Mennonite
Central
Committee

Living with HIV/AIDS in El Salvador

Sarah Adams
February 16, 2006

The nearly 29,000 people living with HIV/AIDS in El Salvador may seem insignificant and hardly worth mentioning in the face of the tens of millions of people living with AIDS in Africa and Asia.

Yet, it takes the story of only one person with AIDS in El Salvador to bring home the sobering impact this deadly disease has on people's lives everywhere, from the stigma of AIDS to the loss of family members, jobs, friends and dignity.

One woman living with HIV on the outskirts of San Salvador, the capital city, is taking a courageous approach to her plight with the support of the New Dawn Association, a Mennonite Central Committee Generations at Risk program partner based in San Salvador.

She publicly acknowledges living with AIDS and talks openly to others about it.

A 30-year-old mother of four, Lidia Lemus began feeling sick eight years ago, at which time she tested positive for HIV. Her husband learned at the time he too was infected. In 1999 he died of AIDS.

Difficulties beyond her health

Immediately Lidia was faced with struggles that went beyond her personal battle with AIDS.

When her husband died, Lidia feared losing the apartment they shared because the documentation was in his name. She spent months gathering paperwork and going from office to office in an attempt to save her home.

She made weekly visits to the mayor's office in order to plead her case. In the end, the home was transferred to her children's names, which means they will have a place to live when they are older.

Despite saving her home for her children, Lidia made the difficult decision eighteen months ago to place her four children in the care of an orphanage. She realized she did not have the means or the health to offer them the life she wished for them.

"I'm missing them a lot," she says. "I'm going to keep visiting them while I'm still healthy, because a mom's love doesn't end." While she acknowledges this was the right decision to make, the sadness of being apart from her children lays heavy on her heart.

Telling her story

Lidia openly shares her struggles with relatives, neighbors and leaders in her community. She feels it is important to tell her personal story in order to help others understand her situation and that of other people living with HIV/AIDS.

She often speaks in churches and she recently shared her story at a regional AIDS conference in San Salvador. She has been vocal when it comes to fighting for her rights to government-sponsored support services.

Lidia's boldness and openness does not mean she does not face the stigma that others face. "All I wish is that my family could tell me that they love me, but they don't do that," she says. Lidia has felt shunned by her family members, especially by those living in rural areas where the disease is not well-known or understood.

The New Dawn Association has proven to be a vital source of support for Lidia. She participates in the group's monthly support group meetings, where she spends time with others who are also living with HIV/AIDS. Each week Nery Misael Rivas, the association's HIV/AIDS project coordinator visits with her.

"All of us have the same disease," Lidia says. "We share our joys and our struggles. We have friendship. The other women in the group are happy for me. They make me realize I have friends. Other group members help inspire me to keep going."

Medical and spiritual help

Lidia is the first and only member of her support group who is able to take anti-retroviral (ARV) medication, which can prolong the lives of people with HIV. Although the medication sometimes makes her feel sick and she has had to alter her drug regimen three different times during the past four years, she is thankful to have access to the medication.

"I take the medication not because I like it or it makes me feel particularly good, but because it will keep me alive and let me see my children grow up," Lidia says. In El Salvador, grants from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria and other sources are allowing the government to provide medication free of charge to Lidia and some other patients in need.

Lidia says she draws strength from the words of Psalm 91:11-12 — "For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone."

"Every morning, I kneel by my bedside and praise God for the day," she says. "I say to Him, 'Hold my hand and don't take me away from You. You're always my companion, even if I can't see you.'"

 

Sarah Adams is MCC's HIV/AIDS program coordinator.

 

MCC in El Salvador