Ambassador

Ambassador's Speeches

It is my great pleasure to welcome you to the opening of “Vies Interconnectees: Portrait du VIH/SIDA en Cote d’Ivoire,” an exhibition of photographs by Nadia Bettega organized by PEPFAR and the U.S. Embassy.

The U.S. Embassy wanted to exhibit these photographs, and I have invited you to see them, because I believe that these images -- these faces -- tell a story that you would want to hear.  They tell a story that needs to be told, about a subject that needs to be talked about.  They tell a story about life, about how people who care, working together, can make a difference.

These are the faces of Ivorians - of people in Yopougon, Treichville, Abobo, Koumassi, Dabou, Orbaff, Bouake, Korhogo, Ouangolodougou, Yamoussoukro – whose lives we have touched through the work of PEPFAR and its partners, and who tell us that their lives are better because of the work we do.

Each of these faces has its own story: how HIV entered their lives, how they found out, how they suffered, how they got help. Most importantly, and most powerfully, these faces tell of story of how people with AIDS are living full, positive lives.

Make no mistake: If you look closely, you will see pain.  HIV/AIDS is a terrible disease.  But with the care and treatment that is available to many today, a large part of the pain that remains isn’t caused by the virus but by our own response to it.  This pain lies in rejection, isolation, fear, shame. We call it stigma.  It’s the pain that makes people turn away from the camera --  and Nadia has captured this so powerfully in her photographs --  to turn away and hide from loved ones, even from health-care providers and others who want to help.

This is a kind of pain that each of us can help alleviate, in our everyday lives, in how we think about, talk about, and behave towards people around us who have HIV/AIDS.   Where that pain has been lifted – most often with the help of other people with HIV/AIDS who share of themselves and their experiences – we see faces full of strength, and of hope.

This can be the face of HIV/AIDS.  We can make it so.

If these images represent the roughly 500,000 Ivorians with HIV/AIDS, we might also think about what the blank walls around them represent.  Look around you – do you see all the empty wall space, without faces?  Perhaps this blank space represents the hundreds of thousands of Ivorians who have HIV and don’t know it.  Almost 90% of Ivorians have never even been tested.  Many are still afraid to be tested.  This is something we must change, and we can change.

This exhibit of photographs tells a larger story too.  It tells a story about partnership between the United States and Cote d'Ivoire through the PEPFAR program.  It’s a story about what the American people and the Ivorian people are doing together to push back the tide of HIV/AIDS.  Working with the Ivorian government and with implementing partners ranging from government ministries to local and faith-based organizations, we will provide antiretroviral treatment for 60,000 people in Cote d’Ivoire this year.  We will provide HIV/AIDS care for 192,000 people, and we will test 180,000 people. We will care for 63,000 orphans and vulnerable children; we will train 2,000 people in medical injection safety and blood safety; we will reach nearly 2,000,000 people with prevention messages.
 

These are a few of the facts about PEPFAR  - the President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief, and about the U.S. Government's commitment to helping people.  Let me now invite you to look at the faces of the people involved in this extraordinary effort.  Listen to what they are telling us.

Thank you very much and enjoy the exhibit.