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They preach safety They practise UNSAFE SEX Now 5 Aids volunteers are
HIV-positive
By Ng Wan Ching

THEY were there to help, listen, and advise. They were trained to
educate people, especially gay men, about the dangers of unsafe sex,
and the threat of Aids.

Now, these volunteers themselves have contracted HIV, begging the
question: Why didn't they practise what they preached?

The New Paper understands from sources that up to five of the 65
volunteers in the MSM outreach programme, run by the Action for Aids
(AFA) group, have contracted HIV in the last two years.

Because of the cloak of secrecy which surrounds people with HIV and the
sensitivity of the positions our sources are in, we cannot confirm an
exact number.

The numbers that have come up range from three to five. It is also
because of their sensitive positions that our sources have declined to
be named.

MSM stands for men who have sex with men.

We also understand that the volunteers who contracted HIV are
university graduates, well-to-do and good-looking.

The situation has been verified - independently and separately - by
three sources, all of whom are passionate volunteers in efforts to
prevent the spread of Aids.

The latest HIV-positive volunteer discovered the awful truth three
months ago.

All of them found out when they went to the only anonymous testing
clinic in Singapore to get tested. The DSC Clinic - at Block 31,
Kelantan Lane - is run by AFA.

There may be others who tested positive at other testing sites or in
other countries. That information is not privy to our sources.

The irony is that while the AFA may be the champions of the HIV
prevention cause, it has not been able to protect its own members.

These recent episodes among the volunteers have disturbed a few
stalwart members of AFA so much that one has even quit.

The group is upset about why the issue has not been brought up and
discussed among the executive committee members.

One source said he brought it up during an executive committee meeting.

He claimed an exco member said that the volunteers' private lives
should remain private.

OTHER VOLUNTEERS UPSET

Whatever the case, the discovery has brought great emotional heartache
to fellow volunteers. After all, volunteers are trained to know. And
more than most, they are expected to know better.

Said a source: 'When the volunteers go for a test, we don't charge them
and we don't ask questions.

'When the test results come back positive, it's always very emotionally
draining to tell them and then listen to all their fears.'

Every one, no matter how complacent before the infection, would become
depressed and upset after the diagnosis.

'These guys are so young. They're so vulnerable.'

One of the volunteers who tested positive actually told his partner
that he did not want our source to know about his infection.

'We are all in the same boat. So since we have been working together
for a long time, I have always told the volunteers, threatened them in
playful way, 'Make sure you don't end up with HIV'.

'When they turn out to be positive, it's a real oh-my-gosh situation.
He was scared that I would scold him,' said the source.

The biggest blow for our source is that the very people trained to
counsel others about prevention should themselves become victims.

'They tell me, 'Once is okay lah, if I have it once unprotected, it
should not be a problem'.

'These are the people who I know have good knowledge about HIV because
I trained them, but they can't resist the temptation.

'It's always because, 'The guy is too handsome'.

'So despite knowing the risks, they choose to play Russian roulette.

'It's like when they pull down their zips, their brains also drop.'

Our source is also concerned about the recent profile of an MSM
volunteer.

Said the second source: 'Recently, many of the volunteers have been
young, good-looking men below 30 years old.

'And they are 99 per cent gay men.'

The source is voicing this concern because there is a possibility, no
matter how remote, that these young male volunteers are coming forward
because they see the MSM outreach programme as another avenue for them
to meet other gay men.

'There have been times when one of the volunteers is counselling on the
phone and I notice that he is talking on the phone for a very long
time.

'By that time, I know they are not so much counselling as getting to
know the other person on the other end of the line,' said the source,
who will then step in and tell the volunteer to cut it short.

'You do the counselling and then you leave. What you do outside is not
my business.

'I know they build rapport with their patients and the patients want to
keep in touch with the counsellors. I always tell them, just be safe,
know what you are doing. I know of many counsellors who have met
patients and in the follow-up have become partners.'

According to Mr Roger Winder, co-ordinator of the MSM outreach
programme, of the 65 volunteers currently with the programme, 15 are
young men in their 20s, seven are women and the rest are older men.

NO FEAR

One of the reasons our source thinks that so many young educated
volunteers have been infected recently is their lack of fear.

'This group has not seen the suffering of the older patients,' said the
source.

Today, so many HIV patients fly to Bangkok to get their drugs cheap.
Before they go, they are so sickly. When they return, they are beefed
up, buff and healthy again, said the source.

'In Singapore, the cocktail of drugs a HIV patient needs to keep
healthy can cost over $1,000 a month.

'But if they go to Bangkok to get the generic drugs, it costs less than
one third what they pay here. This is portraying a very different
picture of HIV and Aids,' said the source.

It could lead the young to become complacent about HIV.

'I feel and fear that they are now thinking that as long as they do not
show the symptoms, everything is fine,' said the source.

The clubbing scene and use of recreational drugs among some gays are
two factors which encourage random and unsafe sex, said the source.

'I know things happen when they get high and I know this happens quite
a lot in the gay clubbing scene,' the source added.

Another source said one of his concerns is that the volunteers are not
practising what they are preaching.

'If they are not following the prevention message, then what are they
telling people who need guidance?'

MY DEADLY MISTAKE

He is young, with male-model looks and gay. As a professional with a
hip lifestyle, he has everything going for him.

Except that today, the dark cloud of death hovers in the horizon.

He is HIV-positive.

The 26-year-old is one of up to five volunteers who were infected with
HIV while doing their bit for the MSM outreach programme under the
auspices of Action for Aids (AFA).

MSM stands for men who have sex with men.

His task involved handing out condoms at certain events targeted at gay
men.

He is intelligent and acutely aware of the need to practise safe sex.

He had, as he told The New Paper on Sunday, 'good practices' in place
which he thought would protect him.

Since he started being sexually active at 18, he makes sure to get
himself tested for HIV once every six months.

He has had 20 lovers, including four who were long-term relationships.

'When I had random sex I would not use the condom if it was just oral
sex.

'But if there was intercourse, whether I was the giver or receiver, the
condom was non-negotiable,' he said in an interview with The New Paper
on Sunday on the rooftop of a shopping centre in the east.

The rules changed somewhat when he was in a committed relationship.

'Then both of us would go for a HIV test.

'If the tests came back negative for both of us, then we would have
unprotected sex,' he said.

The slip up came with his fourth boyfriend.

He and his boyfriend went for a HIV test when they decided they would
be in a committed relationship.

Both tests came back negative.

He proceeded to have unprotected sex with his boyfriend.

Then he came down with a very high fever which took an unusually long
time to subside.

After many days, it eventually became a low grade fever.

At first, doctors thought he had dengue fever.

But it wasn't.

'I thought I should get a HIV test, just in case,' he said.

Throughout the interview he was careful to keep his emotions under
check.

But his eyes betrayed him.

'The first test came back inconclusive. That drove me mad,' he said,
his eyes turning red.

A few weeks later, the second test was conclusive. It was a huge shock.

'Makes you think about your own mortality,' he said.

He stopped having sex when he discovered his infection about 1 1/2
years ago.

'I'm not ready, I guess.

'I'm still trying to come to terms with my status and how there is so
little support for people with HIV/Aids in Singapore,' he said.

He has told his parents and family.

Their support is a big help in his efforts to cope.

'I got HIV because I slipped up.

'My boyfriend had had random sex with someone before we started a
relationship.

'When we took the HIV test, it was during his window period. So the HIV
antibodies did not show up yet,' he said.

The time it takes for a person who has been infected with HIV to
seroconvert (test positive) for HIV antibodies is commonly called the
'window period'.

When a person is infected with the HIV virus, statistics show that 95
to 97 per cent or higher of all infected individuals develop antibodies
within 12 weeks (3 months).

In some cases, it may take up to six months for one to seroconvert.

'At this point the results would be 99.9 per cent accurate.

He does not blame the boyfriend whom he is no longer seeing.

'We drifted apart for other reasons but I still keep in touch with
him,' he said.

He also stopped volunteering at the AFA when he found out about his
status.

'I'm not actively volunteering in the frontline because I'm not ready.

'I may volunteer in different ways now like talking to you or going to
support groups,' he said.

But he feels strongly that there should be no discrimination against
'the pozzies' (those who are HIV positive).

'If the volunteer led someone astray or told someone wrong information
then it's very bad.

'But I think most volunteers are also human and they make mistakes.'

Through his own experiences, he knows that young people, both gay and
straight, are still taking risks.

'Gay people, straight people, young people, they are having sex, lots
of sex and some of it or a lot of it may not be protected sex,' he
said.

But the way to these people is not through strict and draconian means,
he insisted.

'I don't know what the solution is.

'But keeping help away from these people when they become HIV positive
is not part of it.

'I know many who put off treatment because they can't afford it.

'What will the authorities do about this?' he asked as he walked off
into the night.

AFA EX-CO MEMBER DIDN'T KNOW

TWO members of the Action for Aids executive committee said they were
unaware that any of their volunteers had become HIV positive.

Said Ms Dawn Mok, 33, a freelance writer and AFA exco member: 'It has
not been brought up to any exco meetings.

'And I have not received any minutes which referred to it.

'You know, over the years, AFA has taken flak for a lot of things.

'There's a lot of controversy associated with us. But as an
organisation, we have done the best that we can do.'

She pointed out that even when the AFA wants to conduct educational
talks among students, some parents get very upset once condoms are
mentioned.

'The whole subject is very sensitive,' she said.

And since they are a volunteer-based organisation, they will discuss
issues and everything that pertains to volunteers.

'I'm very positive that if there is an issue, it would have been
brought to our attention,' she said.

The AFA does not demand that its volunteers are tested before they can
be volunteers.

'We also do not ask them for their status,' said Ms Mok.

'But we do expect that volunteers would know better and would take care
of themselves and their partners.'

Ms Nooraini Abdul Rahim (left), 39, who adopted Ariq, an HIV positive
baby, and who is an AFA exco member, said she had no idea about
volunteers becoming HIV positive.

'Now I must go and find out what is happening,' she said.

AFA SAYS: NO DISCRIMINATION AGAINST VOLUNTEERS

MR Roger Winder, programme director Action for Aids and co-ordinator of
the MSM outreach programme is saddened and disturbed.

Now that he has heard about the five volunteers contracting HIV while
they were volunteering, he has also brought it up as an issue to the
volunteers.

'With something like this, we can't control what our volunteers do. We
can only strongly encourage them to practice safer sex,' he said in an
interview with The New Paper on Sunday.

'Practically all our volunteers, if they have been through some sort of
training, would know what safer sex is.

'I'm very sad to hear about AFA volunteers contracting HIV and quite
disturbed. I hope that the volunteer that you have spoken to is doing
all right. I have alerted all the volunteers about what some people are
saying is happening and it should serve as a reminder that they should
be responsible,' he said.

But he hastened to add that AFA does not discriminate in recruiting,
accepting or retaining volunteers.

COMMITTED

'We are willing to accept and train anyone who is sincerely committed
to helping us achieve our objectives, regardless of their age, gender,
ethnicity, sexual orientation or HIV status,' he said.

AFA especially does not expect anyone to provide the last two
categories of information.

He said that before The New Paper on Sunday contacted him, he had not
heard of any volunteers getting HIV.

'Of course, information about someone's HIV status is confidential so
it is no surprise that I am unaware of this,' he said.

'We do not require our volunteers to undergo HIV testing before or
after recruitment, or at any other juncture of their involvement with
the organisation.

'Doing so will violate our principle of non-discrimination on the basis
of HIV status, as well as the basic human rights of any individual,
volunteer or otherwise.'

AFA recognises the very important role that HIV infected individuals
can and should play in HIV prevention and education activities.

This principle of 'greater involvement of persons with Aids' (Gipa) is
held as a best practice by the World Health Organisation, Unaids and
national Aids programmes everywhere.

'AFA welcomes HIV infected persons as volunteers and supporters as we
believe that they are in the best position to advise others on the
infection,' said Mr Winder.

New volunteers are trained according to the needs of the
projects/programmes they are involved in.

Such training often includes detailed information about sexual health
and safer sex behaviour.

'We are confident that our volunteers are hardworking, committed and
responsible individuals who do their best to raise awareness of safer
sex and who would protect themselves and others,' said Mr Winder.