The significance of providing medical assistance to those in need

Shortly after moving to our new home, we adopted a cat with Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV), which is the feline equivalent of HIV. Our garden was already home to three neutered stray cats, which we provided with food and shelter. The strays could continue living outside, as our FIV cat needed to be kept indoors.

In April 2025, I came across a news item about an article in The Lancet discussing cuts to foreign aid for HIV/AIDS treatment and research. I was shocked by the projected number of additional deaths in Africa resulting from these cuts. At the same time, I was inspired by an open call from Syldyr to create data art jewellery. Everything came together for me at that moment.

In April 2018, we welcomed our second FIV cat. Since then, we have been administering Interferon to him twice a day. To date, we have used 28 bottles of Interferon. From these bottles, I created a necklace to raise awareness about the impact of cuts to foreign aid. Being unhealthy is fundamentally a misfortune, and when medication is available, it should be accessible to all. The social ramifications of HIV and the deaths resulting from AIDS are so significant that we must not allow this to happen.

More info on this project can be found in my blog post project Syldyr