"I feel empowered by my work and helping women in my situation".

"I felt as an HIV positive woman I was not valued, however, my work with Sunflower and Profamilia has empowered me and makes me strong enough to help others like me.  

Colombia is like 'Alice in wonderland' in terms of accessing treatment. The social security system claims that antiretrovirals (ARVs) are there for everyone who needs them, but the reality is different".

There are barriers that prevent complete access. Sunflower advises women to get around this using legal mechanisms, although this is beyond the means of low income women.

They have to  make a ‘flotella’, a legal case of it being a basic human right. This is a problem as many  women do not know their rights and that they have a legal right to  services and can fight for them.

ARVs are provided in one month courses, and frequently there are delays in receiving them, causing problems with the effectiveness of the treatment. 

Sunflower aims to educate women about their rights and how to uphold them. 

The guerrillas are very anti-HIV and persecute people who are open about their status, consequently many people in rural and guerrilla controlled areas do not find out about their status or try to access services.

The guerrillas ask the Health Ministry Offices for lists of HIV positive people so they can persecute them. They use execution as a method of HIV prevention. 

"I attended a women’s group meeting in my home town and worked with sex workers, I  was open about my status. One night the guerrillas abducted me when I was leaving a meeting and threatened to kill me.  I felt that had I been a sex worker they would have shot me. I left my home town and did not return for seven or eight years.

Now I live in Bogota, I experience discrimination, my husband died, so people, and my family, assume I infected him and blame me.

My son experienced rejection at school from children in his class and their parents. I had to go to the school and educate the school and parents about what being HIV positive means. My right to confidentiality was breached and this has caused problems in many areas of my life".

Myriam has achieved a lot and seen the organization grow and help hundreds of women but they still have a lot of work to do.