Story

Daily Moments: Picturing HIV in the Garifuna Community

February 11, 2013 | Pulitzer Center
By
David Rochkind, for the Pulitzer Center

This is Dominic, a 16-year-old boy who is public with his HIV diagnosis. A brave boy in a small town. Image by David Rochkind. Honduras, 2013.

Getting the catch of the day in Triunfo de la Cruz, Honduras. Image by David Rochkind. Honduras, 2013.

A family spends time together in Sambo Creek, Honduras. Image by David Rochkind. Honduras, 2013.

Victoria is 72. She is HIV-positive and lives alone in her home. Image by David Rochkind. Honduras, 2013.

Elsy lives in a small home taking care of 4 children. She is public with her HIV diagnosis. Image by David Rochkind. Honduras, 2013.

HIV medicine and clothespins in the home of Ana Vilma in Triunfo de La Cruz. Image by David Rochkind. Honduras, 2013.

A support group for people with HIV and their friends and family in Triunfo de La Cruz, a Garifuna community in Honduras. This is one of the most active HIV support groups in the region. Image by David Rochkind. Honduras, 2013.

Health check-up of an anonymous HIV patient at the health clinic in Sambo Creek. Image by David Rochkind. Honduras, 2013.

In Tela, Honduras. Image by David Rochkind. Honduras, 2013.

Juliana Ramirez lives out in the open with HIV, facing stigma and setting an example for others. Image by David Rochkind. Honduras, 2013.

Lesbia faced discrimination from her family when she told them she was HIV positive. Image by David Rochkind. Honduras, 2013.

A wall in Benita's home. Benita is a Garifuna woman living with HIV. Image by David Rochkind. Honduras, 2013.

The cemetery in Sambo Creek, a Garifuna community in Honduras that is struggling with high HIV rates. Image by David Rochkind. Honduras, 2013.

Anatolia is a health worker who visits people with HIV in their homes. Here she waits outside the home of a patient. Image by David Rochkind. Honduras, 2013.

A cross in Sambo Creek. We were told that every Garifuna community in Honduras has one somewhere in town. Image by David Rochkind. Honduras, 2013.

Making iPhone photos and publishing them through Instagram seemed like an honest way to give an alternate perspective to the issue of HIV in the Garifuna communities. People would often giggle when I started taking their picture and joke about the prospect of seeing themselves on Facebook. Most people, regardless of their income, had cell phones and some sort of access to the Internet and to Facebook. What I wanted was to create a more informal perspective of an issue that permeates life in many of the communities that I visited. People have weekly support meetings, visit the health clinic, and take daily medication. This is a view of how living with HIV has become integrated into the daily life in the Garifuna communities of Honduras.