ACCESS TO LIFE
Last night in Washington D.C., a very special photography exhibit opened. It’s called “Access to Life” and it documents the experiences of 30 people in 9 countries living with HIV/AIDS and how antiretroviral medicine can save their lives.
Over the course of 4 months, 8 photographers visited their subjects twice and captured “before and after” effects of ARV’s – showing the clear lifesaving benefits.
It’s what we call the “Lazarus Effect”: the transformation AIDS patients experience 60-90 days after they begin antiretroviral therapy. It’s a stark reminder of how important it is to continue working to get medicine to people who need it – it’s how they get “Access to Life”.
The project was created by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in partnership with Mgnum Photos (http://accesstolife.theglobalfund.org).
“Access to Life” delivers a powerful reminder of why (RED) exists – to provide the funding to help bring hope and the chance of a healthy life to people living with HIV who, without access to treatment, simply have no future.
“Before” shot in Haiti |
“After” shot in Haiti |
Swaziland has the highest HIV prevalence in the world and (RED) money is now funding the national ARV program. That fact alone is a large testament to the power of (RED)’s partners and consumers in the fight against AIDS.
Here are the stories of two women featured in the exhibition. Marcelline is from Rwanda and Tobha is from Swaziland:
Marcelline Uwimbazi
31 year old Marcelline Uwimbazi is a widowed mother of two and lives and works on her parents’ remote farm in Remera, Rwanda. (RED) money has flowed to a Global Fund HIV grant in Rwanda since May 2006.
When Marcelline started feeling ill in September last year she thought she had malaria. When she didn’t get better she went to Remera Health Clinic for medication. They offered to give her a free HIV test. She cried when she found out she was HIV positive. Her first thoughts were of her children’s mortality and her deceased husband. Fortunately both her children tested negative.
Marcelline’s parents had already lost their three eldest daughters to AIDS. Determined that Marcelline wouldn’t suffer the same fate, her brother, Jean Marie used one of his most prized possessions, his bicycle, to help take his sister to the clinic when she was too weak to walk.
©Gilles Peress/Magnum Photos
Jean Marie also uses his second-hand bicycle to fetch water, buy onions and sell the bananas they grow on the family farm.
©Gilles Peress/Magnum Photos
Marcelline began antiretroviral treatment in October last year and after several months of treatment, she says she feels like a “strong girl” again. She has gained 10 pounds and regained a lot of her strength. If she were not taking the medicine everyday she says would forget that she still has AIDS. And to see her singing in church just four months after she started antiretroviral treatment, it’s hard to disagree…
©Gilles Peress/Magnum Photos
Tobha Nzima
35 year old Tobha Nzima, featured in the exhibition, came to Washington D.C. specially from Swaziland for the launch. It was her first time outside of her native country.
Not only is Tobha HIV positive but she has endured some real tragedies in the past ten years, losing two partners to AIDS and also losing her 8 year old son in 2001.
Tobha also began antiretroviral treatment in October last year. This is a portrait of her then…
©Larry Towell/Magnum Photos
Above we see Tobha at her mother's house before she began antiretroviral medication – struggling to cope with the physical demands of her job as a domestic worker. Four months later, it was a different story…you can see she had gained weight and was no longer struggling to cope with her job.
In some of the photos on display Tobha is photographed caring for her employer’s children. She says this is sometimes hard as she has to leave her own children to be cared for by her mother so she can keep working and earning money to support them. She only gets to see her 5 year old son Ndududzo and her 16 year old daughter Nokwanda (who is also HIV positive and on treatment) on weekends. Nonetheless this photo of Tobha caring for one of her employers’ children is her favorite photo from the exhibition:
Tobha is a beautiful and dignified woman who stands tall despite all she has been through and the loved ones she has lost. She knows that, thanks to the free antiretroviral medication, her own life story will be a longer one.
She hopes that her involvement in this exhibition may help give others the same ‘access to life’ she is now enjoying thanks to antiretroviral medication financed by the Global Fund and (RED). As Tobha herself said at the launch last night: “I had no hope. Now not only have my daughter and I regained our lives but our future looks bright.”
Tobha being interviewed at the Exhibition yesterday: |
And Tobha at the evening celebrations: |
Access to life – something we take for granted
Access to Life’s portraits remind us that the AIDS pandemic is not just about facts and figures it’s about real people.
It reminds us that since the availability of antiretroviral treatment (which helps stop the HIV virus from evolving in to fatal AIDS), HIV and AIDS has been transformed from a certain death sentence to a manageable, chronic disease – albeit only for some.
The healthy Thoba Nzima’s presence in Washington DC last night was a challenge to us all – posing the unspoken question: how could we deny people just like her access to life?
The exhibit is on display until late July at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington DC.
