Kenya:

Repacted was formed in 2001 by young theater artists from the Nakuru Players Theater Club in Kenya and deals with behavioral changes among Kenyan youths on social issues like reproductive health and HIV/AIDS. The project employs magnet theater, their forum theater initiative, to have a forum to discuss issues that people will not have discussed in their day to day life, not even with family because of taboo and cultural practices. Here is a video depicting their mobilization exercises:

With the help of a Rising Voices micro-grant the Repacted members are also being trained to blog to share their issues with the world. Here is what some of the members are discussing:

MCCJEX discusses about the practices in Kenyan schools:

(The practice of) sex in school is high that now-a-days its more played than any other games in the field. Youths between 7 to 20 years know it better than any other person.[…] No single girl or boy is found without relationship. Towards this, I think condom should be distributed in schools.

Repacted Members. Image Courtesy Repacted/Rising Voices

Collins Otieno Sailas also thinks that teaching the use of condom in school will reduce HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections.

However the solution is not so simple. Stigma and discrimination are among the many challenges the project faces and tries to overcome:

Stigma and discrimination needs a creative approach because it is affecting the fight against HIV from all angles. Giving out condoms in public is still a problem. During the outreaches young people take condoms in secrecy they don’t want to be seen by the community because the community will associate them with sexual intercourse.

Republic of Congo:

Currently 79,000 people (or 3.5 percent of all adults) are living with HIV in Congo, and 6,400 people died of AIDS. AZUR Development organization carried out a project in 2006 in Pointe-Noire, the capital of the Republic of Congo concentrating on the psychological and social supports for 100 people with HIV. According to Juhie Bhatia, Public Health Editor at Rising Voices:

The organization is now taking things a step further, by documenting the stigma and discrimination faced by people infected and affected by HIV/AIDS in Congo. They are training communication officers and leaders of local HIV and AIDS organizations, members of their AIDS Network Africa initiative, in digital story telling (including video and photography), podcasting, and blogging. Each communication officer will then use this technology to share stories of how HIV/AIDS is affecting the local community where he or she works.

Training is going on. Image courtesy Azur Development/Rising Voices

You can read the stories of HIV positive people in their blog Aids Right Congo. This post describes how the stigma can be fatal to a pregnant women:

An HIV-positive woman lost her baby during childbirth at a hospital in Pointe-Noire because she was HIV positive and no midwife wanted to touch her. Many of them after treatment with PMTCT [Program for Prevention of Mother to Child] are abandoned… Another HIV-positive pregnant woman was saved by a midwife trainee, although her child died after birth; again in this case the midwife feared infection.

…Rejection, reluctance, and the abandonment of women infected with HIV continues.

This post shares a story of ignorance and discrimination:

At Pointe-Noire, Congo, a HIV-positive married man and father was released from prison when the police became aware of his HIV status. The deep meaning of his story must be analyzed. [..] He was released because the policemen feared that he would infect other prisoners.

The project is also using community radios to combat the stigma and raise awareness of issues related to HIV/AIDS:

We often hear that parents don’t want to spend their money on an HIV-positive person, since the person is regarded as ‘dying' and therefore there's no need to waste their time. These radio programmes therefore are aimed at educating families about the fact that living with HIV is not a crime and everyone should be loved. Solidarity should be shown for people living with HIV.

Ukraine

Ukraine has an estimated 323,000-425,000 injecting drug users and one of the fastest growing HIV epidemics in Europe. Pavel Kutsev of the Ukrainian foundation for drug users and HIV positive people, Drop-in-Center, uses blog posts, photos, podcasts, and online video to share his experiences working at a harm reduction facility based in Kyiv, Ukraine.

Members of Drop In Center. Image Courtesy Drop In Center/Rising Voices

Pavel advocates for substitution therapy:

Substitution therapy is one of the most effective tools to stop the epidemic of HIV/AIDS and it is legal — this is the message we should deliver to society. If we succeed, we would significantly improve the lives of those living with HIV and drug addictions.

Speaking openly about HIV/AIDS can be difficult. Millions of people have contracted the virus, but the fact that it is feared so much and that it can be transmitted through sex, means that people living with HIV are often stigmatised. Still, dozens of brave individuals chronicle their personal stories, and sometimes also activism for their rights or better health care, in blogs and internet forums that can be read by anyone.


View Blogging Positively in a larger map

South Africa

Busi, a blogger and poet from South Africa found out that she had HIV in April 2006, six months after she was raped.

Here is her sad story, as she described it in her blog My Realities:

Not so long ago i discovered that i was HIV+. I was attacked and raped far too many times in order for me to contract the virus. You see, the reason for that is that i am a woman who identifies as lesbian because of my involvement with a woman. My attackers and different rapists did so to show me how it is to be a woman.

Busi did not survive in this beautiful world as she succumbed to her disease in March, 2007. But her blog and poetry remain as a powerful testament of her life, as will the blogs of others so long as a cure remains elusive.

China

Chinese HIV-positive blogger Li Xiang was infected with HIV during a blood transfusion when he was a teenager in high school. He started blogging in 2005 when he was in his twenties. In a blog post earlier this year (in Chinese) he attempts to demystify AIDS by saying people should not fear it more than any other cause of death, and that he himself is no longer scared thanks to the improvements in medical treatments.

Philippines

Kiks is a Filipino blogger based in Kowloon, Hong Kong. In 2007, he discovered that he had HIV and wrote about dealing with this fact:

Being HIV positive is not the least bit fascinating.

It is like having a heart disease for life although my doctors told me it was better than having diabetes. With the medicines so readily available nowadays, you can be sure to live longer than cancer patients, anemic or the elderly staying in big polluted cities like Manila.

Freerangelife is the blog of a dyslexic gay man from the UK who has lived with HIV for more than 20 years. He writes in a recent post about the danger of ignoring taking precautions:

We have known about HIV for over 20 years, people know the risks. So why does it happen? It happens because we like taking risks and we often think “it will never happen to me”.

Republic of Congo

Davy Herman Malanda at the Aids Right Congo blog wrote last year about the perils of letting others know your HIV-status. He tells the story of Bernadette (a pseudonym), a young woman who sells second-hand clothing at the Tié-Tié market in Pointe-Noire in the Republic of Congo:

Bernadette’s life changed when her friend divulged Bernadette’s HIV status. Her colleagues and clients from the market were informed that she is HIV-positive. Very few clients came to buy at Bernadette’s table. Her life became difficult, and she had difficulty to make ends meet.

Aurelie from the capital of the Republic of Congo, Brazzaville writes about the shock of discovering that she had HIV:

Initially, it hit me like a ton of bricks. I saw my life change instantly, and the thoughts kept multiplying in my mind.

She also writes that thanks to the support of her family and a non-profit organization she is leading a normal life.

United States

Michelle from the USA writes that “love is still possible” with HIV and tells the story of how she found her new partner in a blog on the international POZ Blog network. She also has this advice:

To those newly infected or those who are tired of being alone, don't lose hope. Don't give up on love. It will come when you least expect it and when you need it the most.

Kenya

Being HIV positive does not mean that you will be stripped of enjoyment because of discrimination. Mr. and Miss Red Ribbon is a charity event and fashion show organized annually by Nakuru Youth groups in Kenya. HIV-positive blogger Maureen, a member of the Rising Voices blogging project REPACTED was one of the contestants and she shares her experience:

I have been contesting since 2006 and have been enjoying every moment of the event because of one thing, effective reduction of stigma and discrimination. Mr. and Miss Red Ribbon brings together both affected and infected to celebrate beauty in a unique way. During the event audience appreciate beauty by seeing models but not the affected or the infected.

The Global Voices Google map of HIV-positive bloggers above highlights voices of HIV-positive bloggers and caretakers, and other citizen media related to HIV/AIDS. You can read more of these amazing stories by clicking links from that map.

Despite protests from the opposition, election observers said the voting was peaceful, and that voter turnout was low. According to the main opposition, “90 per cent” of the country’s electorate did not go to the polls. Outgoing President Denis Sassou N’Guesso and his Rassemblement de la majorité présidentielle (RMP) is widely tipped to win the elections as the country’s electoral commission prepares to announce the results anytime from Monday evening.

A BBC correspondent reportedly witnessed “money being handed out at a polling station in the south of the capital, to people who later said they had been asked to vote for Mr Sassou-Nguesso.”

One election observer, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Agence France Presse, “There are more observers than voters.”

At the French news site France 24, a few commenters from Congo have expressed their opinions on the election. Below is a selection of a few of them:

Maloumbi on voter intimidation:

Dans certain villages et districts, les populations ont vote sassou nguesso suite aux intimidations. mon frere Jean Ibinga dans le district de Nyanga a reçu 1.000.000 Cfa de la part de membre de RMP pour convaincre aux vielles personne d'aller vote moyenant une somme de 2500 cfa. Les elections ne ce sont pas passees d'une maniere convenable et certains prefets, deputes ont intimider la population de voter leur maitre Sassou. Pour moi c'est une election qui avait ete deja jouee a l'avance. Je demande a la communaute internationale d'anuler les elections du 12 juillet et oblige a sassou de faire un gouvernement national pouvant debattre les affaires du pays sinon il y'aurait une guerre dans le futur. l'opposition actuellement se prepare pour une eventuelle guerre.

Yoka from Pointe Noire on the low turnout:

je suis congolais et je réside à pointe noire (capitale économique du congo et deuxième ville du pays). Je peux vous dire que les bureaux de vote sont restés vide du matin jusqu' au soir . les habitants de pointe noire sont fatigués, des promesses de mr sassou, alors que de cette ville qu' est tiré le pétrole qui constitue la première richesse du pays. Plus de 95% des congolais n' ont pas voté. c' est une réalité que le régime brutal et absurde de brazza doit reconnaitre. Du coup son régime est illégitime. les congolais du nord, du sud, de l' est et de l' ouest ont dit NON à sassou.

An anonymous commenter from Kinshasa, in the other Congo, wondered:

Peut on frauder avec seulement 15% d'électeurs qui, si nous suivons les différentes interventions, ne seraient que les partisans du Candidat Sassou, les autres ayant opté pour le boycot de l'éléction?

L'Africaniste:

Oui tout n'est parfait ! Oui Sasou garde le pouvoir , Oui , il n'a pas fait du congo un paradis ! Mais qu'a fait l'opposition ? Quel projet ou proposition l'opposition congolaise a t' elle soumis au peuple ? rien sauf le boycott ! qui n'est rien d'autre qu'une ouverture à Sassou pour gagner . Alors merci messieurs les opposants d'avoir aider Sassou à gagner sans difficultés . Arrêtez des bruits pour rien sauf pour distraire le peuple !

brazza-brazza on the peaceful election:

Élection bidon, mais nous avons la paix. La paix des miséreux.
Comme Bongo, Sassou sera au pouvoir pour plus de deux générations. C'est normal; nous avons la paix. La paix des soumis.
Sassou pille le Congo. Mais nous avons la paix. La paix des affamés.
Nous vivons dans le caca. Mais nous avons la paix. La paix a plus de valeur que la dignité.
Vous a l'étranger vous ne savez pas ce que la paix vaut.
Je suis d'accord avec vous que la paix permet a Sassou de piller. Et alors? C'est normal qu'il nous pille. Il es africain et il est dictateur qui fait des élections bidon pour rester dictateur.

At the Libération website Yanice 18 brought up Obama's recent speech in Ghana:

A peine hier, Obama a tenu un très bon discours sur la bonne gouvernance et la démocratie, aujourd'hui un autre autocrate africain se prépare à renouveler son bail au pouvoir pour 7 ans encore malgré ses déboires judiciaires relatifs à ses biens immobiliers en France. A voir la longévité au pouvoir, 25 ans, de ce président tout laisse à penser qu'Obama a prêché dans le désert.

And Saboun added:

Ré-election de Sassou Nguesso, aucune surprise. Je ne sais pas si vous avez remarqué, Obama n'a évoqué aucun pays d'Afrique francophone dans son discours, pure coincidence? J'en doute.

“In Africa, you never look Presidents in the mouth.  They are, as it is said in popular language, groundnut roasters.  And you don't look a groundnut roaster in his mouth.  Because then he will definitely throw in some grains.” (Ivorian blogger Denis Zado)

Earlier this week, a Parisian judge ordered an inquiry into alleged corruption and embezzlement on the part of three African heads of state: Denis Sassou-Nguesso of Congo-Brazzaville, Omar Bongo of Gabon, and Teodoro Obiang of Equatorial Guinea.

Teodoro Obiang has been president of oil-rich Equatorial Guinea for thirty years. His luxury apartment and collection of cars are alleged to have been bought with misappropriated funds.

The investigation comes following a complaint filed by Transparency International in December accusing Sassou-Nguesso, Bongo and Obiang of “concealing misappropriated public funds.”  Each keep several luxury residences in Paris, thought to have been purchased with money that rightly belongs to their people.

Bloggers from each of these countries, and francophone Africa more generally, have long criticized Françafrique, France's neocolonial legacy of cozy relations with resource-rich, African dictators.  French president Nicholas Sarkozy has failed to end this legacy, despite early promises.

At last!

The French court's decision was greeted by many as a welcome surprise, one that may mark a shift in French attitudes toward Africa.

Congolese (DRC) blogger Musengeshi Kata, writes on Forum Realisance:

Enfin pourrait-on dire, l´occident, après des décennies de surdité, en vient lentement à combattre ce fléau criminel économique qui gangrène autant le développement de l´Afrique qu´il engraisse l´illégalité fiscale en Europe et de par le monde. Une contradiction flagrante à la justice, au bon sens, à l´Etat de Droit…et particulièrement à la maîtrise de la crise économique actuelle qui exige de se défaire rapidement de ces contradictions nocives et injustes pour tout le monde.

Denis Sassou-Nguesso has ruled the Republic of Congo for decades. According to The Guardian, he and close relatives have more than 100 French bank accounts and more than 20 properties.

The AFP article on the judge's decision, reprinted on the Congo-Brazzaville web portal congopage, had more than 140 comments at the time of this post's publication.

One reader congopage reader, Ngoma, posts a link to a Google Map which lists apartments in Paris belonging to Bongo, Sassou, and N'Guesso.

Boukaka:

Esperant que cette fois ci ,Sarkozy ne fera pas Obstacle a la justice…Sarkozy avait promis la rupture avec des Assassins alors nous attendons ce moment la avec impatience.

Dolisie:

Bravo au juge desset qui a su mettre l’intérêt des peuples avant les mic-macs économiques…la France doit se laver de son passé de chien de garde pour dictateur, d’argentier de conflits ethniques et de coups d’état ; la France que nous respecterons, est celle qui rendra aux peuples africains ses biens qui sont les leurs !

Le Répresentant Du Peuple:

Je demande à Mr SARKOZY de laisser les mains libre à la justice de son pays pour que vérité soit faite. Le sang de nos freres noir a coulé pour avoir denoncé le vole à grande échelle par ces présidents impis dont le goût de la luxure est son gêne.La France,le monde(les pauvres du monde qui considere votre pays comme un pays des droits et des libertés vous regarde)les chefs d’états africains ont enrichis la plupart des états d’europe par leurs avoirs placé dans les banques européennes,les africains le savent.Aux juges,nous savons que vous subirez la pression de nos voleurs d’états par des cadeaux allant audéla de votre revenu mensuel habituel.Honnorez votre profession.

Alors la je dois reconnaitre que cette juge a de sacrées couilles non je dirais plutot trompes,car vu d’un congolais comme moi plus habitué à assister impuissament aux pratiques criminelles de nos dirigeants on fini par croire et accepter par la force des choses que le droit à l’impunite est absolu et inviolable pour ces derniers.en meme temps que cette decision à reveillé un certains espoir…

Dolisie:

Denis,

Quand on fait des conneries, on les paye tôt ou tard ; même lorsque l’on se croit au dessus des lois. Mamère disait à ce propos : ” Le président premier des citoyens ne peut être un citoyen au dessus des lois”…

Dolisie

By what right?

Not everyone is happy about Africans being investigated in France.  The ruling inspired nationalistic feelings.  Some pointed out the hypocrisy of the French government prosecuting African leaders, when leaders on both sides are guilty.

Also on congopage, UN CONGOLAIS DE SANG writes:

crois tu que un français peut etre jugé au congo,alor pourquoi laisserons nous un congolais president de son etat etre jugé par la france, le vold’argent s’est produit au congo pas en france…un français qui tue un congolais au congo ne seras jamais jugé au congo,un français fait des degats a congo la france va le protegé…

Altesse responds:

Si la justice Congolaise fonctionnait parfaitement OUI BIEN SUR un français qui commet des délits au Congo peut(doit)-être jugé au Congo, rien ne l’interdit à ce que je sache. Mais comme il n’ya pas de justice ou plutôt elle s’achète facilement, on peut se poser la question.

Dada Maloba, also commenting on congopage, is skeptical the French government's motives have really changed:

Croyez-vous vraiment que c´est la France qui va faire sauter sassou ? …Ils veulent continuer leur colonisation. La France peut dire ceci cela, c´est leur politique. Pour moi c´est les résultats qui va compter. Nous tous Africains noire dans n´importe quel pays. Rentrez dans le mouvement BLACK PANTHERS, BLACK POWER. De lá nous allons voir les resultats nous cherchons. Faire sauter Denis Sassou Nguésso le traître.

Ivorian blogger Denis Zodo asks “Why these Presidents?” (and not any of the others from the long list of African dictators cozy with Paris).  Zodo wants to know who is really behind the lawsuit.  Are they Africans from these three countries or is it Transparency International?:

Si ce sont des Africains, ils doivent revoir leurs copies. Nous ne sommes pas pour la gabegie au sommet de l’Etat. Mais, ce n’est pas cette solution qui va arranger les choses dans nos pays africains. Il faut nous-mêmes militer pour le changement au niveau de nos gouvernants, mais également au niveau des mentalités. C’est seulement le changement dont il est question là, qui bouleversera la donne.

Si c’est Transparency international qui s’est auto-saisie dans cette affaire, il lui faut laisser pour une fois, les Africains retirer la gangrène de leur corps. Pourquoi c’est à eux de toujours prendre ce genre d’initiative à notre place ? C’est pourtant l’Occident qui favorise une telle attitude de prédateurs chez nos gouvernants africains.

Omar Bongo has been president of Gabon for more than forty years. He and his family own several apartments in the richest neighborhoods in Paris.

On the blog of UPG-Gabon, a Gabonese opposition party, some readers also left comments critical of the court case:

Que gagne un patriote Gabonais de voir son Chef d'Etat sali dans la presse étrangère par le simple bon vouloir des étrangers?…C'est tout le Gabon qui est humilié au delà de toutes autres considérations.

Nze Mba, also on UPG-Gabon, responds:

je tombe des nues , en constatant que chez nous le vol est devenu une institution qu'on ne peut même plus le combatrre. Les puissants sont tellement assis sur des fortunes et, sur la justice que tout recours et toute poursuite au pays est quasiment impossible.

Peut on et doit on se rejouir que ce soit la justice d'un pays étranger qui s'en occupe? Assurément oui car ce n'est pas au GAbon ni au Congo que l'on verra la justcice porter atteinte à nos présidents, de peur de se retrouver mort, ou sans emploi le lendemain.

Finally, and also on congopage, reader Hamburger offers satire:

Un juge d´instruction CONGOLAIS vient d´ouvrir à brazzaville une enquête contre un certain nombre d’hommes politiques français pour leur complicité avec un certain nombre de multinationales occidentales dans le pillage des ressources naturelles congolaises. Parmi les personnes visées par la plainte qui a été déposée au parquet de B/ville par l’association congo libre figurent Jacques-Chirac, Nicolas-Sarkozy, Charles-Pasqua et bien d’autres encore. Il s’agit d’une 1 ère dans l’histoire de la justice ; un chef de l’Etat français en fonction est poursuivi pour les biens mals acquis au congo à travers le “patrimoine pétrolier et minier”de la france au congo.

To which an anonymous reader replies, tongue in cheek, “Who's leading the investigation?”

The theme for this year's World AIDS Day is “Lead – Empower – Deliver,” highlighting the political leadership required to truly combat the disease. While the global percentage of adults living with HIV has leveled off since 2000, 33 million people are still living with the virus and there are nearly 7,500 new infections each day. Rates of new HIV infections are also rising in many countries, such as China, Indonesia, Kenya, Mozambique, Russia, and Vietnam. AIDS is also taking its toll — 2 million people died of the disease last year.

Blogs from around the world are putting faces to these statistics, sharing stories of caring for those with HIV/AIDS, how the disease impacts people's daily lives, and the stigma that accompanies the disease. These first-hand accounts show both the progress that has been made in fighting this disease, and how much work still needs to be done.

In Poz For Life 20-year-old Russell blogs from Australia about being HIV positive in hopes that it will encourage others to get tested for sexually transmitted infections and to play it safe. In his first post he recalls being tested for HIV and the awful waiting period before receiving the results. Here is how he found out he was HIV positive:

“I got there [the doctor's office] around 10:30am and went straight in, it was like they where waiting for me ready to take my soul and toss it out the 4th story. I went into his office and I sat down, then I hear ‘Russell am sorry to say but the test for HIV is positive.' I froze for a few seconds and just looked amazed. What felt like a lifetime of silence was around 30 seconds. I said ‘I was thinking it might come back that way.' I can't believe that I said that, really the first words out of my mouth was I thought it might come back that way.”

The AZUR Development organization's blog AIDS Rights Congo, a Rising Voices project, advocates for the rights of HIV-positive people. Their posts show the discrimination and stigma faced by those living with the virus in Congo. One post talks about the life of “Bernadette,” a young woman who is a clothing vendor at the Tié-Tié market in Pointe-Noire. Her life changes when her friend at the market divulges Bernadette's HIV positive status.

“At the market, her neighbors immediately desert their tables; which even attract the attention of those responsible for managing the market, who, conscious of the fact that having a table at the market is a difficult thing, are surprised to find empty tables around her. The situation has put everyone on alert, and those passing from far away can hear the neighbor’s gossip on the fact that she is a woman infected with HIV. However there are no outward signs that Bernadette is sick, one cannot read it on her face. The illness is not at an advanced stage and she is not on ARV [Antiretroviral] treatment. She is simply a normal young woman.

In a setback, traumatized by the situation, she stops her little shop.”

Juan Carlos, a 29-year-old from Ecuador, blogs about coping with being HIV positive. In one post he talks about the importance of balance and the benefits of talking to someone about what you're going through.

Hay mucha gente seropositiva que obvia la ayuda de los psicólogos a lo largo de sus vidas. Personalmente, si hay alguien que escuche o lea esto… yo creo que siempre es bueno conversar con un psicólogo cada cierto tiempo, hace que los días más sombríos se vuelvan más claros y nos ayuda a sobre llevar mejor nuestra vida con este virus y nuestros demás problemas.

Pinoy Poz, who lives in Quezon City in the Philippines, blogs about living with HIV and the difficulties of disclosing his HIV status. He came out about being gay at the age of 21, but nine years later went “back in the closet” after finding out he was HIV positive. In this post he talks about how telling people he's HIV positive hasn't been as bad as he feared, but it's still hard.

“Honestly, I’ve been too chicken to tell some of my other contacts myself. And when I say contacts, I mean… okay, sexual contacts. So I did the next best thing. I backtracked through my sexual contacts up to more than a year ago, and had a friend contact them anonymously, to advise them to get tested for HIV. The reactions varied from asking who the sender was, replying to the anonymous number that they’d just gotten tested, sending foul messages to their alleged stalker, or most commonly, assuming that they did get the message, not replying. But I felt that was as decent a warning as I could manage.”

There are anecdotes similar to these posts from all over the world. This Global Voices Google map of HIV-positive bloggers highlights more voices of openly HIV-positive bloggers and caretakers, and other citizen media related to HIV/AIDS. So take a look and read their amazing stories. The map is embeddable, so you can add it to your Web site or blog. Though it is being launched in conjunction with World AIDS Day, the map will continue to be updated throughout the year.

Photo of AIDS Ribbon In Tree by ttfnrob.