The "Dhajaal" of Diseases

A young girl is sitting in darkness and thinking, "my boyfriend gave me AIDS and to think i was worried about getting pregnant".

AIDS is one of the most feared diseases the world has seen. And as of yet no cure has been found. AIDS is an STD (sexually transmitted disease) that attacks and destroys our immune system and leaves us for other diseases to feed upon us. It is deadly and spreads rapidly among humans and the only reason why it does so is that we don't realize how dangerous it is or we have misconceptions, over zealous religious beliefs and also because some of us don't give a shit about it.

In Africa one of the most AIDS infected continents, there were beliefs by their shamans or witch doctors that to cure AIDS you had to have unprotected sex with a child. And surprisingly (for me) this was widely believed in their communities. Child abuse cases sky rocketed and smiling along with it so did the HIV. Although these beliefs are somewhat limited at the present day its still not totally disbelieved. Even in the most developed countries like America and UK, AIDS is a threat they are fighting against. The world is doing alot to prevent the spread of this disease. HIV screening, anti AIDS campaigns, awareness programs. The world is accepting this as a threat. So why arnt we?

How many of us know someone who has AIDS, a Maldivian? None im sure but what if i were to tell you that someone with HIV in their blood can be sitting in front of you. Next to you. Even be on your bed. Why? because its here. AIDS is in Maldives. Its inevitable isn't it? I mean how many of us go abroad and have sex with people we barely know? How many of us go to cheap Indian clinics to have abortions to hide our little secrets? How many of us actually has the guts to go to a clinic and buy a condom when we arnt married? How many of us made out or had sex with the prostitutes brought to Male` and how many are still doing it?

We know this but we are ignorant to it. We know of friends who go abroad just to have sex with prostitutes but did once we think about asking him to go to a clinic to check? And it doesnt stop there he comes to Male` has sex with his girlfriend breaks up with her, she starts having sex with someone else and the list would go on right? Its like a vampire story it starts with one person, but with a bite, with just a transfer of blood or fluid, he spreads it. But the sad thing is life is not like a movie, when you die you die.

And oh i wonder what else? oh yeah HIV testing is not mandatory in the Maldives. The few people who find out that they have HIV find it out by accident, sometimes when they have to do a medical or something. You have to live in abroad for atleast 3 months for you to be "eligible" for any kind of testing. We dont have to stay 3 months to get HIV. We know that but theres this one single little detail thats really important to us.

"Sa`thain Sa`thah Muslim Gaumey". A 100% muslim country woudnt have AIDS right? Maybe at the rates of 15 which is the official count of HIV infected people in Maldives. Out of 3 laks only 15 people. I dont think we should be dumb enough to accept that. Not with all the stuff we know about ourselves. Our own society which is not what it used to be. We have random sex. We have blood transfusions, drunk nights that we cant remember about, we have cheap sex and we do have a gay and lesbian society among us.

Maybe we dont see AIDS effected people around us. And thats not suprising because AIDS to take complete control of your body takes time. Its dormant for most of your life but comes out banging. Our country is new to this virus, ofcourse we cannot see an epidemic of dying people. Lets give it 10 years. Wait it out. And see. Many of us may probably think right now that, what if i test and its positive? Theres no cure for it, why should i know i find out and live in the sorrow of knowing i cant do anything about it but thats where you are wrong, YOU make a difference by knowing you have it YOU can prevent it from spreading to others. YOU are the most important asset to this fight for our survival. Its just like thelesemia.

We need awareness in this country. Awareness about AIDs. "faahaanaathashin AIDs ey nujeheyne, salaan kureema AIDS ey nujeheyne." Thats not awareness, lets talk about how you can get it? And why it is important that you know how to prevent it. And here religious beliefs come rigidly into place. We shoudnt give out condoms because we are not preventing fornication we are accepting it and promoting it and saying that its ok to have safe sex.When would we stop this hypocrytical bullshit. Why do we kid ourselves? We have the most pathetic kind of living system known to man. 'The do it but dont talk about it' system. We all know what we do. And we all do it. but talking about it is taboo. And the people who actually want to talk about it are well, you know where they are. Giving out condoms or relaying messages of safe sex doesnt mean we are forcing or promoting the young to have unmarried sex. We all know that the world as it is, its enevitable that they would have sex why cant we think about that? Why dont we talk about that? Why dont we try to atleast prevent our young or old from spreading these STD`s? And then talk about the religious aspects of it. And are we doing anything to stop fornication? keeping government aside, society, us. Are we doing anything?

How many STD`s do you know? Gonoreah, syphillis..dheno? AIDs right? But how many diseases are there actually? And its not only AIDs as an STD that kills if not treated right, any of these can kill you. The whole point of this chatter was to tell you that you are living in a world where information is being freely given out. (internet!! use it) You have to take care of your own life. The amount of knowledge you know can save your life. For example did you know that Crabbs an STD can be transmitted from a toilet seat? It can be. Now think about all those toilet seats you have used in public places. Mind boggling huh?

And for a common misunderstanding while saliva being a bodily fluid and while it can transmit the HIV virus you need 5 Gallons of saliva for that to happen. This is true for HIV but there are other STD`s which can be transmitted easily through saliva. STD doesnt neccesarily mean that you have to have sex (penis in vagina, penis in anus) to get them. Some tests have shown that some STD`s are more prone to be caught by exchanging saliva, these diseases are mostly found in people who prefer to have sex with their own gender where alot of saliva exchange would be needed. But mind you anyone can get these diseases.

Let us leave this world of hiding behind walls and accepting us for who we are. Humans. We make mistakes. We have carnal urges. And we do submit to them. Lets admit to this. Lets admit to our mistakes. Lets help others not to make them. Do the HIV test. Encourage others to take it as well.