Letter to the Editor-Threats to my life as a man openly living with Aids |19 March 2009

For the past eight years, since I decided to come out as a person openly living with Aids, several threats have been made to my life.

The first time it was someone who came with a knife to my house one evening. I was lucky that night because I like to look outside before I go to sleep, and that night I saw a man trying to hide under my hibiscus in the garden. That guy managed to get away when he heard me calling the police.

Another threat was by an unknown person in a car who kept following me for quite a while. It happened three times while I was going to the shop at Beau Vallon. I didn’t want to think the worst so I ignored it until finally I was knocked down by a car one evening while going to the shop.

That night I reported to Victoria hospital with my injury and again the case was reported to the police.
After that I received several anonymous phone calls which I ignored because most of them were made using a prepaid card. And then there were two occasions when someone came knocking on my door without identifying himself.

Last time it was at around 3am while I was sleeping with my girlfriend, when a so-called Rolly – I have no idea who he is – came knocking. He wanted me to open the door but I didn’t. I called Beau Vallon police station, but that night the police never came. My girlfriend and I now have to sleep with open ears.

And finally, recently, someone called me from an Airtel prepaid. He said it was the President who told him to call me because he has proof that I’m spreading the virus on purpose. When I told him if that’s the case, then tell the President to bring me to court because I have a clean conscience and am not afraid to face the court. He ended up getting upset and argued with me over the phone and insulted me.

I told Beau Vallon police station about the incident and waited for a response from the police. When I didn’t hear anything, I called them back and the lady working on the night shift told me they tried to call the number but that person didn’t pick up the phone.

So I decided to call that suspect back, and he did pick up his phone. When I told him I have already reported him to the police, he finally came up with a story that he had brought some medicine for me and only wanted to help me.

When I told him I was not interested, he mentioned the name of a person who has told him a lot of stuff about me and said he will make me disappear.

All this is too much for me who have devoted all my life helping my country. Everyone in this country knows that I’m infected, and therefore anyone who wants to have any relationship with me already knows the risk.  If I had the intention of infecting anyone, I would never have “come out”.

I have decided to write this letter today because I want to live happily with my family. I’m infected with HIV, yes, but this is not a crime. It’s not fair for us to go through all that just because of our status.

These acts will keep on discouraging people living with the virus from coming forward and will therefore have a negative impact on all the effort that we are putting into reducing HIV/Aids cases.

I hope that whoever is doing this will finally get caught so I can live in peace.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who are giving support to people living with the virus, like me. We need your love and affection. But most of all we need your support.

Reginald Hoareau,
chairperson,
Faith and Hope Association