Chronicle Editor
Lumbidzani Dima, Chronicle Reporter
The stigmatisation of HIV/AIDS has dramatically changed for the better and those in Bubi living with HIV have a story to tell.
After testing HIV positive, people in the area are no longer taking it as the end of the world as was the case in the past.
They have formed support groups spread over Bubi district that help them fight and gain acceptance in the community.
Working hand in hand with the National Aids Council, they have managed to advise many people to test and know their status as part of the fight to end AIDS by 2030.
Ms Sipho Ngwenya (55) said she was diagnosed with HIV in 1998, a period when people who were positive were shunned, making her hide her status from her husband for quite some time.
“I was tested at Bekezela Home Based Care at Inyathi in 1998 when most people who tested positive kept it a secret. I was pregnant but I miscarried.
When I tested positive, I did not disclose this to my husband so I got pregnant again in 2001 and gave birth to a baby girl. In 2006 I got sick, was diagnosed with TB at Inyathi District Hospital and they referred me to Mpilo Central Hospital in Bulawayo.
During that time, there was no other way out, I had to tell my husband. I advised him to test and he agreed. In march 2007 I started my ART treatment. In that very year my daughter also got sick, was tested and they discovered that she was born HIV positive,” she said.
Ms Ngwenya said she feared telling her daughter about her status but when she finally did she was surprised that her daughter readily accepted her status.
” I told my daughter that she was born HIV positive and she readily accepted her status. She immediately started attending HIV programmes for children,” said Mrs Ngwenya. She said at the time she started taking ARVs people would call them names but this has changed now.
“There was a time when no one wanted to share spoons, cups and plates with us. We were so discriminated against but now society has accepted us despite our status. Now I know that disclosing one’s status gives peace of mind,” said Ms Ngwenya.
Mrs Locadia Mzizi (58) said her ailing husband advised that they get tested together. “My husband worked in Botswana and he would come and visit telling me how nice Botswana yellow bone girls were and all those kinds of comments.
Then in 2006 he came and told me to accompany him so we could both be tested for HIV. We went to Siganda Clinic together where there are New Start Centre teams who tested us.
We both tested positive and at that moment I felt like the world was coming to an end. My huband urged me to be strong saying we were going to defeat the virus because we now knew our status,” said Mrs Mzizi.b She said despite the words of encouragement, stress made her sick,
“I was always on my period until my womb was removed. I blamed my husband for bringing the virus home but but my counsellor told me not to point fingers because I also had sexual partners before meeting my husband,” she said.
Mrs Mzizi said in the past the community used to discriminate against her and said she will never forget the difficult period.
She said the community has since changed and attributed this to HIV outreach programmes.
“People were reluctant to interact with me even at the community borehole and would clean thoroughly whatever I touched.
Members of the Home Based Care programme had to fetch water for me for days after realising the people’s attitude towards me. At meetings they would not want to sit next to me or even hear my views,” said Mrs Mzizi.
She said between 2007 and 2008 when the country was facing economic challenges, different organisations started bringing her food and other groceries at home telling her to display it where people would see so that she could get friends.
“I then formed a group of more than 20 people who were willing to test and learn about HIV/AIDS. We moved around the community forming support groups and disclosing our status,” said Mrs Mzizi.
Mrs Phasika Moyo (55), a mother of seven and 18 grandchildren, who is one of the founders of the community support groups, said she tested positive for HIV in 2010 but her husband tested positive in 2005.
“My husband was very sick in 2004 and was in and out of hospital. In 2005 a team from New Start came to Siganda Clinic and we went there to be tested.
He tested positive and I tested negative. Following the good counselling, we accepted our situation and started using protection. In 2010 I then tested positive and they explained that maybe the viral load was lying low that is why they could not detect it at first,” said Mrs Moyo.
She said they created support groups before she even tested positive. Mrs Moyo said they used to move around identifying sick people and taking them for testing which was very challenging as some people were reluctant to be tested.
Mrs Moyo urged couples to get tested for HIV so that they know their status.
Online Reporter