If I kept it to myself - World YWCA

If I kept it to myself
Gracia Violeta Ross Quiroga
God had prepared a loving church that supported
my family and me from the moment they knew
about my HIV status.
I am Gracia Violeta Ross Quiroga, a 28-year-old
woman from Bolivia living with HIV. I was born
into a protestant family. My father is a spiritual
leader; both my father and mother have founded
churches in Bolivia.
I went to church every Sunday but my heart
was far from God. While at university, I began to
drink alcohol and hung out with people who used
to smoke marijuana and take drugs. My family
suffered a lot during this time because they were
worried about the people I had made friends with;
they felt that they were a bad influence on me.
They could not understand how I was able to
make poor decisions to go out with these people.
This was not how they had brought me up.
In church, and from my family, I learned that I had
to remain a virgin until I got married. My parents
wanted me to marry someone from the church,
but I chose to date boys outside of the church
and started having sex with them. I knew about
the severe risks of becoming pregnant outside
of marriage and I knew what shame this would
bring my father, especially since he was such a
prestigious leader within the church. No one in
the church spoke to me about sex or sexuality
and all the problems that these issues raised. I
had to find information on my own.
At that time I did not realise how much at risk I
was of actually contracting HIV. I do not know
how long I could have kept living this kind of life.
I did not care about anything, neither my parents’
suffering nor my family’s credibility within the
church. I just wanted to do as I pleased.
8
My sister would help me sneak out of the house
to go drinking. One night I got home late but she