HIV awareness not taken seriously

there, then the desired effect is missing. What could we attribute the missing link to?
Mr Stanley Chogurei, a farmer in Chegutu is concerned.
He lives on the farm and has noted many disturbing scenes that leave him wondering.
He said the learned and those who have little knowledge both take to the same murky waters with reckless abandon.
“The farming area is one place my sister which you need to visit. Here in Chegutu, we have a mining community nearby and farms surround that place. People are ‘careless’ and this is seen in the way they behave,” he said over the phone.
Mr Chogurei went on to say that even when one lost a partner, it was not something to scare away new lovers, they still flocked as if everything was normal.
He doubted that the people involved used condoms consistently as must be.
“I doubt that they use condoms always, because at times you see the woman pregnant after having lost a husband a year or two,” he said.
He was concerned about a case in which a couple was discordant. The man loves his wife and is prepared to stay put.
The man wonders how this has been, they have a child and would love to have more. He thus was seeking safer sex and at the same time wanted to have another child. By wanting children it meant no protection and was now concerned in case he got infected.
The wife was not pushing for anything, whatever method the husband prefered she was ready to oblige.
In discordant couples, safe sex means proper, constant and effective condom use always.
True, HIV positive partners have a right to have children but the pros and cons must be weighed to avoid infecting the other partner and baby in due process.
The story in these concerned people runs like this.
Wife got ill, admitted in June 2009, had a terrible headache which when tested was said to be meningitis. She took an HIV test and again tested positive.
She was put on ARVs by August of the same year. Husband took an HIV test and came out negative.
He was temporarily relieved, but is always worried now. Can married people practise safe sex always?
The husband is seeking solutions under his circumstances. He loves his wife and will not divorce her for her status.
Rather he is asking what is the way forward? Could anyone assist.
Stigma remains a hindrance to people coming out open with their status.
The husband has discussed his issue with friends and has failed to get a satisfactory answer.
Is disclosure by the affected man the right way to go, or he could have remained silent since no one has been able to help.
Disclosure is something that still evades us as a nation. This can be true, inspite of people treating you as an equal, there comes a time when one’s HIV status rears an unseen head and one is denied what other people can access.
This is true when it comes to accessing loans.
People who have disclosed their status will find it hard even to access a company loan. The company will give the excuse that no loans are being given. The surprising element will be that a week before some one would have accessed a company loan with no much ado.
I therefore come back to ask, can disclosure help if it comes back to deal one a blow in the process.
What people do not know is there is no time-table for death.
I feel when one discloses it means they are not to live a lie. They have set the record straight but the world would rather be silent.
A surprising element, which showed a lack of behaviour change, was exihibited in Chinotimba, in Victoria Falls.
In an interview with the Herald’s health reporter last week ladies of the night in Chinotimba Township in Victoria Falls claimed that married men made up a bigger part of their clients.
One of the sex workers said a majority of the married men paid more than their unmarried counterparts when seeking their services.
This was because they did not want the sex workers to reveal their secret life in public, while for others it was because they wanted the same unprotected sex they are used to at home.
“Most of our customers are married men. They do not want to use protection so they offer to pay more,” said Ms Sibonginkosi Tshabalala (38).
A National Aids Council report in the same area last week noted a decrease in the STIs in the area. They attributed this to behaviour change and condom distribution.
Behaviour change seems not to be constant because the same sex worker who has full awareness still goes on to do the don’ts.
It baffles the mind that a married man with a wife at home understands the dangers of unprotected sex but still indulges without using protection.
It could be that one is in denial or does not care so ends up infecting many more in the sexual network.
Meanwhile, one woman who is living positively has got the setback behind and recently paid a visit to her rural community in an effort to give back to her community, writes Farai Kuvirimirwa who travelled to Mhondoro last week.
Education does not start and end when one enters or leave a classroom. What we do in the societies we live and to those around us can teach those in the darkness.
HIV is a reality that has not been accepted in many societies and many still have the archaic perceptions that whenever one gets sick, he is bewitched or it is a curse that has befallen on him. As Zimbabweans, we should all be involved in curbing the pandemic one way or the other.
In an exemplary case, a week ago one woman came in the open in the very society that was once rocked with mudslinging after she fell sick at a family ceremony in Mhondoro.
Martha Mhangwa grew up in Mhondoro under Chief Nherera and she was educated in the area.
She attended Nyamashesha Primary and Secondary for her studies not knowing one day she can spin the wheels of life.
As Zimbabweans, we always have a regular link with our roots but it is noticeable to see the transition in our lives and respective societies.
She got married and her husband of many years passed away in 2004 and she did nothing else than to mourn the terrible loss.
Four years down the line, as a breadwinner, she decided to unveil a tombstone of a relative in 2008. At the ceremony, she fell ill and to make it worse was in the midst of a society whose belief in sicknesses surround witchcraft and evil spells.
Many pointed fingers among themselves and the rumour mill had it that some elements were jealous of the notable changes the woman had done to her society.
Within a few days the mysterious sickness had mutated and she then had a swollen stomach and she was drastically losing weight. Consultations to medical practitioners were the turning point.
She was tested positive to HIV. She did not accept and she had to live in denial.
With a late husband, where could it have emanated from?
Where is the support going to come from? Many questions torment the mind in such scenarios.
Now she lives a healthy life and working like before as a business consultant.
On medication and in the know, there was a complete turnaround in her livelihood which differ from what it was like at the tombstone unveiling ceremony.
Now she came on a ceremony for all who had a similar burden and had to be taught in a different way.
As a hard worker she garnered support and finance to assist others who had been affected with HIV. She spoke of openness and getting tested when one fell ill.
When one thinks of that, the people who come into one’s mind are teenagers and adults.
“Faith and determination lessened my burden. Apart from that, education did play a role and I was healed the moment I had access to anti-retroviral treatment that I did not know I had to take,” Martha said.
The event had to be a concientisation stride for many in the rural areas.
“People in this area consult traditional healers for remedie and if you advise them to go and get tested, it falls on deaf ears.
“Some still have the belief that there is doom after testing positive yet there is life after HIV. Some think it is a passport to be a beggar yet there is hope for one to live and fend for him/herself,” Martha added.
A snap survey on both schools revealed that 80 percent of students at the two primary schools were affected by HIV/Aids directly.
One woman who refused to be named, highlighted that she lost her four sons in the past ten years and the family pointed fingers at each other and many were said to be harbouring goblins that demand one human life a year.
Sadly she is 85-years-old, she takes care of her grandsons and pays for their school fees which she fails to fulfil sometimes.
However, affluent people who are positive hibernate in their posh houses and at the same time do nothing to their respective roots. For one to be where he or she is, there has to be love and support.
In the case of Martha, she had to give to elderly people who have the burden of buying clothing for their grandchildren and not to mention food.
She gave back to the primary and secondary students. Some of them travel long distances with bare feet and without uniforms.
Forty elderly men and women received blankets including Mrs Ethilda Katsambe (99), Mrs Priscilla Mafa (90) and Mrs Rosemary Makwachure (89).
Two hundred and thirty five pupils at Nyamashesha primary and secondary school were assisted with stationery and uniforms.
“If you feel you deserve to be loved or you grew up in love, you have to love back,” said the good Samaritan.
Martha has show that with acceptance one can live positively. She has gone back to the community she grew up in to dispell the witchcraft myths when ever one fell ill.
May you get understanding in all your endevours.
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