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Kenya storytelling project helps break silence on HIV/AIDS

27 May 2009

Transport workers in Mombasa, Kenya, have been challenging the stigma around HIV and AIDS through an innovative storytelling project, organised by the ITF.

The week-long pilot project, which ended on 4 May, saw some 40 transport workers - truckers, dockworkers and seafarers - take part in one-day group sessions. Among them were those living with HIV.

The sessions, which also included doctors and nurses based at the Mombasa Port Authority clinic, were designed to provide people affected and infected by HIV and AIDS with a chance to share experiences. Funded by FNV Mondiaal, the event was led by Murray Nossel and co-facilitated by Benaifer Bhadha, both from the storytelling consultancy Narativ.

A seafarer, who had long been infected with HIV and unable to work in the industry, welcomed the opportunity to tell his story. “Storytelling,” he said, “is even more important than antiretrovirals, because unless we are willing to say who we are, no treatment is even possible.”

Meanwhile, a truck driver, who had been afraid to be tested because he feared a positive diagnosis, walked into a wellness centre, received counselling and was tested.

One participant said: “For those who felt shy or hesitated, this workshop removed the stigma that had been present for so long. If we speak out together with our stories, we can speed up the search for solutions to the spread of HIV/AIDS.”

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