Exactly one year ago, on this very day, five Bhutanese living with HIV came out in open. They talked about the trauma of living with HIV on the National Television.
As Bhutan joins the International community in observing the World AIDs Day, BBS takes a look at the change these people met with after they made their status public.
Wangda Dorji is the Executive Director of Lhaksam, a support organisation for people living with HIV in Bhutan. He was one of the five who came out on television. He says coming out in open gave him a sense of triumph.
“I feel relaxed and comfortable, especially while going to hospital for check-ups and to collect the medicines.” He says there is nothing to hide now. “It has also given me an opportunity to talk about HIV openly.”
Wangda said that most people have been supportive. “But, I battle with my own conscience everyday and that is the biggest challenge.” He says while travelling in a bus or a taxi, he feels that people are judging him. “During family gatherings, when we see small children, our immediate instinct is to hug and kiss them but as a HIV positive person, I hesitate to do so.”
Wangda and his friends have been to 15 districts on advocacy campaign. Wangda said during advocacy, they speak about difficulties and challenges of living with HIV. He said they also talk about the disease.
Lhaksam has been able to increase its network of people living with HIV. Out of 229 HIV positive people in the country, 107 are the members of Lhaksam.
