HIV status

Do you know your HIV status?

I went to a booth at the waterfront on last Saturday that was promoting a nonprofit organization that is combating HIV/AIDS. The man began to tell me about the organization and then he asked me: Do you know your HIV status? Uuuufffff. I was quite taken aback, and stammered, “Well, no, but I’m from America, and I don’t engage in risk taking activities, and so I don’t think I have HIV.”

What I learned:

If I’m going to tell people that they need to be tested in order to be sure of their HIV status, then I should get a test done too. I cannot tell others to do something that I have never done. They may believe that they have no reason to test positive too, but they may have a spouse that cheats on them and they don’t even know it. Or they may believe that it is quite possible that they will test positive and it is simply too scary to actually know your status. After all, there is no cure (but there are medicines to increase you quality of life and its longevity). So, next project: get tested for HIV, so that I can lead by example. I must admit thought, that this is not my top priority, but I will get it done before I start my ministry here in South Africa.