CARIMAC Times 2016: The JREAM Edition Journalists Reviving Awareness of what Matters | Page 99

So now you feel bad because he’s telling you
that you’re not good enough, society is telling
you that you’re not good enough, you yourself
is telling you that you’re not good enough… so
hence, you break down.” [sic]
During her address at the Larry Chang Human
Rights Symposium in 2014, Burton revealed
that she was diagnosed with HIV at 16 years old.
“I was very angry. I wanted to kill myself. I
thought of myself as worthless, valueless, cheap,
and nasty. I became the monster society said
I was,” she said, her voice breaking.
Like the streets, Burton found herself navigating
the health care sector with a fearful heart.
“It was horror,” she said.

The location of the public hospitals and clinics
were dangerous, she described, especially for
those who were flamboyant, “looked a certain
way”, or “acted a certain way”. Once she walked
into health care facilities, she said, people would
gossip and information would travel outside.
“I decided not to go anymore because it was too
risky and I couldn’t manage it. You have some
persons; you think that they mean you good,
but they mean you bad.”
Burton said she first turned to the Comprehensive
Health Clinic, then sometimes visited the
University Hospital of the West Indies, until
finally going to the Jamaica AIDS Support for
Life ( JASL).
Despite the shortcomings of the health care

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Graphic by Alexis Halsell