Ismail Harerimana

Ismail is a 24 year-old youth peer counsellor at Kabale Regional Refferral Hospital. His main job is to support other young people living with HIV get in to care, start treatment, and consistently take their medication. Ismail knows what it means to be afraid of being stigmatized and tired of taking ARVs.

Ismail was born with HIV, and because he was very sick as a child, other children excluded and taunted him. When he started formal school and confided in teachers, they further stigmatized and shamed him. At boarding school, Ismail even hid his medication in a tin of sugar so that nobody could tell he had HIV.

Things started to get better for Ismail when he began attending Ariel Clubs. They equipped him with the psychosocial support to reverberate positivity and change in himself and other young people living with HIV. Today, Ismail supports about 330 peers and children at the Kabale Regional Referral hospital and also supports adolescents’ clinics/Ariel Clubs mainly in the Southwestern Region and other districts including Jinja, Masaka and Kyenjojo.

FAST FORWARD

Recently, Ismail worked with a young man, Ali, who reminded him of his own struggles. Ali lost his parents to AIDS-related causes and grew up in an orphanage that enrolled him into care. However, he feared discrimination and dropped out of care. One day however, Ismail and the other health care providers noticed Ali was missing from their records. He had stopped coming to take his medication so they proceeded to look for him in the community. Ismael searched the streets for Ali and only returned to the health center once he found him. Back at the health center, Ismail encouraged Ali and shared his journey of overcoming stigma. He even got Ali to join a peer support group for adolescents over 18 years of age called Kabale Young Positives.

Now, Ismail is a member of CAYA who support the design and implementation of adolescent and youth programs. He is also a national trainer for the Young People and Adolescent Peer Supporters model with the Ministry of Health, AIDS Control Program. Ismail has taken much of what he learned in the Ariel Clubs to help build the Kabale Young Positives support group. This group never lets young people like Ali give up. Today, Ali’s health is better and he even supports other peers’ journeys to getting care. This is what matters most to Ismail, giving back and reaching out to people like Ali.

“Ali is doing well on ART and the support from his peers has made all the difference. He doesn’t have to worry about hiding. We know how he feels and we make him feel safe — that’s the part of my job I like,” says Ismail.