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   Just days after losing his wife to AIDS, Reverend Canon Gideon Byamugisha of Uganda learned that he too, had the deadly virus. Amidst this tragedy, Reverend Gideon made a courageous choice. He decided to share his story and became the first practising pastor in Africa to be open about being HIV-positive.
"At that time there were very few people who were open about their status and the disease was so much associated with sexual promiscuity. For me, as a pastor, it was very hard to accept being HIV-positive," says Reverend Gideon, as he is known. "But I decided I was not going to hide my status. I was going to share with people who mattered to me." That meant telling his family, his congregation and the bishop of his church. He had no idea how they would react but he knew it had to be done. "In the African setting you cannot survive without other people's support. It becomes crucial that you share. Not that you have to shout it over the radio, but the people who matter to you - your spouse, your children, your employers - should know," explains Reverend Gideon. Rather than rejecting him, as he feared, Reverend Gideon was embraced by the people around him, especially the bishop of his church, and he has since been active in integrating the fight against AIDS into the daily activities of his parish. Churches are a vital segment of society in Uganda and have come to play an important role in curbing the spread of the virus. Reverend Gideon runs the integrated HIV/AIDS project at Namirembe Diocese in Kampala which provides AIDS and reproductive health education, youth and parent programmes and post-HIV diagnosis support. The project also works with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to promote awareness and mobilise other churches. "I never thought I would one day be associated with AIDS in a personal way," says Reverend Gideon, who knew very little about the virus until he was diagnosed. He has no idea how his wife contracted the virus or whether she knew she was infected before she died. His daughter, an infant at the time, tested negative and still is today. Reverend Gideon says that talking about the disease and working to help others who suffer has helped him in a time of need. In 1998, he was so sick his doctor had written him off as dead. The bishop of his church sent out an appeal and "a good Samaritan," whom he prefers to let remain anonymous, "picked up the call and began sending me medicine. That is why I am able to be here alive today." He has since remarried to a woman who is also HIV-positive and lost her spouse to AIDS. Over the past decade the stigma tied to HIV in Uganda has lessened, he says, and his daughter, now 12, is studying in school and no longer faces the taunting she once did. Uganda has lessons to share in both its successes and the obstacles it still faces, notes Reverend Gideon. According to UNAIDS, Uganda is the first African country to have subdued a major HIV/AIDS epidemic. Abstinence among unmarried people is up, young people are having their first sexual experience later, and the incidence of casual sex has dropped while condom use has gone up. Unfortunately the factors that fuel the epidemic such as low income levels, gender disparities and low levels of education, especially among women, are the factors that do not go away easily and are the main influence over whether people escape or are infected by HIV, according to Reverend Gideon. He says that the United Nations must ensure that whatever is done at the national and international levels reaches the communities, because it is there that the fight against HIV/AIDS will be won or lost. What keeps him going is his faith in god and a sense of purpose in saving others from AIDS. "When I look back at the way it has attacked me and my dreams, I want to help people escape getting infected," says the Reverend, whose plans to go overseas to begin his doctoral studies in philosophy were put aside once he was diagnosed. He is a voice of hope in a sometimes overwhelming battle: "I don't know whether it will be defeated in my lifetime but I know it will surely be defeated if we keep up the momentum." FIND OUT MORE about how the UN and its agencies are fighting to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS. Click on the links next to Gideon's photo. OTHER STORIES: Battling the HIV taboo in the Caribbean | We are all in this fight together | Thinking positive is the best defence | Broadway keeps AIDS on the agenda |
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