Keisha Shakespeare-Blackmore, Staff Reporter

Recap: Last week, Gabrielle was strapped to find funds to do a urine test. She has also been depressed by the death of one of her friends from complications caused by HIV/AIDS.

Gabrielle'slife has been going in a direction that causes her more pain than she can bear. Now that the baby is just a few months from the due date, the strain of preparing for the birth is even harder.

The challenge she has is that neither she nor her boyfriend has a job. Her boyfriend, who is also HIV positive, did not complete high school, thus getting a regular nine-to-five job is out of the question. He sometimes does a little gardening here and there, but that only pays him $700.

Finding a job

Gabrielle on the other hand, is pregnant with her second child and HIV positive, so that makes it very difficult for her to get a job. She said that things have been really difficult lately, and even finding food has been hard. She noted that even as she was doing this interview, her boyfriend had gone to Jamaica AIDS Support for Life, to see if he could get some food. But, she is unsure if he will get any because, like everything else, they have been scaling down.

"When we can find it, we eat rice and mackerel. When I cook in the evening, the next morning I heat up some for breakfast and make it stretch for lunch too," said Gabrielle sadly.

She said she does not really want to burden her parents with her problems because they have her other siblings, who are still in school, to fend for. "It is stressful, but I work it out the best way I can."

She said that at a very young age she had to face her worst demons (pregnancy and HIV), and she is fighting hard not to be overcome by it all. She said each day you think you are standing on solid ground but you are just sinking away in the sand. However, she just keeps on moving and holding on for the sake of her first child and the one on the way.

Gabrielle thinks it is funny how people who are not HIV positive become afraid of you when they find out you are positive. "But we are the ones who should be afraid of them because if they have a cold or the flu and if they cough on us, we catch it. So we are the ones who should be hiding from them."

Name changed to protect identity.

Send comments to keisha.shakespeare@gleanerjm.com.