Yesterday, we had the privilege of visiting TASO, a clinic in Kampala where Ugandans with HIV/AIDS get treatment, companionship and assistance in managing the disease and their lives. TASO has a musical group, and they performed three songs for us about facing and overcoming the stigma that still comes with testing positive.
Between songs, each singer told us when they had tested positive and when, if at all, they began taking anti-retrovirals (ARV). I was brought to tears, since all had tested positive after 1990, when my colleague and friend, journalist Bill Kenkelen, was dying of AIDS. ARVs came too late for him.
In his last days, Bill was delusional. His partner took loving care of him until the end. At the time, I was living in Peru with my husband, engaged in the daily work of covering the war between the government and the Shining Path. After Bill’s death, I saw his partner, who had a message for me from Bill. As he hallucinated, he became very agitated and afraid — for me, since he was worried that in Peru, I was in some mortal danger.
He was the one in danger and the one who perished.
While listening to the beautiful TASO songs, I could only think what a terrible scythe had cut its way through us in the 1980s, and how grateful I was that these Ugandans survived and now prosper.