I am not coming to the World Aids Day celebration

On December 1st the world will be marking the world Aids day. Much of it will be lost in pomp and fanfare organized by civil society activists, non-governmental organizations and government fat cats all of whom will be having one thing in common, that at the end of the day they will make a quick buck at the expense of remembering all those who have been felled by the HIV Aids scourge.

They will also line up school children to vigorously wave flags at no one in particular ostensibly in passing the message that Aids is a killer. For the adult women they will ensure that the red ribbon is pinned at the farthest tip of their breasts so that it stands out clear and sends the message that aids is real.

For me the world aids day will be different, it is a time that I want to dedicate to two most important people that fell because of these cruel disease whose origin has remained a matter of conjecture and blame game between the west and Africa over who is really responsible with its origin. I will be reflecting of not so much how I have lived smart but that how lucky I may have been especially given the proximity between me and one of them.

My closest friend let us call him Monny K was what one refers to as a bosom friend. One whom you will not end a day without seeing. A guy whom we would sleep in each other’s home in turns and even share clothing. If my mother missed him, she would wonder where he was. He was good company, a bright boy who after primary school we went to the same secondary and the same university but to pursue different careers.

I have to admit that he was bright in his own right that is why he ended up in the wildlife management class, I ended up in the humanities class. Things were going on well for him until the last semester of the fourth year when he was expelled from campus for unexplained reasons.

But prior to this he had just like any other man become the village cock. Anything that moved in a skirt was his for the taking and he would do anything to ensure that the skirt was lifted. That meant he gave some of us a challenge of not being better skirt lifters. There was even talk that he had now be-friend one of the aunts to another close friend information which I could not independently verify.

In 1996, when I met him after many years of each of us following his path, he probably gave me what could have been a hint that he was on the downward trend. He told me he was suffering from typhoid and according to him he was probably carrying the “insect”. I was not one to take him seriously; I told him that he would get healed. He only needed to see a good medic and his problem would be solved.

That was the last I saw of him alive because the next moment we ‘met’ he was in casket having succumbed to a combination of diseases including Typhoid, and Tuberculosis. He died leaving behind a young widow and two children.

His sad demise was soon to be followed by that of my first cousin Zipporah W who I must admit I had a lot of things to learn from. She taught me what it meant to be a man and always looked for her approval in everything that I did. She was in a matter of fact my elder sister and if she warned me against something I would ensure that I heeded her advice. But as fate would have it, life had different plans for her. I do not know what happened and in the year 1998 she too succumbed to HIV/Aids leaving behind two daughters and a son.

These two are not just the statistics that are going to form a moment of competition between government and the civil society over who is doing or not doing enough to contain the spread of the disease. They represent real people who left behind orphaned children who need care and help to grow up and become normal adults.

I am certain that the Minister of Public health will be reading a lengthy and boring speech that will be written for her and which she will not have a moment to go through because she is a busy government official. She will churn the numbers, say how HIV Iads is on the decline and in the end ask donors to continue supporting Government because it is now more than ever committed to fighting the spread of HIV Aids. Empty rhetoric you can say.

I am sure the civil society activists will also be there to accuse government of not doing enough to provide Medicare for the people who are suffering and that is why the donors should channel their money to them rather than government which is aloof and non-caring. For this, they will indicate how they are reaching the un-reached in their homes and they explain in detail about a new venture called home based care.

I can also see the researchers revealing how they are working on a new vaccine and why they need more money because they are not sure about the new trends that the disease is taking. They will come up with jargon just to confound the laymen in their midst.

I am sure that an angry ministry of Public Health will not want to greet the civil society actors for railing at how she has failed to ensure that women and children get access to medicine.

I can already see PSI who will be sponsoring the world aids day celebrations strategically placing itself and urging its marketers to look at the unique selling points that will ensure they sell more condoms to the youth. They will even ensure that the condoms are flavoured to suit the taste buds of the youth. This will ensure that they will have more sex and in a nutshell continue predisposing themselves to HIV/Aids.

The journalist with notebooks, microphones and cameras will be hovering somewhere in the periphery and will also demand that they should be given lunch and fare back home something which the organizers will be more than willing to do. After all journalists don’t demand much and morsels will simply do.

All the people except the schoolchildren who will be placated with a soda and maybe half of a loaf will be there to earn an allowance or even make some coin out of the celebrations. Call it dancing on the grave of HIV/Aids victims.

Because of the cited reasons, I am sure I will not attend the celebrations. I would rather be somewhere helping a needy child, what about you?

Ends………