Day 2: Brian's Story

Got my first glimpse into these kids' lives outside of the camp from Brian. Over dinner, he told me his story: His dad died soon after he was born, Brian assumes from AIDS but he can not be sure. His mother was a health worker who made enough money to send both he and his sister to boarding school. His mother found out that they were all HIV+ but did not tell the children (a shockingly common occurance). Brian was brought home from school when he was eight years old to watch his mother die. He was not told that he was infected until he fell sick two years later. While recuperating from one of a series of lengthy illnesses, he was sent to live with an abusive aunt that constantly complained about wasting money on a boy that was "only going to die anyway." His only respite from her was time spent on a family farm in a nearby village where he was subjected to long days of hard labor. Now he was left orphaned, periodically sick, in and out of school because of his aunt's refusal to pay the fees and shunned by all but a few of his neighbors. This was the first time that something so horrible felt so personal to me.