventually die one day after going through a long struggle. My advice is that we must not shy away from helping ourselves especially when there are VCT-voluntary counselling and testing centres through-out the length and breathe of the country where anti-retroviral drugs are given to infected people. We must encourage people to get tested and know their status-this is very vital.

In conclusion, I wish to borrow the words of Mrs.Sedina Attionu Tamakloe, which she posted on the National Youth Authority face book today and it reads “through out the world over today, we mark World AIDS Day 2011 under the theme: "Getting to Zero." After 30 years of the global fight against HIV/AIDS, this year the focus is on achieving 3 targets: Zero new HIV infections. Zero discrimination. Zero AIDS-related deaths.

As a young Ghanaian youth working closely with the Ghana Aids Commission under the Office of the President, together with our development partners, have we owe our fellows a great duty and responsibility to educate our peers and to encourage them get tested for HIV, they if have not. May we continue our fight against the deadly HIV/AIDS through; Abstinence, being faithful to our partner(s) or using Condom correctly”. Together we shall conquer this deadly disease and banish it to obscurity.... ...