Journalist infected with HIV/AIDS after sleeping with homosexuals

A young journalist with Fresh FM at Kade in the Eastern Region, Richard Darku has opened up on how he was infected with HIV/AIDS when he served his gay friends with sex for a living.

According to him he lost his parents at a tender age making life difficult for him. To survive, he said he had to come to Accra to seek greener pastures selling pure water during the day and the profit he made from the water business, he used it to sell ‘nkatie burger’ at night. He said he slept on the streets until he met some friends he indicated were homosexuals. He said they promised him they will take good care of him. Richard said in exchange for the utmost care his new friends managed to give him, he gave them sex in exchange. Later, he said he moved to Kade where he worked with Fresh FM as a host on a health programme educating people on HIV/AIDS and encouraging his listeners to check their HIV status. Through the series of interviews he conducted with health professionals, he was also motivated to check his status. To his shock, he said he tested positive and his dilemma was whom he was going to confide in because of the stigma associated with the disease. “When I tested positive it occurred to me that it was from some dirty acts I engaged in. From the day I tested positive, I cried every night. I had to muster courage to disclose my status and to encourage others living with the disease to be hopeful because it is not a death sentence.” He told crimecheckghana.

Richard who earns Two Hundred and Eighty Ghana cedis from helping a woman in a provisions shop, is unperturbed about losing his job and his friends but has committed to partner Non-governmental Organizations to educate the public on the deadly disease.

CCF’s intervention

Crime Check Foundation (CCF) has been educating the public on HIV/AIDS whiles making donations to HIV/AIDS patients. The Foundation is appealing to Ghanaians to embrace   HIV/AIDS patients with open arms to reduce the stigma associated with the disease.