Hiv and San Pedro Sula, Honduras

Almost every guide book recommends skipping San Pedro Sula and continuing on to just about anywhere else in Honduras.

Keeping this in the back of my mind we, my daughter and grandson, flew into Honduras with the intent of visiting experts in San Pedro Sula dealing with the ravages of a growing Hiv epidemic. Some claim the city is the Mecca for infection as well as for healing support. I wanted to research either of not anyone was organizing "Care Teams" for those suffering from infections.

Hiv

The city has a reputation for violence, poverty and a lack of tourist sites of interest. The Central Park and Cathedral, Guamilito store and the Museum of Anthropology and History are about it for the tourist waiting to tour to the Bay Islands and other destinations. Most of the colonial structure have fallen down or been destroyed as the city sprawls to become one of the fastest growing cities in Central America. A incorporate of nights are about the max unless you have enterprise in town.

Dennis and Rafael of Maya Temple Tours were extremely helpful on managing transportation, housing and some translation services. Dennis is a flourishing businessman closed in various enterprise enterprises. Rafael was extremely helpful with helping me get first hand information on the scourge of Hiv in Honduras and throughout Central America.

Statistics on Hiv/Aids tend to confuse the best of us, as they seem to shift depending on the researchers, country and politics governing the information that is disseminated to the public. I will leave the conference of statistic to those who do it best quoting only when I have numbers from the most trustworthy sources.

San Pedro Sula, and other Honduran cities, towns and villages all have experiences with the sick. Some are convinced that mosquitoes bring on the infection, or that non-sexual intimacy, sharing of utensils, toilets, hugging and kissing cause "the bug" as some call it. Things are slowly changing though schooling needs to be ramped up considerably.
(I visited schools in Seattle in May of 2010 where some of the above beliefs were held as factual)

Honduras, and other Central American countries, have legal prostitution, ports provocative all sorts of group interaction mischief and wide spread drug smuggling, distribution and use. Not too many places allow needle exchanges or the free distribution of condoms. With the sway of religion guiding many the question occasionally is more involved than being just a condition issue.

Honduras has done a lot since 2000 straight through government action, funding and the courage of some to speak up attempting to allow dialogue and convert to help those infected and those at risk.

Rosa Gonzalez, a Honduran, in 1996 came forward sharing that she, her husband, and child were Hiv positive. Her position was that citizen needed to know and see the humanity of the disease. I spoke to a amount of citizen who were ashamed that they had relatives who were infected. They were so ashamed they no longer interacted with that family member looking some bigger moral consequence to the infection. Mrs. Gonzalez was the Honduras Representative for the Usaid-supporting Central America Aids performance Projects from 2002 straight through January 2005. Later she was elected President of the Central American Network of Hiv-Positive People, which provides her with an educational and advocacy platform furthering the cause of citizen affected by Hiv/Aids.

During our visit it became clear that there were not many "Care Teams" reaching out to the infected. There were healing services, a amount of support organizations, visiting experts, doctors and nurses reaching out, church groups and individuals trying to help the Hiv/Aids community.

What I was looking for were groups of citizen brought together to "support" an infected person straight through group interaction. Groups, from my experiences with the seven dissimilar groups I have been on, is commonly six or so citizen sharing the responsibility of socializing with a sick person. The group, with the care partner, determines how much the person wants in support. Do they want to get together once a month? Have a group activity? Does the care partner need transportation? Any composition of interaction can be constructed allowing every person in the group to be comfortable with anyone the determination is for the group.

From what I found in my visit in Honduras is the "heart" side of dealing with Hiv/Aids victims is yet to be constructed in ways that are measurable to the condition of the person suffering.

Isolation, abandonment and loneliness are as marvelous in weakening the person as the opportunistic diseases that finally take command.

In time to come articles I will share how "care teams' are vital to the full, condition of those suffering from the challenges of Hiv/Aids.

"The biggest disease today is the feeling of being unwanted..."Princess Diana

Hiv and San Pedro Sula, Honduras

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