‘We are all sick and we are all here to support each other’

Stories & photos by the Rev Dr Francois Sieberhagen, UBS Media Consultant Click here for Togo factsheet

TOGO — We were welcomed at the Centre d’Observances Nouvelles, de Soutiens, d’Ecoute et d’Informations (CONSEI) by the Executive Director, Parfait Guedu, who invited us into a meeting room where a dozen people and some small children were gathered. Through an interpreter, Mr Guedu started to introduce the association to us.

“It was formed in 2000 and today we have around 263 members and 162 children who are vulnerable,” he said. “We provide medical and psychological assistance, as well as education and nutritional help to those suffering.

“Our main activity is to testify to people that this disease really exists but that people can live with it. The training we received from the Bible Society has helped us a lot in that regard. We use the Good Samaritan outreach package extensively when we talk to people. We use the films in the discussion groups and the flipcharts are very helpful because we can show people graphically what we mean.

God cares

A child at the HIV/AIDS support centre for vulnerable people, in Lomé. Photo: UBS/Francois Sieberhagen (TOG06DJ-51.JPG)

“The wonderful thing is that it has taught us that God cares and how he cares. The training we received at the Bible Society reassured us that an infected person is still part of society, and that message really helped us to focus on getting our own families involved. In the past, stigmatisation has hampered the involvement of our families in our activities. Now we try and involve them as much as possible.

“Because of the budget restrictions we can’t reach all the people we would like to. We try and help whenever we’re asked, but finances are a challenge,” he explained.

Should not enter

Before helping to set up this association, Mr Guedu was involved with another one.

“They were very good to us,” he remembers. “They provided medical help and took good care of us. Then one day I arrived and there was a notice on the door to the kitchen which said ‘All those infected with HIV should not enter.’

Made me sad

“That made me very sad. I realised that as long as people who are not infected take care of those who are infected there will always be stigmatisation. I decided then to form this association. We are all infected here and this association has become our shelter and our family. Nobody here can point a finger at anyone else. Nobody can be excluded because of his or her illness. We are all sick and we are all here to support each other.

“Anybody who comes here will find acceptance. Through our mentor system nobody is left to fend for himself.”

The joy, peace and love these people show is an example the rest of the world would do well to follow. It is astonishing how a program such as the Good Samaritan could influence an organisation like this and motivate people to change.

My overwhelming feeling was that, like the railway line that ran next to the building, this association was on the right track. They know where they are going and what they want to achieve as HIV-positive people. They want to live! This report refers to project 87813. (WR 407/12 - 12.06) [6 photos]