UN HIV Hypocrisy Exposed - An Activist's case in point

[AldousOrwell]

Sent by a friend working in the developing world.

Would you believe these idiots at UNDP.  They don't want to pay for my medical expenses last time I went to Bangkok!!  I like to raise hell about this so bad.  I had to go to the hospital upon arrival the very first night on my own 2 feet.  And why was I there anyway?  For their stupid workshop we have't heared anything about yet nor our new budget.
 
My face and whole body was red and swollen the whole time and I even attended the whole workshop like that.  JERKS!
 
The money is only $50 but it's the way they treat us that really upsets me.  We don't even get medical insurance with our tickets. 
 
Maybe next time they ask me to go on a trip I'll turn them down.
 
The other time I was there, before this trip last Feb.  when I got an awful case of food poisoning, lost my flight and had to stay there for another 5 days they only paid for my room charge.  No one asked how I was going to eat and pay for my expenses.  

[Matty the Damned]

NAPWA is not a "rich NGO". It's an important community based organisation that makes a considerable contribution to the lives of HIV positive people here in Australia.

MtD

[AldousOrwell]

Hi Matty

I'm sure they do and good luck to them. But that was not the point of the posting.

It shows up how disjointed the whole set up is. The worldwide response needs to be better coordinated and it's staff treated more valuably. Can you imagine a multinational company treating one of it's reps in this way while on important money making foreign business?

I mean no disrespect to the Aussie NGO but they too are a bit restricted financiallly it seems. She wrote 'rich' in a relative sense. But then what exactly is the UN thought of as?

Thanks for taking the time to read it in the first place even if it was the poster's name not the subject that may have caught your eye.

Aldous

[Dachshund]

Aldous, why you must always tweak your response to your postings with a personal jab is beyond me. Folks respond to threads for a variety of reasons...if you continue down this road I have a feeling the responses will become few and far between. I know, I know, you are going to say, "what did I do?"

Now back to the broader issue. Once you broker peace in the middle east, you can coordinate the worldwide response to the global HIV pandemic. When you coordinate see if you can get the NIH to slip Zephyr a couple bucks to help with her travels. I know Alabama has a few folks on their ADAP waiting list. My point is a universal lack of funding when it comes to HIV stretches from Bangkok to Boston. As Ann would put it," it is what it is." Anecdotes from one person who suffers financially because of HIV...why I could write a book. Next time your friend might want to get the financial part clarified before leaving.

[AldousOrwell]

Hi Hal

I know Matty probably reads all new postings regardless of who wrote them,  as do many regulars.

I did write 'may'. But it was a shame that the first reply was a negative one in my view as it seemed to stick up for this particular NGO. The pragmatic Aussie response was to limit infections to it's citizens by going to a source of the problem, in this case Bangkok sex workers. Yet when a foreigner agrees to staff it's work shop and sharing her expertise (Health Sciences Major from Portland and Oregon State Universities) she is treated like dirt. This insensitive treatment is as counter productive as it is plain rude. She is living under very reduced financial circumstances. $50 is a small fortune to her, what is it to the average politician, not worth bending down to pick up perhaps?

Agreed the international response is pathetic. It is like moving the deckchairs around on the Titanic.

Aldous