"Fear of a name increases fear of a thing itself."- Albus Dumbledore

                This week for class, we were asked to read a book called Saturday is for Funerals written by Unity Dow and Max Essex.  The book takes an in-depth look at the HIV/AIDS crisis in Botswana from a factual, scientific perspective (told by Essex) and from the personal stories of those impacted by it (told by Dow). 

            I enjoyed the book, and recommend it to others who have an interest in learning about HIV/AIDS.  Dow’s part contains absolutely heart wrenching scenes of Batswana people’s lives ripped apart by HIV/AIDS, while Essex’s part accurately explains the details behind HIV/AIDS without losing readers in the process.

            What struck me the most while reading the book was how people fear this disease so much that they won’t even name it.  People infected with HIV try to hide their illness by calling it something else.  When someone dies of AIDS, their family members blame other diseases or don’t name it at all.  Even in hospitals and clinics, where you’d think that people would be most open in talking about the disease, it’s called “the radio disease” or “the disease without a name.”  In Saturday is for Funerals, one AIDS victim’s cause of death is listed on his hospital chart as “Lost to follow up.”

            Call me a nerd, but the first thing that popped into my head was Voldemort.  For non-Harry Potter fans out there, Voldemort is the evil wizard Harry fights against throughout the series of books.  People are so scared of him that most of them don’t call him by his name, but instead to call him “He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.”  It’s the whole idea that when there’s something scary lurking in the shadows, we prefer to call it by a less-threatening name so it doesn’t seem as terrifying. 

            What this really is is a form of denial.  By not recognizing illnesses and deaths as the result of HIV/AIDS, the people in Saturday is for Funerals try to pin their suffering on diseases that can be cured, such as tuberculosis.  Curable diseases can be dealt with.  It’s when you have to face the cold hard truth that you’re infected with a lifelong disease that will eventually kill you because there is no cure that things get really terrifying.  You watch as it kills your friends and family members, and then it comes for you.  I can’t begin to imagine what it would be like to learn that you’re HIV positive.  

            However, as scary as this disease is, there are ways to treat it and live years after infection occurs.  The government of Botswana is making antiretroviral treatment available to anyone with HIV to keep it from turning into AIDS, and is encouraging everyone to get tested regularly.  The Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (www.unaids.org) reported that Botswana has reduced the mother-to-child transmission rate to less than four percent, and the number of AIDS deaths has been decreased by 50 percent.  Education about the disease and how to avoid it, such as by using condoms and not having multiple concurrent partners, plays a crucial role in helping the infection rate go down. 

            The first part of education is awareness.  People must admit there is a problem before they can take steps to solve it.  As FDR said in his inaugural speech, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”  Although there is no cure for HIV/AIDS yet, the people of Botswana, and of the world, can take an important step toward stopping its spread by knowing how it’s transmitted and its consequences.  The only way to overcome something is to look it straight in the face.

http://aids.gov/hiv-aids-basics/

If you have more questions about HIV/AIDS, check out this website for more information!