Hi, my name is Michael; I am 20 years old and living in Tel Aviv, Israel, and I am HIV positive.  I live a normal life and have many friends and am surrounded by a lot of love. I guess that I have an average life the same as everyone else.

My Story began one year ago. I started out as a volunteer in the Israel AIDS Task Force in order to create awareness and prevent some of my friends from getting infected by the HIV virus.  I guess the future had other plans for me.

Usually I practiced safe sex, but from time to time I did make mistakes. It only took the one though to change my life forever.

One day I went ahead and had an HIV test done, called an ELLISA test.  a week later I received the results--it was positive.  I won't lie and tell you that it was not a shock, because it was!  But, as I said before, I was surrounded by a lot of good people and supportive friends whom showed me that everything would be ok...and, that I was not alone.

So, now what?  What is next?  I guess everyone has some kind of issue in their life and I just have one more than most...and it's really not so bad (did everyone really say "think positive"?).

I will keep volunteering at the Task Force and believe that we all, working together can prevent this disease from spreading! However, there are a few things that I would like to tell you:

1. First, look at the beauty of life...there are many good things everyday and all we have to do is notice them.

2. I'm an HIV carrier---and that's all!  It doesn't mean that life is going to end.  I am planning to live many happy years, and I believe that life is good--so, keep a smile on you face as I try to everyday.

3. Get support!  I know that without the Task Force, it would have been a lot harder to cope with and I thank them for showing me the right way--that there is a life after AIDS...and this life can be GREAT!

This is just the beginning of my story, thank you for reading it and best regards for a long, good, safe and healthy life.

My biggest fear is to not be accepted into society.

Ever since discovering I was ill, about a year ago, my life has changed.

I take pills twice a day. Apart from that – nothing has changed.

I take part in scouting activities, I work, I volunteer, I go out to parties and stuff, like any other youth.

Being sick isn't really that hard and one needn't fear people who live with AIDS. They are just people, sick people, like diabetics or people with cancer. They are just like everyone, with faults and qualities, and sometimes they can even appear a lot more special.

I would have liked to tell my friends but I can't fully trust them, because a future dispute between us might compromise me and this information will be used against me. So only my family and the "AIDS Task Force" people are in the know. And they support me!

So if you have a friend in my condition – support him because that's essential for him. Be there for him, help distract him from thinking of AIDS and help him support himself, make it through the day, live the moment and feel good.

Thanks.

Hi, my name is Israel.  I always thought that if one day I will get the positive answer, I will say good bye to my family and friends and will move to a better place in heaven…

In the end, it did not happen! I received a positive answer on August 2005, together with my partner. It was Sunday, 4 days after we took the HIV test, and my boyfriend called me at work and told me they called him from the clinic. They said we have to come again as the tests had a problem. First second, I am having this uncomfortable feeling, a chill of disaster, a second after that I am sure that my boyfriend is joking with me (he sometimes has that sick black humor mood…).

I asked him how come they did not call me so he said he has no idea. Afterwards we hung up, I called the clinic to check on it. The woman asked me for the number and after I gave it to her, she said we have to run a second test. I hung up and I felt I am loosing my blood and my heart is pumping too fast… I approached my manager and asked him if I can go home. He saw that I am pale and upset and released me.

Back home, I met my partner and we were swinging between feeling total desperate and making black humor (this is us…) we spoke with the clinic and asked if we need to go directly to the Aids center in the hospital instead of coming there, and they approved it. We had to pass the night somehow and getting ready to go to the hospital.

In the morning we arrived the hospital, with some feeling of acceptance of the situation, and yet waiting for the final results. The secretary took our names and check for the papers. While she was going over the papers, I have noticed the words "HIV POSITIVE" on our test results paper. At that moment I realized this is not a dream, it is my new reality and I am HIV carrier.

Since that day, few months passed during I realized that the hard times and the real problems of HIV are yet to come. I had been fired from work, after telling my employer that I am HIV positive. I learned that this HIV status has to stay discrete for the rest of my life (I am still looking for a job…), I found out it will be difficult to buy an apartment since I cannot get a mortgage because of the life insurance. I also realized I can bring up children, but it will not be that simple, and I guess I will not be able to visit the USA and some other countries, not to mention all the fights against the Health care organizations. 

Today, I pray to find a job soon, to be able somehow live regularly, to be able to arrange enough money for special check ups which are more expensive, and in the future to have a real family with my boyfriend, in our own house.

My name is Jasmin Aviv, I'm 40, mother to a son and been living with AIDS for 19 years.

After my military service was done, I met a guy who incarnated freedom to me. He was a motorcyclist, a sportsman and a nature lover. I was twenty-something, post-army and pre-college. I was head over heels in love with him, leaving the army into his arms was perfect. We cruised the country and the world abroad his motor-cycle, listened to music and – above all – we had care-free existence. I remember one day, having read a newspaper article about HIV, I asked my partner if he didn't fear contracting this virus. What I didn't know then was that I was already HIV+ at the time.

It took 7 years for me to find out I was HIV+. It just so happened, by chance (does anything happen by chance?) I got tested and was stunned when the result came out HIV+. I was in the midst of acquiring my second degree at the time, I was working, I was living with a new partner and we were discussing getting married.

It was a deep shock for my family, my partner and of course my-self. For a whole year I was crying non-stop, no one was aware of it, I had ways of crying no one could detect. The cocktail treatment (protease inhibitors) wasn't developed yet at the time. I felt I was sentenced to death. My doctor told me that, considering the date of my infection (it showed in the test and I also had it confirmed with my post-army partner) I only had about two years left to live and they would most probably be filled with agony, suffering and lethal diseases. Needless to say I stopped seeing that doctor, who considered him-self to be god incarnated.

I wanted to live. In my head a "mantra" kept drilling and not letting go: "I am not ready for death", I decided I was going to do all I can – to the end. And so it was. I turned to the "AIDS Task Force", I joined support group, I made it to social activities of  HIV carriers, I spoke, I cried, I got mad and slowly something had ripened within me that gave me mental strength that was golden. I finally understood that by getting out of bed every morning I was healthy after all. I was surrounded by people who loved me and that I loved, I was free and did whatever I liked, suddenly it occurred to me I loved my life very much.

My family, friends and partner supported me. To this day I don't realize they have known then they could hug me and drink from my glass. When I have told them I was HIV+ they all hugged me as one. There was neither aversion nor alienation whatsoever. I was blessed with the greatest family and friends ever. After their group hug I understood beyond any doubt that the dear people around me are what most important in my life and that, as a rule, human relationships prevail in human existence. This understanding filled my heart with warmth, got me and my relatives close and, yes, made me approach and toil in caring about human rights.

Since being diagnosed I have married, gave birth to a child and divorced. The joy and happiness in my life reflect in my son's eyes, the close touch with my family and friends and in my work.

While so, there is also tension in my life and a lot going on that has to do with my health. I test regularly, I receive treatments, I consult in people, and I'm being supported. Sometimes I'm anxious, I bid farewell to friends who couldn't cope anymore and I go on, I fight, I don't give up on my joy and my rights.