Patricia McDonald shows some love to a girl whose mother's joblessness is directly linked to her HIV status. - Contributed

Patricia Donald

Jamaica Business Council on HIV and AIDS

Ruthven Road

Kingston

November 9, 2007

Dear Ms. Donald,

There are times when I feel so depressed and helpless because of my mother's status. Sometimes I wonder where this disease came from and why it had to be her. I am 19 years old. In all my years growing up, I never expected AIDS to be in my family - I heard about it, but just could not imagine it.

One of the main reasons I feel so helpless sometimes is to watch my mother call agent after agent trying to get work. Actually, when she is called for interviews and they find out about her status, they tell her people will not support their establishment if they employ her. She said she is always told that Jamaicans will discriminate against their establishment if they know they employ people living with HIV. Some even tell her that they can't employ people like her because HIV can spread.

My mother is now sitting down without a job and she has the ability to work. I cry at times, knowing that if she did not have this disease she would be working. She did not call this on herself, yet she is facing all this pain.

Help needed

Can you help my mom and others like her to get jobs without being tested? I believe your organisation can help by putting in programmes to inform the workforce about HIV. I strongly believe that people living with HIV have the right to be employed without being tested. Persons like my mother need to be employed because they have children who are going to school and bills to pay. Can you understand what is happening? She really needs a job as she cannot go through life like this.

Over the coming weeks, children living with HIV, supported by Panos and The Gleaner Company, will be delivering letters advocating for positive change on the issues they have identified to movers and shakers in Jamaica.