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Friday, December 30, 2005
except from speech by Bono
I want to tell you about someone I met. An extraordinary man called Jonah striking and fit.
He told me that five years ago he weighed half his body weight. Five years ago he had TB, and scars all over his body from scratching terrible skin rash. Five years ago, his family had written him off actually for dead. But he managed to get onto a Medicine sans Frontiers programme and his life has since been transformed. They call it the Lazarus effect, these anti-retrovirals these extraordinary drugs.
We were excited, he was excited. He told us that his wife had died of AIDS, leaving him with two children. That made him feel even gladder to be alive. We were excited again. Then he told us that his new love was also HIV positive. We said well that’s great, he said well it’s not great. She is not part of the Medicine sans Frontiers programme.
So here was Jonah’s dilemma. He said he could share his drugs with her so that they both die slow. Or he could give his drugs to her knowing that his children would lose their father to AIDS. Or he said, I can keep the drugs and lose the love of my life.
Well that’s a decision that no civilised world should ask Jonah to make, in my opinion - that’s a decision we should not ask Jonah to make.
I want to tell you about someone I met. An extraordinary man called Jonah striking and fit.
He told me that five years ago he weighed half his body weight. Five years ago he had TB, and scars all over his body from scratching terrible skin rash. Five years ago, his family had written him off actually for dead. But he managed to get onto a Medicine sans Frontiers programme and his life has since been transformed. They call it the Lazarus effect, these anti-retrovirals these extraordinary drugs.
We were excited, he was excited. He told us that his wife had died of AIDS, leaving him with two children. That made him feel even gladder to be alive. We were excited again. Then he told us that his new love was also HIV positive. We said well that’s great, he said well it’s not great. She is not part of the Medicine sans Frontiers programme.
So here was Jonah’s dilemma. He said he could share his drugs with her so that they both die slow. Or he could give his drugs to her knowing that his children would lose their father to AIDS. Or he said, I can keep the drugs and lose the love of my life.
Well that’s a decision that no civilised world should ask Jonah to make, in my opinion - that’s a decision we should not ask Jonah to make.
// posted by naomi @ 10:59 a.m. 
