When John Donne hopefully asserted that no man is an island, he couldn’t have foreseen the agony of isolation suffered by those living with the HIV virus. Add guilt, abandonment, memory, anger and the wearing effects of a serious illness, and the sufferer can feel less like an island, and more like an abandoned leper colony .
In Death Diminishes Me, six New Zealand men who have been HIV positive for more than 20 years and lost both lovers and friends to the disease are now isolated by the same things that connect them - infection, guilt, loss and hope.
Death Diminishes Me was produced by Gareth Watkins. The show was mixed by Jared Weissbrot.
Links:
New Zealand Aids Foundation
HIV Statistics in New Zealand
AIDS New Zealand
The Ministry of Health's twice-yearly newsletter gives an up-to-date view of the national situation
Body Positive Inc. New Zealand
Body Positive Inc. is a group founded and run by and for people with HIV/AIDS.
We welcome all people living with HIV and AIDS in New Zealand
Books:
GAY MEN, SEX AND HIV : IN NEW ZEALAND by: Heather Worth 2003
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