By Christine Mwaaba –
FROM a distance, some say it looks like a robot while others say it is an unattractive art craft that should not be placed at the entrance of a museum.
But what they might not know is that the statue is an important art craft.
The art craft lying right in front of the Lusaka Museum is a collection of remains of hospital beds which were piling up outside Kabwe General Hospital after patients admitted to the health institution refused to sleep on them because they had been used by people suffering from AIDS.
There was widespread belief among patients at the time that if one slept on a bed which was once used by an AIDS patient they too would contract the disease.
Some of the beds were taken outside to be disinfected while others got worn-out because of the increase in the number of patients suffering from AIDS that were using them.
Esther Banda, who is assistant administration officer at the Lusaka Museum says the hospital beds at Kabwe General Hospital piled up as the number of patients and deaths increased.
Ms Banda says at the time people had no knowledge about HIV/AIDS resulting in serious discrimination against infected people.
“In the past, to be told that you were HIV-positive was like a death sentence and people thought even sleeping on the bed which had been used by an AIDS patient would lead to one contracting the disease.
“As the number of patients being admitted to the hospital increased some beds started getting worn-out and they were dumped outside,” she says.
It was only recently that the steel from the beds was put together to create a statue in memory of people that died at the time when stigma and discrimination against those suffering from AIDS was rife.
The statue, also known as the ‘Antiviral man’ which is at the entrance of the Lusaka Museum, also serves as a reminder of the good work of Winston Zulu, the man who championed the fight against stigmatisation of people living with HIV.
He was a brilliant young man who proved that despite having HIV/AIDS a person could be on treatment and live a fruitful life.
The story of this Zambian activist who turned what seemed like a death sentence into a positive story needs to be told to the current generation and future generations.
Zulu was the first Zambian to openly talk about his HIV-positive status in 1990 before he became an HIV and tuberculosis activist.
He was also one of the first Africans to get involved in the fight against HIV/AIDS at international level.
Zulu almost single-handedly managed to change the view that many people in Zambia had about AIDS at the time when sufferers were being treated as if they had leprosy.
Zulu also called for increased financial investments to fight the spread of tuberculosis, as well as TB cases directly related to HIV and AIDS.
He was quoted in the media as saying “TB treatment and access to HIV drugs gives patients more time,”
Former South African president Nelson Mandela spoke of Zulu saying, “There have been so few TB survivors who have stepped forward to share their stories. We need more advocates like Winston to tell the world about TB and the effect it has on so many millions of people.”
Zulu shaped Africa’s response to AIDS in many ways as many began to understand the nitty gritties of how to deal with the pandemic.
His fight was to ensure that treatment was a right for Africans whether they were disabled or poor.
His message that discrimination did not have a place in society has been recognised. Zulu’s courage to say openly “I am HIV+,” showed that people with HIV could conquer fear.
It is sad that the HIV and tuberculosis activist died of HIV complications on October 12, 2011.
Luckily, long before his death his philosophy was heard and understood by many.
The antiviral statue holds a spear on one hand which symbolises hope and faith that one day Zambia will overcome the HIV virus.
Zulu was a great inspiration to many and the statue is a true depiction of what he stood for.
His works in the field of HIV encouraged other people to face their status, start Anti Retro Therapy (ART) and live positively.
Thus the antiviral man aims to encourage people living with HIV that not all hope is lost but to demonstrate that antiviral treatment can be championed.