Four thousand Belizeans are living with HIV and 12 of them are telling their stories in a new book launched this morning. It’s called “Mirroring our Lives” and it is a diary written by members of an Alliance Against Aids’ support group. The launch was at the Bliss Center’s Center Stage Cafe and 7NEWS was there.
Keith Swift Reporting,
This is the “Mirroring Our Lives” diary. It contains no names, no signatures, and no dates – only 15 stories. Alliance Against Aids’ Executive Director Rodel Beltran Perrera says the diary is really a window into the thoughts, experiences, and struggles of persons living with HIV and Aids.
Rodel Beltran Perrera, Exec. Dir. – Alliance Against Aids
“They want people to know what they are going through and so this was something that they came up with, we only facilitated at the Alliance. W e jumped on the opportunity and we published it because if you read it, is very
heart wrenching to hear what these people are going through and I think that it is an excellent opportunity for people to see to read what their experience is. Mirroring is mirroring our lives and something they want to share and they use the mirror for people to take a look at themselves too.”
But more than a good read, Perrera says the diary is a prevention tool.
Rodel Beltran Perrera,
“You got to think about who your partner is, who you’re having unprotected sex with and if you slip-up – what can happen and I think that these things did happen to these people and they want people to know much more. It is a prevention tool. It is a prevention tool. Their story is a struggle to make people treat them better than they are as well as don’t do what I have done.”
This morning alliance against aids also launched these multi-message and multi-lingual HIV prevention calendars for 2009.
The diary is available at the Alliance Against Aids Office on Meighan Avenue for a contribution of $20. The calendars are available for free and will be distributed through schools countrywide.
