battling stigma

So much has been on my mind. I’m frustrated every time I turn around. I’m sick of the hurt and killings. I’m sick of listening to folks say I’m winning. I’m tired of babies being hurt and abused. I’m...

I have been giving a lot of thought to my reluctance to disclose my HIV positive status to anyone. I have been positive since 1996 and I would guess about ten people know my status. Initially I was...

Recently in the last few months I have been visiting with medical professionals more than usual. In March I went in for serious pain to the OBGYN. I was supposed to have surgery last September, but it...

Life for me and my family is a big struggle but in everything, we give thanks to God. There are so many challenges to life here in Nigeria. My daughter took ill and we could not afford to take her to...

I'm running through the streets of Soho in stilettos to catch the late train home, feeling like Cinderella as she left the ball just before the clock struck and she returned to rags. I had been to the...

My life is immersed in my search for freedom from active addiction through Narcotics Anonymous. Being a drug addict is an additional stigma to being HIV positive. And while I haven't found much...

Being HIV+ is one thing, doing it as a single hetero female is quite another. I find myself alone, wondering if I will ever find that compatible, understanding human being who is either a saint or...

March has marched on and I feel I have let it drift over me. It began well and I visited my specialist hospital, following a referral from their HIV midwife who I consulted in November. I’m not...

Sonya posted a new blog, I Made a Vow... on A Girl Like Me’s Voices from our Allies: Lynette was in a Harlem hospital on the 3rd floor in a room alone, and refused to give her life to Christ as I...

Lynette was in a Harlem hospital on the 3rd floor in a room alone, and refused to give her life to Christ as I stood there begging! Quarantined due to the opportunistic infection, her body was plagued...