Pateh's Diary

25th March - AIDS Notes
A MEETING HELD AT THE UNIVERSITY OF THE GAMBIA BY HER EXCELLENCY MADAM ISATOU NJIE SAIDY ON THE TOPIC HIV/AIDS.

The keynote address was given by the vice president, who said that as far as the HIV/AIDS pandemics concerned, information and knowledge should be easily accessible to all, and specially to women. This would enhance their participation in a national development as partners and not just as helpless beneficiaries.

She pointed out that in our own back yard the prevalence of HIV 1 has doubled from 0.6% to 1.2% in seven years. During the same period HIV prevalence declined slightly from 1.1 to 0.9 %. Mrs Njie Saidy declared that families and communities stigmatize and discriminate against Aids sufferers partly due to fear and ignorance and because it is convenient to blame those who have been affected first.

In addition, social inequality has resulted in women been blamed for the transmission of sexually transmitted diseases including HIV. The Vice President reiterated that women and girls are particularly vulnerable to HIV infection and the impact of Aids.

Worldwide, about half the people living with Aids are females. She said the rate of HIV infection among young people worldwide is growing rapidly: 67% of newly infected people in the world are young aged between 15 and 24.

Mrs Njie Saidy went on to point out that so far 3 million people have died of Aids in the two decades since the pandemic began. She said women are twice as likely than men to contact HIV from a single act of unprotected sex, but they remain dependent on male co-operation to protect them from infection. All over the world women are to take the lead in domestic work and care for family members.

HIV and Aids have increased the burden of care for many women; poverty and poor public services have also combined with Aids to turn the burden into a crisis, with far reaching social health and economics consequences.

The Vice President said bluntly that Aids intensifies the feminisation of poverty particularly in hard-hit countries. Entire families are affected as vulnerability increases when women's time of caring for the sick is taken away from the other tasks within the household. In high prevalence countries school enrolment has decreased in the past decade.

Aids is threatening the positive gains in basic education. Mrs Njie declared the `ABC' slogan - Abstain, Be faithful, use a Condom is the mainstay of many HIV prevention programmes.

For too many women and girls this message holds no weight. Where sexual violence is widespread or insisting on condom use is not a realistic option, because of their lack of social and economic power, many women and girls are unable to negotiate relationships based on abstinence, faithfulness and use of condoms.

Pateh Jawo - Gambia University. 5Top

17th March - The Human Body
Dear Val, David & Carol.

Thank you for spending your money and kindness on me and the Gambia as a whole. Thank you for the love and kindness you have for the GTS and Gambians. May God bless you for that?

I am doing very well at the school. I have a lot of experiences at the university.

I never saw a corpse live but now I came to see it live and frequent.

During our practical classes in Biology (human anatomy) we are normally taken to the mortuary and work on them live.

It taught me a lot because in my Senior school I only study them without seeing them . Now is on the contrary whatever you do you must see or practicalised it . I was scared for the first and second day but now I am not. I am used to it now. I really enjoyed it now. So it must be part of me and I must dedicate myself to it as my aim is to study Medicine to the last level. I was long since been motivated to study it and thanks be to God I started it.

I promise that I will be so dedicated; patience and serious with my work because it is not an easy thing and I don't want you to spend your money on me in vain.

I am always praying to God never to let your money go in vain and always be happy with my performance.

Last week Saturday the University of the Gambia held their first convocation at the Friendship Hotel. It is the first time and the first badge of students that obtain a Bachelors degree. Her Excellency the Secretary of State for Education Ann Therese Ndong Jatta chaired it and the guest speaker was our President Dr. Alhagi Yahya A.JJ Jammeh. It is really a memorable day for the University students and the nation as a whole.

The President also invited them to a Galla dinner at his hometown Kanilai.

All the student body are invited. He is interested in the field of Education and striving towards to archive it. We have good teachers or professors. But it is left to us to work hard to archive our goals.

Extend my greetings to the rest of your family members.