Keep a Child Alive

Day 22 - Mubarak: A Leader for His Peers

At the Centreville Clinic in Rwanda, one of the many support programs offered is the peer-parent group. These groups are essential to our patients because they offer young, HIV-positive children the mentorship and guidance they need from the older “peer” patients.  They can share their stories with one another and be a shoulder to lean on, learning from each other that they are not alone in their struggles as teenagers and young adults living with HIV/AIDS. Mubarak, a peer-parent leader, is one of the inspirational peer parents of the program.
 
Before the death of his mother to AIDS, Mubarak hadn’t the slightest clue that he was HIV-positive. He was an active young man who worked hard and participated in the same activities as other boys his age.  Six months after his mother died, one of the remaining family members told Mubarak that he had HIV.  He learned that Mubarak’s mother kept the news from him all his life out of fear that he would have to leave their household, and no longer be there to help her care for his younger sister.
 
Mubarak feared for his life and felt that the opportunity to be healthy was taken from him.  Now the caretaker of his younger sister and still attending school, the news that he had HIV overtook Mubarak.  Although he was naturally brilliant and spoke eight languages, he was confronted by the stigma associated with HIV at school.  He longed to continue his education elsewhere, and his teachers assured him that they would help him to complete his studies abroad.   His hopes were later dashed when the teachers said study abroad was not possible for him because of his HIV status.  He told us, “Losing the chance to go there hurt me, it broke me, it broke my heart that having HIV is why I was losing my opportunity to continue my studies.” He contemplated suicide.
 
It wasn’t until he attended counseling sessions offered at the Centreville Clinic that his outlook changed: “The counseling showed me the opportunity to continue my studies.  Then I got the confidence to be an active man, to be confident in the way that men are who are not positive.” Today, Mubarak continues to gain esteem by sharing his experience and confidence with at risk youth in the peer-parent program.  “We share various ideas in order to have a bright future and to have a strong belief in ourselves… We try to make them understand that even if they are HIV-positive, they’re still alive - it is a miracle of God.” 
 
Mubarak knows that the issues facing teens and young adults with HIV/AIDS can be isolating – even crippling – to his generation.  After all the years spent rebuilding the country following the genocide, and the emphasis on education towards a better future for the country, opportunities exist for the youth of Rwanda today.  Mubarak and the other peer-parents at Centreville want to make sure that youth with HIV/AIDS are empowered by good health, confidence and have the support they need to take advantage of what’s out there with all their passion for life!

Mubarak and his fellow “peer-parents” at the Centreville Clinic in Rwanda is another reason why we do what we do at Keep a Child Alive. Text BUYLIFE to 90999 to give $10 to help us continue these inspirational stories of hope, love and strength.

See all of our Daily Inspirations.