Hidden Legacy

HIV positive teenagers facing social exclusion in Romania

Ten years ago, half of the children infected with AIDS in Europe were Romanian. Following the fall of the Ceausescu dictatorship in 1989, Romania became infamous for the images of abandoned children in orphanages and institutions. In the 1990’s the nation was confronted with the tragedy of large numbers of HIV/AIDS positive children abandoned in overcrowded, poorly equipped and severely understaffed hospitals. The deadly disease had spread rapidly through infected blood supplies and inoculations, infecting an estimated 10,000 children between1987 to 1991.

The reverberations are still being felt today amongst the young adults of the nation. Until antiretroviral drugs became available in 1996, many children had died, leaving over 4000 15 – 17 year olds still living with the virus today. Sadly this humanitarian crisis from the past has now mutated into a social crisis.

These teenagers have had to learn to live with the disease and with rejection on a daily basis. To be socially excluded is normal from them. They are often banned from attending school, and from receiving medical and dental treatment. Many have also been abandoned by their families, whole families thrown out of their communities, and parents have lost their jobs due their child’s illness. They have been made outcasts, the modern day leper.

The teenagers showing their faces carries too great a risk .The consequence of identification being total social exclusion. Therefore their portraits depict their situation, with each portrait keeping their identity hidden.

Third Place (joint) The Observer Hodge Photographic Award 2004

---