A. Kirkpatrick Reid, at his office. - Ian AllenBy Trudy Simpson, Staff Reporter
A. KIRKPATRICK Reid is glowing.
Sitting in his tiny office on South Avenue, Kingston, the 36-year-old reflects on the moment eight years ago which dramatically changed his life and gave him a greater sense of purpose.
If he had listened to people, he might have committed suicide because in 1992, no one thought he had longer than two years to live. For them, the abbreviation HIV was synonymous with death.
Now, eight years later, Mr. Reid is staring down the odds and helping others with HIV face the challenges of their circumstances.
Happily married to a woman who is HIV negative, and who stayed with him despite her initial fears, he has survived without taking anti-retrovirals by eating right and exercising.
Now a prominent spokesman for people with HIV, Mr. Reid has taken to the airwaves to outline the challenges they face. He is also an executive member of the Caribbean Network of People Living with HIV as well as the global board. Currently, he heads the Jamaica Network of Seropositives (JN+), a four-year-old organisation comprising 200 members, which helps people with the disease to adjust and to fight discrimination. JN+'s registry of discrimination is working on about 25 cases.
JN+ offers help through support groups in Kingston and St. Andrew, St. Mary, St. Catherine, Portland and soon in Manchester. So far, the organisation has helped more than 100 HIV positive Jamaicans, some as young as 16, and relatives and friends of people with HIV.
"We try to convince others that we are normal people with hopes and dreams. It is not only strange people or prostitutes or bad people who contract HIV," he said.
JN+ also helps to educate HIV positive Jamaicans about nutrition and guides them through their initial feelings of depression.
Mr. Reid said once his HIV status became known, "people were just afraid. They were saying we have to get rid of this thing so (A. Kirk-Patrick) is no longer a person because he is sick and he is going to die.
"Now, people are a little more accepting but many say that because they have got the infection, people don't want (HIV positive persons) living with them or working with them."
He keeps on fighting though. His newest project is aimed at bringing more help to HIV positive Jamaicans by outlining their rights and by improving relations between them and the general public.
