Friday 2 December 2011

Worlds AIDS Day...Stigma Under the Lens...and my poem :)


So yesterday was World Aids Day for those of you who do not know. To me the day signifies the world recognising what AIDS is, how it affects those who have it, the stigma attached to it, the reality of it as opposed to the myths surrounding it and more importantly how we can educate ourselves about it so we not only protect ourselves from infection but also understand its reality so we might help those who suffer in silence.

Christian Aid held an event, Stigma Under the Lens, last night in Shoreditch. Basically a short evening of spoken word, speeches from HIV positive people and short picture slide show videos documenting the struggle many people around the world face with regards to both living with the virus in an unforgiving society and how they are able to survive with it.

I was asked to write and read a poem about HIV/AIDS after my poetry reading at the Platform2 Poetry book launch. I was very privilaged to have been asked because I did have a poem lingering in the back of my mind that I had not recorded on paper...this was the perfect opportunity to put pen to paper...

So the poem is about an amazing woman I met in Kenya and my kind of interpretation of her struggle. It encapsulates the struggle of people in her community rather than just hers and tells a short kind of story with some imagery to make it a bit more real...

I was really inspired by this event and it has reminded me of where my passion lies...that is with people, poverty and hardship...now I'm working in the corporate world, its often easy to neglect the world at large...we often forget to look behind the walls of the big glass office we walk into...

Here's to raising awareness and the possibilities of doing more to help...

Here's...She Walks Alone

She walks alone

As the sun creeps through the crack in her mud moulded abode
She wonders whether he'll allow her to witness another sunrise
Her on going battle with him

She walks a strong walk
A mile long a day
And when he tries to interfere
She prostrates down and prays

But sometimes the pain he brings is immense
Like a pound of bricks dropped on layers of cement
Its intense
Heavy on her heart
Burden to her body
Yet she rises over his might
Gets set, ready to continue her fight

She marathons along
No knowing whether the end is in sight
Prepared to sow some seeds at the shambers today
Fighting the urge to give in to him and stay
In the hope God will pave a way
For her crops to harvest this May

She ignores the whales, hollers and screams that plague her nights when she sleeps
The sounds of those considered weak
Tarnished by his presence in their homes, in their bed
Disgraced by the blame, embarrassed and ashamed
She walks that long walk
Alone
Bearing the burden his act caused him to give her

As she smashes through the driest mud in the peak of the May heat
She looks down at the deep lines in her aging hands
The cracks in her once wide feet
Roasted by sunlight
Hardened by labour
Her plight
Her ongoing battle with him
The end, never quite in sight

As she nurses her blisters, wrapping them up like she conceals her emotions
She kisses the heads of grandchildren she inherited
She sings them that song they love to hear
She forgets her woes
She shows no fear
If only for but a second

As she pastes the widest smile across her lips
Its almost like their mother is in their mist
A memory of the pillar who left her behind
To deal with him alone against time

She lays her head down to sleep and she cries the loudest cry inside
Through her bloodshot eyes
She wonders when their next rainfall might come
When her salvation from his curse will appear
When her life sentence will end
When she will no longer have to pretend

Her name is Margaret
His name is HIV.

By Alimah Sitta

Please check out http://www.christianaid.org.uk/HIV/ to find out more about the campaign and more about HIV.

Massive shout out to my girls Ola, Mary and Chennara who came out for the event n really rooted me on!!! Thanks so much...I appreciate n lurvve you!!! <3

Still smiling