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Transcript

FATHER J.P. HEATH: I’€™m J.P. Heath, Anglican priest in Johannesburg’€¦ I tested positive in 2000. When I came to be living with HIV, I can’€™t tell you. And really, it’€™s nobody’€™s business, anyway.

KHOPOTSO: Ke nnete hore ha se taba ya motho hore moruti J.P. Heath o na le nako e kae a phela le kokwana hloko ena. Empa   o hlalosa hore eng ha a rialo?

FATHER J.P. HEATH: I’€™m coming from the perspective of saying that the questions that we ask; and (how we) relate to people living with HIV are wrong. And what I’€™m saying is that we shouldn’€™t be asking people ‘€˜how long they’€™ve been living with HIV’€™ or ‘€˜how they came to be living with HIV.’€™ What we should be asking them is ‘€˜how are you living with HIV?’€™ That is the response of somebody who cares. The other route is just a response   trying to solicit reasons to condemn a person.                          

KHOPOTSO: Tshabo eo ya ho ahlolwa e ile ya rena bophelong ba moruti Jakobus-Petrus Heath, kapa J.P. Heath jwalo ka ha a tsejwa, ha a qala ho iphumana a ena le tshwaetso ya HIV.

FATHER J.P. HEATH: When I first tested HIV positive, I was initially filled with a deep sadness. And the sadness was the reality that I believed that I would die soon. And that obviously impacted on my family. The other side of it was the perceived and real stigma, which I felt that I would experience if I came out with my HIV status. I was anxious that if it was found that I was HIV positive I would lose my job in the Church. I would not be able to support myself, or my family’€¦ Furthermore, I felt that I needed to go to my Bishop, tell my Bishop of my HIV status, and then say to him ‘€˜here I am now. You must do what you want to. Do your worst.’€™                      

KHOPOTSO: O dutse nako e ka bang dikgwedi tse tsheletseng pele a bolella ba lelapa le mo-Bishop wa hae hore o ena le tshwaetso ena. E bile ka ho makala ha ba amohela ditaba tsena ka ho se tshabe le ho nyoya kapa hona ho mo ahlolela. Moruti Christo Greyling, e leng moeletsi ho mokgatlo wa World Vision kontinenteng ya Afrika, ka tsa lefu la Phamokathe, yena o fumane tshwaetso ena ka mora a etswe puo ya leihlo. Ho ile ha mo nka nako e telele pele a hlahisa lekunutu la hore o ena le HIV pele ho kereke ya hae ya Dutch Reformed.

REV. CHRISTO GREYLING: The biggest problem in the faith communities’€¦ is the direct association with sexual immorality, impurity, sin, promiscuity. And that caused the fear’€¦ That caused me and my wife to be really afraid to come out. So, for five years we didn’€™t tell anyone except our real closest friends. But eventually, I had to take a leap in faith. I knew that God was calling me into this Ministry as a new kind of calling, and I didn’€™t know what the risk would be. I was surprised in terms of the eventual reaction. I expected a lot of negativity, but I had a huge lot of support. Again, my question is if I did contract the virus in a sexual manner, how would that Church have react(ed) at that stage? Would they still be as supportive of me as they were? Many often, people said it to me. They said ‘€˜you contracted the virus innocently, but those people,’€™ meaning those people who got it another way, ‘€˜they brought it on themselves.’€™                  

KHOPOTSO: Moruti Greyling ha a ka a re hobane yena ha a fumana tshwaetso ena ka thobalano, jwale ke toka hore ba tshwaetsehileng ka mokgwa oo ba tshwanela ho rohakwa le ho behelwa kahloko.      

REV. CHRISTO GREYLING: It doesn’€™t matter at all how you contract HIV. The fact that you have got it puts you in a situation of a desperate need of encouragement, support, and focus to go on with life’€¦

For me, I didn’€™t contract HIV in a sexual manner. But still, I’€™m a broken person. I do other things that disappoint myself; other people; or God. And therefore, I’€™m no better than anyone else. And therefore, the lesson that we need to teach people of faith is to understand what Grace and Forgiveness mean; and to oppose that with their own pride.

KHOPOTSO: Moruti Canon Gideon Byamugisha wa naha ya Uganda o tsejwa jwalo ka moruti wa pele kontinenteng ya Aforika ho bolela hore o ena le HIV. O fumane hore o ena tshwaetso ena ka selemo sa 1992. O re mang kapa mang a ka eba le tshwaetso ya HIV.    

REV. CANON GIDEON BYAMUGISHA: You know, we have four human fluids that bring HIV from one person to the other. That is: human blood, human sexual fluids and breast milk. The human sexual fluids are vaginal fluids and semen from the man. Now, if a man of the cloth has any of those fluids, then he’€™s a candidate to HIV infection’€¦ You can be infected through injections, you can be infected through blood, you can be infected through having sex with someone who is already HIV positive – whether it is in a lawful relationship or in a unfaithful relationship ‘€“ that is a language the virus doesn’€™t understand very well. So, the only sure way I know I didn’€™t get this virus was through the breast-milk from my mother. But the other routes, I’€™m a candidate. I can’€™t deny it. So, one can get HIV/AIDS irrespective of their level of spirituality, present or past.

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