Immigrants from the Middle East
According to the latest figures from 2022, there are about 24,000 people in the Netherlands infected with HIV. Every year this figure increases by about 350. A growing group among these newly infected are men and women who were not born in the Netherlands. Detailed figures are not available but it seems that a growing number of these HIV infected immigrants are men born in the Middle East.
Fardad
Fardad (33) was born in the city of Rasht in Iran and has lived in the Netherlands for almost 9 years. His homosexuality made it impossible to build a future in his homeland. “Homosexuality is completely undiscussable in Iran,” he says. But Fardad decided to take his life into his own hands and fled to Europe. After a terrible journey he arrived in the Netherlands in 2016. Three months later he learned he was HIV positive.
We meet him in his small home in the center of Amsterdam. The moment he opens the door it is immediately clear that we are dealing with a colorful and idiosyncratic man. Dressed in an exciting top, above a cool skirt, made up and with painted nails, there is a man standing in front of us who does not hide. His pleasantly eccentric living room is dominated by a large St. Andrew’s cross that hangs there not just for decoration.
The intense story about his journey from Iran to the Netherlands is in stark contrast to the light tone with which it is told. The boat he was on from Turkey to Greece capsized. Of the thirty people on board, fifteen drowned, including all seven children. “It was a traumatic experience, but I haven’t suffered from depression or other side effects…. at least not up to now.”
Three months after his arrival in the Netherlands, he fell ill and was tested on HIV. He was HIV positive. This was a shock. “I thought it only happened in Africa. In Iran no one talked about it and there was no information whatsoever about HIV.”
It took him three years to get over the blow. How do you tell your loved ones, and how will they react!? He explained to his mother, who had also fled to the Netherlands, that HIV is not AIDS and that the medication in the Netherlands is so good that she did not have to worry. Most of his friends responded with understanding.
Only once did he encounter any reproach. Cynical comments were made on a dating site. “Bare pozz whore,” someone wrote to him. He printed the sour words on a T-shirt as a powerful statement that he was above that.
Sharing his HIV status was a huge relief. “My secret made me vulnerable. I didn’t want that anymore.”
He has now lived in the Netherlands for almost nine years and has had a Dutch passport for two years. Finally. In that time he has become one of the most striking birds of paradise in the city. His lavish clothes and make-up ensure that he is seen by everyone. That’s what he wants. “I like to be in the center of the attention.”
He is happy with his life in Amsterdam every day. He loves the freedom the city gives him to be himself. Even if he wears an extravagant outfit. The future is still unwritten. It will come naturally.