“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” – James 1:27
HIV isn't something our girls did, it is something they were born with. After much research and considerations we have decided to raise our girls with their condition in the open. We want all to know that HIV isn’t what it used to be and there is a lot of misinformation out there. We have done quite a bit of research, talked at length with Carolyn Twietmeyer at Project Hopeful and met with the Physician Team at the University of Chicago. We believe that it would been worse on our girls dealing with all the secrecy in thier lives than dealing with ignorance. Only when people start talking about HIV will the ignorance go away.
Most of what people know about HIV comes from the 80’s when we weren’t clear on what we were dealing with. Here is what we know today: HIV can NOT be spread through casual/household contact. HIV is NOT spread through hugging, kissing, shaking hands, sharing toys, sneezing, coughing, sharing food, sharing drinks, bathing, swimming or any other casual way. It has been proven that HIV and AIDS can only be spread through sexual contact, birth, breastfeeding and blood to blood contact (such as sharing needles). There has NEVER been a confirmed case of HIV being spread from family member to family member or through sports related contact. You have nothing to fear! It is merely a chronic treatable disease here in the US today. We can and will snuggle with, tickle, make funny noises by blowing on thier tummies and kiss our girls, "yes" on the lips! Our girls can play sports, go to school, get married, have children and live happily ever after in the Love of our Lord Jesus!
More information about Orphans with HIV can be found here:
Awesome post! We're discussing this same topic and navigating feedback from family members right now - not the easiest stuff, but we agree that stigma will exist as long as people are not talking about HIV. It should not be a taboo topic any more than diabetes or any other disease. You are an inspiration! I wish we could just come right out in the open like that, but at least we're taking baby steps.
ReplyDeleteIt helps having friends that are raising a child with hiv/aids with her condition made public to all. I have never seen anyone talk to her out of ignorance and she is a real joy to be around. She is the reason why we decided to adopt children with HIV.
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