Dear Editor,

Please allow us to express what we consider a grave issue in the way we have come to address HIV and AIDS in this country. We are a group of people living with HIV and AIDS, and we have come to realize that some people in our midst are in HIV and AIDS work for the wrong reasons and are possibly doing more harm than good.

There is one organization in Belize City which says it is dedicated to helping people with HIV and AIDS. Several of us have been to this organization, (no need to call its name because you know who you are), several times to talk to someone and have been greeted very coldly by the persons attending to the office. We have asked to see the director many times only to receive, “He is out of the country.” Let me make my point clear. We need help. We need help with meeting some basic needs. Sometimes we can’t work because we are too sick. Sometimes we need food because we have no money. And four times we have gone to this NGO that is “dedicated to caring for people with AIDS” and have been received by very unfriendly and cold people. Its director is always traveling. We have evidence to show that he takes off on any opportunity he gets. We get the impression that this organization is not providing any type of real down to earth care for persons living with HIV/AIDS. One time one of us had the opportunity to meet this director and he was very shocked by the way the director behaved. The way he (the director) spoke to my friend made us realize he was so full of himself, it was all about him and not about the people he and his organization are supposed to serve.

We are saddened and disappointed that these people have betrayed the very values they are supposed to represent and uphold, and it’s very dangerous, because the nation looks to them as the leaders in a field of work that is already regarded very negatively in this country.

We often wonder how much money goes into the travels of these people. We wonder how much these people spend in every single trip they make. We wonder how much antiretroviral medicine and other drug can be purchased with the much needed funds that is wasted for directors of NGOs and other staff of AIDS organizations to travel the globe. Once I even heard a term for this, it is called “AIDS Tour”.

We are not stupid. We understand that people need training to better their services. But there is no evidence that this particular organization is providing better services to persons with HIV and AIDS as a result of its globe-trotting.

The worst part is that the organization is not alone; these immoral, unethical and unjust practices are being reproduced by newer organizations whose directors have as their sole mission to self benefit and self profit.

People with HIV and AIDS in Belize need real support. We need real assistance with such things as food, shelter, legal support, support for paying electricity and water. We need emotional support or someone to talk with. We need to be treated with dignity and not with cold stares, hesitation, and unprofessional behavior. We do not need people who are television personas whose egos are so big that they cannot see what they are doing. We need new NGOs who address real problems, who are real with people, who are caring and compassionate.

We would like to end by informing all those people who publicly say they are caring for people with HIV and AIDS that a group of us living with HIV and AIDS, are watching every move they make, we know when they are here and we know when they are globe-trotting, we know what they are doing with AIDS resources. We are watching to see how far they go… and some of them are working illegally because they have no board of directors in place. Be forewarned, the next time we write a letter we will call them by their name.

Sincerely

G. Flowers

Group of Concerned Citizens Living with HIV and AIDS