Patricia Watson, Contributor

A 10-year-old HIV-infected girl delivers her letter to Tony Hron, advocacy officer at the Jamaica Network of Seropositives in Kingston. The youngster is participating in the Special Delivery campaign aimed at bringing more attention to the plight of children affected by HIV/AIDS. - Contributed photos

The children have spoken and it is now time for the leaders to act on the simple requests made by them.

On November 19, 2007, The Gleaner, in partnership with Panos Caribbean, began publishing letters written by children living with or affected by HIV. For more than four weeks, the 13 children laboured on letters they wanted to send to Jamaican leaders, trying to find the right words and wrestling with their emotions. In the end, they completed the letters, but only nine leaders accepted the invitation to have the letters delivered.

The letters dealt with various issues. One spoke about the need for parenting lessons for people living with HIV as the stress of the disease caused some parents and caregivers to become abusive. Another spoke of the need for special support for persons who become infected because of rape. One child, in his letter, wanted to know if there was any support group for children living with HIV and another called for more intensive training for teachers, doctors and guidance counsellors in sexual and reproductive health issues including HIV. One letter to the Child Development Agency (CDA) spoke of discrimination against persons infected or affected by HIV at the community level and wanted the CDA to find ways of helping children who are verbally and emotionally abused. Others called on employers to be open to hiring people living with HIV as parents need work in order to support their children.

The Mayor of Portmore was asked to put in place programmes in the municipality to lessen the high level of stigma and discrimination evident in some communities, and finally, the youngest member of the group wanted to find out from UNAIDS what it was doing to ensure that the government kept its promises, especially those dealing with discrimination.

Leaders commit

In accepting the letters, the leaders have given their commitment to act on the concerns raised by the children and young people. These children will continue to follow up on the requests made and look forward to the responses from the various leaders on the issues they raised.

Special Delivery thanks the nine leaders who took time out of their very busy schedules to accommodate the young people. They appreciated the effort and look forward to working closely with you all in the future.

There were four very disappointed children who should have delivered their letters to Ministers of Government but who never got a chance to do so. Two of the letters deserve special mention.

One letter was addressed to the Minister of Education, Andrew Holness. The 16-year-old youth, who is living with HIV, noted that it took him three weeks to write the letter as he cannot read well. His concern was that sometimes he could not learn what the teacher was teaching.

"The HIV is very hard on kids like me. Some of us can't even read and write properly and when the children laugh at us, we feel very bad about it. All we are asking you, please, if you could help us with our education. We need a place where we can feel comfortable with our status and also learn. We want teachers who understand us and can help us to learn. We don't want children to laugh at us. Education is a good thing, if we are to be the best we can be. Education is our future and without it there is no life for us with this sickness," the youth wrote.

Another boy, 10 years old, wrote to Prime Minister Bruce Golding. His request was also very simple. In introducing himself, he said:

"I am OK with my life. I am taking my medication and I am a normal boy. I enjoy playing cricket.

A student involved in the Special Delivery campaign hands over her letter to UNICEF representative, Bertrand Bainvel, at his office at 60 Knutsford Boulevard, New Kingston, last week. Mr. Bainvel promised to respond to the letter.