By Nguyen Thi Hoa, CARE Vietnam
It has been nearly one year since I met Nguyet but I still remember our first meeting exactly. That day, travelling from the hub of Ho Chi Minh City in the early morning, we arrived at the office of the Morning Sunlight self-help group for people living with HIV at around 8.30am.
There to welcome us was a young woman of slender build. Her face was weathered, darkened by sun, but alight with confidence and resoluteness. When we entered the office, the group members were waiting for us – all very young faces. In a confident and composed manner, she introduced us to the group members, its formation and development, major activities conducted, and the main results achieved by the group.
I was captivated by her simple stories that were filled with positivity. Nguyet established the Morning Sunlight 1 self help group in June 2006, which organizes outreach and communication activities aimed at increasing knowledge of HIV/AIDS. The information includes HIV/AIDS laws for group members, as well as reducing the chance of transmission amongst most-at-risk and mobile members of the population in Thu Duc district and District 9.
The group began with three members but at the time of our meeting, had attracted more than 40 members. In May 2008, she established a sub-group named Morning Sunlight 2 in District 9 with 15 members. Never before had I felt so passionately about lives and silent contributions of people living with HIV. From an ordinary and modest woman, like any other, she made every effort to lead a better and more positive life, and has given a helping hand to many people in the same situation. Standing in front of her, I felt so small.
After that memorable meeting, I joined her and the group in many CARE CREATE project activities, a right-based intervention project to improve the well-being of people living with HIV. These included a training course on HIV/AIDS law, events in boarding houses, reaching most-at-risk people in cafés, topic-based group meetings. I saw her prepare for these activities, present to the group, facilitate group discussions and saw her immense passion, responsibility and dedication.
Nguyet's story
I always asked myself, how can Nguyet have such strength and determination? During the project activities we visited, I had a chance to know more about her. She grew up in a family with nine brothers and sisters in a poor village in the northern province of Ha Nam Ninh. In 1984, her family moved to the southern province of Dong Nai to make a living. Their life then was so difficult that she dropped out of school to help her parents earn money; she migrated to Ho Chi Minh City and found a job as a leather shoe worker when she was just 16 years old.
With her intelligence and swiftness, just one year later, she promoted to workshop assistant. At that time, she met her husband. He worked as a porter at Song Than station. Because of fighting, he went to prison for more than two years. After his release, he visited her again. Touched by his sincere love, she fell in love with him and with the hope that her love would change his negative characters and lifestyle. They got married in 2001; two years after their wedding, their first daughter was born.
They lived a happy and peaceful life until 2005, when tragedy struck them both, finding out they were HIV positive. At that time, their second boy was only nine months old. Their parents decided to move them out of the house shortly after learning that they contracted HIV, as relatives and local people in her residence area had almost no understanding of the disease. The stigma and discrimination against the disease by then was frightful, as HIV/AIDS was considered a disease linked to social evils.
Finding hope for the future
After crying until her tears dried out, she tried to keep calm. She confided in her story to the priest so that they could share in the regular ceremonies with the hope that community people would be aware and take preventive measures for themselves.
For one year, she spent a lot of time, money and efforts learning about the disease, and finally she met Ms. Lan Huong, head of Friendship Group, where she received information, empathy, and encouragement. She brought leaflets and materials on HIV/AIDS to their parents, and she and her husband shared with their family the information they had learnt about the disease, so that they were no longer afraid of HIV transmission.
Several months after joining the Friendship Group and attending CARE’s training courses and counselling, Nguyet left her job and began working as a home-based care volunteer for the Friendship Group. Though she was given significant support by the factory manager to help her continue her job, she said the most important thing in her life was to “keep in good health to live as long as possible with my children. Earning money for my children is not as important as being a mother close to my children everyday”.
Since joining the home based care volunteers’ team, she met many other people in the same situation. She realised that people living with HIV, and especially migrant populations still lacked information and knowledge of HIV/AIDS as well as the rights and obligations of people living with HIV/AIDS. That is why on June 2006 she established the Morning Sunlight Group.
Morning sunlight is the moment when a new day is filled with immense hope. Just like the group name, the hope in herself has spread to all group members, helping them gain back their trust in life, and leading to a more positive and meaningful life.
In that one woman, a great hope is nurtured that there will be a day when the stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV no longer exists so that they, and their relatives, can have a life like others. At the time of writing this story, she cannot disclose her infection status because she is afraid this will affect the schooling of her two kids. However, with her great hope, her commitment, the support given from self help groups and empowering projects like CARE’s CREATE for people living with HIV, the sunlight in herself and many other communities will contribute to a better life for people living with HIV.