Growing stronger...
Growing stronger
Date: January 1, 1970
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The documentary which is made up by an all woman crew looks at the humanity of a woman in a “lesserÀ profession in this case a beauty queen and model who is dealing with the stigma in her life as an HIV positive person. This is juxtaposed against the story of an equally remarkable less famous and less affluent woman
This article may be used in training to:
- Advocate “know your HIV and AIDs status” through the media.
- Demonstrate that being HIV positive is not a death sentence.
- Lobby governments to make ARVs accessible and affordable
Trainer’s notes:
The crew uses non-invasive techniques and the result is an intimate, open and inspiring story of two women. One is a famous beauty queen who was in a trans-racial relationship before she and her husband both tested HIV positive. The husband did not wish their status disclosed. He left the marriage, leaving the woman with a newly born child in addition to her own from a previous relationship. The beauty queen now runs an NGO called Public Personalities Against Aids Trust (PPAAT) which advocates for “Know Your Status” campaign especially for those who are in the public life.
The documentary informs on how an infected person can live positively. It carefully goes through the daily lives of these two women from the start of the day to evening and shows that despite one’s circumstances (one affluent and the other less so) those infected can live productive and normal lives. This is important since people have been known to commit suicide once they tested positive leaving behind orphans often with no income.
Training exercises
Exercise 1:
a) How can the media contribute in making public personalities disclose their status?
b) Describe the steps you would take to popularise a “Know Your Status” campaign.
Links to other training resources
1. Gender and HIV and AIDs: A Training Manual for Southern African Media and Communications
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