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Amanda Esterhuizen

The thought of HIV/AIDS brings with it feelings of fear and images of sickness and isolation. It’s a disease that always belongs to someone else. Or so I thought, until that life-changing phone call, one cold winter’s morning in July 2000. I was alone at work and the voice on the other end of the line was the ex-wife of a former boyfriend of mine. She was solemn, her question urgent: “Have yourself tested for HIV” My world was thrown into disarray. I could only listen as she told me that her ex had died of an AIDS related illness, and that she wanted me to know, because she thought I needed to go for the test. I was distraught and disillusioned: “How could he have done this to me?” Then I clearly remembered that she had warned me once before, but I had ignored her words because I thought that she ...

My Name is Ana Anile Nosiphiwo Mdoda. I am 32 yrs old. I was born in Cape Town in the multiracial community of Cape Town "Cape Flats" in a Town ship called Welgamoed near Bellville. We were then moved to Modderdam before being moved again to Crossroads because of the Group Areas Act. I had a chance of growing up in both Transkei and Western Cape. I'm from a very close, neat family of hard workers. I'm a proud mom, grandmom, sister, daughter and friend. It is always a pleasure for me to tell my story. Currently I am working for the Organization called Yabonga as a HIV Programmes Co-ordinator. I love my Job because I'm serving directly my people, I mean my people from the dissadvantaged communities - where exactly I'm coming from. Sometime in the year 2000 I became weak ...

My partner’s act of courage helped me to confront my fears and take the test, writes Andile Gidana. It is such a breeze for me to disclose now because I know that HIV is manageable, and that there is life after HIV. I never thought that I could live with it. It was in 2003 that I met my current partner, Derrick Fine. I met him through Exit, the gay newspaper. It was love at first sight. I was swept away by his looks, his voice and his warmth. We started dating from that day and I was always looking forward to seeing him. The last time I went for an HIV test was in 1996, and I was negative. I never bothered to go again. I just assumed that it would never happen to me. Although I had an inner voice telling me to go and have myself tested, I just ignored it because ...

Finding out I was HIV positive wasn't easy. But, as time has passed, I have slowly come to terms with my HIV-positive status and try to tackle it with a positive attitude. In mid-2007 I became quite ill. I developed persistent flu-like symptoms, headaches, a nagging cough and sores that wouldn’t heal. My skin felt as if it was crawling, my legs ached, I felt nauseous and lost weight. Then exhaustion hit. It was an indescribable tiredness and no matter how much I slept I never felt rested. In 2008 I was hospitalised when my CD4 count nosedived to 86 (HIV-negative people have a CD4 count of between 700 and 1,000; a CD4 count of below 200 is considered dangerously low). It was a terrible time. I have a vivid memory of sitting in a wheelchair covered with a blanket and catching a glimpse of myself in the mirror. I looked and ...

Finding out your HIV status can be a life-altering moment, especially when you are young and have much to look forward to. But being HIV positive need not be a death sentence. You can make your status work for you in a positive way, and help better the lives many South Africans in the same situation. Someone who has done this is 29-year-old Bonginkosi Mthembu-Moloi. He is HIV positive, and now works as a treatment literacy co-ordinator for the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), Ekurhuleni District (Gauteng). Bonginkosi, originally from Duduza, in Nigel, found out that he was HIV positive while he was working at a local clinic as a counsellor. He felt that, since part of his job entailed informing people about their HIV status, it was only right that he know his own. He tested in 2002 and the test result came back positive. But that wasn’t the only reason he decided ...

Well, when I found out that I was HIV positive I literally heard white noise roaring in my ears. I was alone, in a psychiatric ward and had absolutely no one to speak to. How did I get here? My name is Brad Whittingham. I am 24 years old. I am a recovering drug addict and I am living with HIV. By the end of 2010 my life had turned into a spiralling ball of pain and destruction: I was battling drug addiction and my will to carry on living was fading fast. In January 2011 I decided to commit suicide. My chosen method: a drug overdose. Despite my best efforts to kill myself, my body fought fiercely for life. But I was in bad shape. At 6 feet tall, I weighed in at a meagre 62kgs and life was slowly seeping out through my veins. 12 years of drug abuse had taken ...

I am your average, Capetonian through and through. I dreamed as an eager young 27 year old, back in 1999, of being one of the first South Africans to win an Oscar. Caught in the glamour of the television industry, a young star in the making, so I thought. The world was my oyster. I was involved in my first ever relationship, in love, and monogamous. I was your average South African in many ways, believing, pretty much like everyone else, that it wouldn't happen to me. AIDS only happened to other people - despite living in the most infected country in the world, and not knowing my own status or that of my partner. Never did I think I would become a statistic. I thought I had malaria, having just returned from a film shoot in the Kruger ...

I am a 37 year old mother of two boys. I became involved with HIV and AIDS advocacy after losing my child to AIDS in 2000. In May 1999 my newly born baby was desperately ill with several diseases and I agreed that the baby be tested for HIV. The test was positive and I had to face the terrible reality that I infected my baby. My partner also tested HIV positive. My baby died 9 months later and the baby’s father committed suicide 8 months after my baby’s death. I had to deal with the guilt of infecting my baby, the sorrow of my great loss, the fear of having been given the “death sentence” as well as the fact that I was a single mother to a then 7-year-old son (not HIV positive) who needed me more than ever. During this time I discovered my purpose in life – ...

Cathrine Khumalo Phiri Nothando Positive Heroes

I am a 50-year old, married woman who is living with HIV. Two of my children are also living with the virus. I was tested for HIV in 2000 – and the test came back positive. I was shocked and at first I did not tell anyone: because all I could see was death in my eyes. When I started to take ARVs my CD4 count was at zero and I weighed 26kg, I was so sick. I thought my time would come soon – but I was wrong … Slowly I started to get better and now, 10-years later I am so happy to be alive and healthy. The issue of disclosing my status was the greatest challenge to me in the early days . The worst part of it, was the my neighbors stigmatized whoever they thought was HIV-positive by labeling them as a prostitute . I just could not ...

The great question we all ask ourselves at some point is: “Why am I here? What is my life’s purpose?”. I know that question well. In August 2010 – I spent a lot of time trying to figure out the answer … It has been 10 years since I was diagnosed as HIV positive. A decade during which I had tried to understand what that meant, trying to fight going on ARVs, scared to make a lifetime’s commitment to the medication. 10 long years of drugs use and abuse. A whole decade spent hanging out with my good friend “denial”. And there I was, August 2010, with a CD4 count of 29, 18 kgs lost (now I know why they call this disease “Slim”). I was so sick, I thought I was going to die. I couldn’t walk from the bedroom to the kitchen without wanting to pass out from exhaustion. ...

I was diagnosed HIV-positive in August 1987. As a Theology student I had to change hospitals, and at the new hospital they included an HIV test in the routine blood. The doctor simply told me that I was HIV-positive. It was a tremendous shock because I didn’t even know I was being tested for HIV. At that time very little was known about HIV in South Africa. However, the doctors concluded that I must have been infected by the blood clotting products that I was being injected with regularly because I’m a haemophiliac. When I was diagnosed HIV-positive, I decided that, since I was probably going to live for only a short time and couldn’t have children, I should end my relationship. When I told Liesel that she should be with someone who could offer her a better future, and with whom ...

"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty." - Sir Winston Churchill AIDS entered my world on the 10th March 1983: The first person I knew with this disease - Michael Shortell - died on that day while the medical staff at the hospital frantically operated on him. In order to get him the experimental treatment from the NIH for what they believed to be PCP pneumonia, a confirmed biopsy was required. My friend died in the operating theatre. Little did I know that at moment of his death, my life would change forever. Up until that moment, I was all of 21 years old, a fluffy disco bunny and having the time of my life. Nobody knew we were in was the twilight of the sexual revolution and we were living ...

There I was. On top of the world, well almost, 1999, on the top of a ladder picking bananas when I got that call telling me on the phone that I had tested HIV positive. I wasn’t surprised about the result, but didn’t expect to be told on the phone. I had unwisely delayed testing, driven at last to the inevitable by hearing that my then-partner was HIV positive. Down from that ladder and back to earth with a bump. It took a while to sink in. I was one of the more aware ones. I had been involved in HIV work for about 5 years already. Yet it still happened to me. And so began my slow journey of disclosing. It took me a year to begin sharing with close friends and another year to begin telling my family. What started as a small ripple became a flow of giving and ...

Accomplished marathon runner and mountaineer Evelina Tshabalala isn't a "give-up" kind of woman. She's a fighter and a winner. "Even though I'm HIV-positive, I'm stronger than normal people," she points out. "I do things that most normal people can't do." Like summiting the world's highest mountains including Mount Kilimanjaro, Mount Elbrus in Russia and Mount Aconcagua in Argentina, the highest peak on Earth outside of the Himalayas. This remarkable woman is a shining example of a truly inspirational positive hero. In her own words: "I'm a role-model because I'm proof that life is not finished when you have HIV. I want to be an example for people in South Africa”. Evelina Tshabalala rocked her physician’s perceptions during her first visit to the Positive Lives HIV Wellness Centre. Unlike many of her peers she was not dying of her HIV disease, she was about ...

Faghmeda Miller is the first and only Muslim woman in South Africa to have disclosed her HIV status. She speaks to us about how she live with it. It all started when I became infected with the AIDS virus in 1994 while happily married to my Malawian husband and living in Malawi. It was discovered only after his death that I too, like him, was infected. The first thing that went through my mind when they told me I’m positive was the shame I had brought on my family. I, therefore decided to keep this information to myself, after all it wouldn’t be long till I die. Death, however, was not happening. I realised something was very wrong, no one told me that there is a difference between being HIV positive and having AIDS. I went back to the hospital looking for ...

My name is Funeka Menze. I am 30 years old and have lived in Mandleni, Nyandeni municipality with my family for my entire life. I am the second daughter in a family of eight girls. My father was a mine worker until 1982. When he lost his job, my family faced great financial difficulties and we were forced to sell our livestock to keep my sisters and I in school. My family has also suffered greatly because of illness. I have lost two sisters, those who were closest in age to me, the younger in 1999 and the eldest in 2003. In 2003, after I knew that my older sister had died of AIDS, I went to be tested for HIV. My test came back positive. I was shattered and overwhelmed. I was afraid that if anyone found out, they would throw me out of the community. For the next two years, I ...

In the mid 1980's: I applied for homeowner’s insurance for my brand-new home. The process included having my blood drawn and a general medical to see how healthy I was. I had been feeling poorly for the past couple of weeks … my muscles and bones were sore and my rib cage was inflamed … making it hard to move around and breathe. Pretty soon I wasn’t able to walk. A month later I was denied the insurance and my body kept getting sicker. I didn’t know what was going on, but was too afraid to tell anyone how sick really was. I was the independent type, and thought I could do it all for myself. I learned the hard way we all need friends and family in our support system. My doctor kept trying to figure out what was wrong with me. Eventually, as the new HIV test arrived and ...

My name is Johanna Ncala born in Katlehong in Gauteng, I am a mother of two: one in university and toddler of three. My boyfriend stays in Mozambique but intend to move together soon. I have sister who also is living with HIV and parents who are my pillar and strength. Because I was working in the laboratory as medical technologist I tested my self in 1993 when I could really see that I have signs and symptoms of person with HIV. The test came back positive and I kept it a secret until I got sick in 1999 with TB of the Lymph nodes which doctors struggled diagnose until my mom insisted that the remove the swollen lymph in my armpits that was when they discovered the TB and I was given TB treatment. I had a CD4 count ...

Kenneth Methula, who is 39 years old, lives in Durban, and is proud to be a Positive Hero. He first found out about Positive Heroes when he read about the organisation in Move! Magazine, which he picked up at the clinic he was attending. He immediately knew that he could have the power to be a positive role model, as he has experienced the stigma that surrounds HIV first hand, and knows how damaging it can be. Kenneth first found out that he was HIV positive in 2007, when he fell sick. He was taken to hospital with a rash, TB, and was also suffering from excruciating stomach pains. One of the things that he was tested for was HIV, but when he found out, he felt that he was in good hands at the hospital, even though his life was in danger. He started taking ARVs, and slowly his health ...

"I am what I am, stronger than ever" I am a young lady living with HIV. I was diagnosed with HIV on the 30th of May, 2004. I do enjoy life as a young person. I didn't expect this because I was not sick when I went for Voluntary Councelling and testing. The reason why I did the test was that I was having a problem of Sexual Transmitted Infection. I joined TAC as a volunteer I get one week training and information on HIV/AIDS. I went to the clinic to check my CD4 count. I did get the results that my CD4 count was 118 in 2004. I told the Counsellor, I'm not ready to start ARV's yet. The Counsellor told me about the risk of not taking ARV's when you are having a low CD4 count. I decided to take the ARV's ...

I am Lindelwa Portia Mkizwana. I am the director and initiator of Siyakhula Home Community Based Care (HCBC). Myself and ten other women began the organization in 2006, hoping to transform our community’s attitudes, understandings and well-being through home-based healthcare for HIV/AIDS patients and peer education for the families involved. TransCape Non-Profit organization partners with us through funding and skills exchange. I grew up in East London, a small city on the south-east coast of South Africa. There, I completed grade school, met and married my husband and had a job at a local grocery store for seven years. Then, in 2004, I decided to make a change: I moved to South Africa’s largest city, Johannesburg, to train as a nurse. While at college, I began to learn about HIV/AIDS and noticed some of the symptoms in myself. I became very worried and had an HIV test with the Treatment Action Campaign ...

Before I had even finished school, I met a wonderful man. He was everything I had every dreamed of having in my life. He was educated, caring and handsome. I matriculated and we started to plan our future. Then, in 1994 during my first year of tertiary education, I fell pregnant and after nine healthy months, gave birth to cute baby boy. We were the happiest young parents in the world and then everything went wrong. After a few weeks my baby started to get sick and was eventually admitted in hospital. He ended up spending two weeks there. Every time I would go in to feed him, I would see the nurses whispering about me. But they never said anything to my face. I couldn’t understand it. My little boy was not getting any better – but still they discharged him. And they gave me a note to give any doctor ...

They say life is a journey and it is never complete until you reach your destination, and no matter how it twists and turns: you past lead to your future. And this is my journey. I am Luckyboy Mkhondwane, I was born on the 28th of January 1976 in a small township called Duduza in the east of Johannesburg. I am the oldest of three children and live with my mother, brother, sister and nephew. From an early age I was fascinated with books and reading played great part of my childhood that I only had a few friends as most of my time was spent indoors with my nose stuck in a book, reading is like breathing to me. I also love music, writing (hopefully my journals will become a published book one day), surfing the net, leaning new languages, shopping and going out with friends. I work for Treatment ...

The first time I met Masibulele Gcabo was in an HIV support group meeting. He was wearing a Comrades marathon jacket (for those of you that don’t know the Comrades is a 90km marathon from Durban to Pietermaritzburg). Presumptuously, I thought at first that he had been given it by a friend, I did not think it was possible that a man taking ARVS could run the Comrades. However I soon found out that he had indeed run that marathon in 9 hours 20 minutes, and 10 others in the space of 7 years. I am not going to tell you one story about Masibulele, I am going to tell you three or four. But you will see how they are interlinked. Masibulele started running in 2001, in order to save himself the transport money to work each day. He was making ...

Not everyone is happy to disclose their HIV/aids status, but it’s all about taking responsibility for your life. Unfortunately, we live in a society where people have unprotected sex or share needles. Both of these actions can open a person to HIV infection. If you’re HIV positive, it’s always best to tell your partner your status. It’s their choice to decide what they want to do with that information. Maureen Nyanto (32) did so, and opening up about her status opened many opportunities for her. She didn’t have to live a life of lies and now finds joy in helping other people who are HIV positive. Maureen hails from Zeerust, a poor rural community where people are still not educated about the dangers of HIV/Aids. Maureen talks proudly about being a counsellor at the Department of Health and how her contribution makes a difference in people’s lives. “I’ve been a counsellor for ...

Mr Sibanda Nothando Positive Heroes Support group

I am 53-year old man who tested HIV positive in 2001. I learned about my status after a long period of illness. While I was sick, I was so desperate that I took any treatment that was offered to me. I went to different traditional healers and was given different treatments by them all, but nothing changed. I didn’t get any better. I realized that I needed to do something immediately and so I decided to go to Mkoba 1 Clinic for an HIV test. And the test came positive. It has been 11 years since then and I live my life positively every day. I am now taking ARVs and I feel fit and well. My advice to everyone in the world is: go and get tested early - don’t delay. It will save your life. Mr Sibanda is from Gweru Zimbabwe and is a member of the Nothando Positive Heroes Support Group ...

My name is Mziwethu Faku - my birth pace is Catheart (EC) - I have an 8 year old daughter who does not have HIV - she is doing grade 3 in Catheart RC School (Coloured School) - I'm Xhosa speaking person. I enjoy food, reading and interacting with other people - more I like my work. I am the District Chairperson of TAC in Chris Hani District (Queenstown) - I started in the TAC in 2003 as a volunteer. In 2004 I joined the Treatment Literacy Programme as a TAC trainer. From 2005 to date I am employed as a District Organiser, which have now been changed to Chairpersons. I learnt about my HIV status in 2001 when I went for an HIV test. When I found out that I had this virus, it was not easy : it was very ...

My name is Nokubonga Yawa. I live in Khayelitsha with my mom, my two brothers and my daughter. I was born in Umtata, but moved to Cape Town when I was a baby. My mom is an unemployed single parent and couldn’t afford to send us to school, so somebody from our church looked after me and paid for my education. I come from a family of five. When I was young, I watched my mother struggle to make ends meet. She worked hard to make sure that we didn’t go to bed on empty stomachs. As I grew older, I knew that I had to help my mother support my siblings. Like any other teenager, I also wanted beautiful clothes and cosmetics. When I was 15, I met a 28-year-old man and we became friends. I saw that he was financially stable and supportive, and I fell in love with him. ...

“I have always believed that I was born for a purpose. That God wanted me to to fulfil His great commission. God knew me before I was formed in my mother's womb. I am not here by chance. He gave me all I need to survive in this earth. He inspired my dreams. But life happened and I grew up! I went through trials and tribulations I went astray. I did as I pleased. When I got infected with HIV. I thought my life was over and I was going to die immediately. A year passed, then two and then three and now 2102 marks my 12th year of living with HIV! God never left nor gave up on me. He made sure I learned that this virus is just a tenant in my body. In 2001 had a nose bleed while writing exams, it was in winter and Queenstown is very ...

Nomafu Booi, 39, an HIV counsellor at Medecins Sans Frontieres in the Western Cape has been living with HIV for ten years and believes that she will live to see PLHIV supported, recognised and involved in day to day activities affecting any citizen of South Africa. Nomafu is involved in a soccer league called Halftime! This league is made up of male and female teams from South Africa, Swaziland, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. The tournament aims to bring together people living with HIV (PLHIV), and to raise awareness about the situation of that people living with HIV face. She sees the universally popular sport of soccer as a way of bringing people together, but that South Africa’s FIFA World Cup was a missed opportunity by the Government to raise awareness of issues around HIV. Nomafu says, “We have realised how FIFA World Cup excluded PLHIV. There was no mention of what the people ...

Nomasomi Limako, who lives in Gaugteng, has overcome more challenges than most in her 40 years. She has a disability, caused by polio. She says, “Growing up with a disability is a challenge because you experience many difficulties in life and you do not grow up. People will always treat you like a child.” In 2000, Nomasomi learned that she was pregnant, which she describes as a ‘gift from God’. However, the impact of her pregnancy was that her boyfriend left her. “When I was pregnant my boyfriend broke up with me. He was ashamed of me because I have a disability, which is why he never introduced me to his family. He ran away, so I am a single parent.” Nomasomi also discovered the stigma of being pregnant as a person with a disability. Health workers at the clinic questioned how she could be pregnant. “The nurses told me that a ...

NO LIMITATIONS FOR STANDARD BANK’S POSITIVE HERO – NOMSA MPEHLE None of us need be alone if we test HIV-positive. Millions of people throughout the world are living positively with HIV/AIDS and Nomsa Mpehle, a Standard Bank employee and company Wellness Champion is one of these inspiring individuals. Nomsa grew up in Soweto, she comes from a family of six girls and two boys and has a beautiful 5yr old daughter called Nomonde. HIV/AIDS became a very real part of her life when her younger brother, Patrick Mncedisi Mpehle was diagnosed with the disease in 2005. He shared his status with her and she supported him and counseled him right until the very end. Nomsa later discovered that she herself was HIV positive. After receiving counseling regarding her HIV status and commencing with specialised HIV treatment, Nomsa decided to go public with her status ...

32 yrs diag 2001 I am Noncedo Ruth Gulwa. I am thirty two year old, mother of a seven year old baby boy who is in grade one. His father passed away in a car accident. Then in 2001 I was diagnosed HIV positive. I got tested cause I had TB and was very very sick. I couldn't tell my parents cause 1) I got pregnant and the child does not have a father and 2) Now I'm positive 3) I just dropped out of school. I told them that I have TB. But the thing that I'm positive haunted me. As time went by I got more and more sick now I had to tell my mother and my mother told my father and my siblings. They were shocked but hid it from me. One day I got more sick and my brother ...

NYARAI MUSANGANO Nothando Positive Heroes

My story is a simple one: I am a 37-year old widow who is living positive with HIV. After the death of my husband in 2007, I felt it was necessary to go and get tested. My husband had died of cancer – but I believed that his cancer was caused by HIV. I went for the test together with my three children. When he results came back me, and one of my little ones, had tested positive. Now that I knew, I was not afraid to disclose my status to my relatives and friends. My advice to everyone in the world is that we should go for HIV testing. And, if the results are positive we must take our offspring to be tested as well. This will save their lives. Recently I have joined Positive Heroes Support Group facilitated by AALTZ together with my three children. And we are living happily as a ...

Nothing describes courage quite like accepting your HIV status. However, it becomes even more difficult when you have to disclose your status to your loved ones. The fear of not knowing what their reaction is going to be makes it more difficult. Fortunately for 33-year-old Pholokgolo Ramothwala, the decision to disclose his status to his 13-year-old son was the best thing he could have ever done for both of them. Pholokgolo didn’t know what to expect when he told his son that he was HIV positive. He expected the worst, but was surprised by his son’s reaction. His son didn’t believe him at first. He decided to go and ask his HIV-negative mother whether it was true. His mother confirmed it. “I was very open about it. I didn’t want him to hear it from other people because they would distort the truth. I sat him down and asked him questions about ...

Self-awareness really only begins when you can say that you have endured the best and the worse that life can throw at you. At the age of 20, I became a born-again Christian. I believed, naively, that in addition to forgiving my sins, giving my life over to God meant that nothing bad would ever happen to me again. I guess that was a lesson I needed to learn the hard way and life, as it turned out, dealt me a few more blows. I lost my faith for a few years and fell back into bad habits. Moving to Cape Town in 1997 gave me the opportunity for a fresh start and, along with a new job, new friends and a new environment, I was able to take stock of my situation and, with the help of my brother, I renewed my commitment to God and a better way of ...

I am originally from Zimbabwe and was born on the 24th of November 1976. I tested positive on the 6th of June 2002. Me going for the test was like a joke as I was so confident I was negative because I had been with the same guy for a while after my son's dad left me. In the counselling session I was like the counsellor, I knew all the answers. Only for the results to come back "Positive". I was shattered, scared, confused, weak and wished I could just die there and then. I cried till I couldn't cry anymore. The first person I told was my driver but he was so supportive and actually hugged me and told me all will be fine. I should think positive, eat well, think of my son and pray. I then told my mum who took it badly and also broke down but ...

Betrayal is not a good thing, especially for people who are married and trust their partners to be honest with them. Unfortunately, we live in a society that is not open-minded and that’s why it’s hard for people to disclose their HIV/Aids statuses. Siphiwe Ngamone (32), who works at Emalahleni FM as an HIV activist, was betrayed by her late husband as he didn’t disclose his status to her. She only found out the day he passed away that he was HIV positive. There was nothing she could do because it was already too late. Born and raised in Witbank, Siphiwe’s life took a huge turn when her husband passed away in 2004. “It was all so sudden because he was not sick,” she explains, “but the biggest shock was discovering that he was HIV positive.” Siphiwe says that her husband had gone for an HIV/Aids test and found out that he was positive. ...

I first became sick in May 2007 and my family suggested that I should go and get tested. At the time I was married, but in 2001 my husband married another wife and left our home, but he used to come back home with food to support the family. My relatives wanted to go with me to the doctor, but I refused: telling them that I want to get tested first on my own. I was taken to Mkoba 1 clinic and tested – the test showed that I was positive and that my CD4 count was 68. I was not afraid to disclose my status to everyone and I immediately told my husband’s sister and my brother’s daughter. They were shocked since they never expected that I could be HIV positive. I told everyone, including my children: who confessed that they were afraid to tell me that I should go and ...

I first became ill in 2007 when I was living with my husband in Kwekwe. I thought I was suffering from a heart problem, and the doctors gave me some pills. But they didn’t work – in fact they made me feel worse. I decided to call my parents and asked them to take me to a clinic. Tests and X-Rays that were done that day showed that I was suffering from T.B – so I had been taking the wrong medication. While we were at the clinic – my mother and sister insisted that I should go for HIV testing - and I tested positive. The doctor gave me medication to treat the T.B and I went home, back to my husband. I didn’t disclose my status to him – and after a while I stopped taking my TB tablets, thinking that I was cured. A few weeks later, I got sick ...

In February 2005, Tebogo Mobanga (39) from Mafikeng in the North West took a brave step and made an appointment with Dr Mpho Bakane to have her HIV status checked. While she hoped for the best result, Tebogo’s worst nightmare became a reality – she was, indeed, HIV positive. “I was always very health conscious. But, at the same time, I also know that men will always be men and there’s no way of guaranteeing that whoever I dated was faithful to me,” explains Tebogo. “And so I decided that I needed to know what my HIV status was, before it was too late. I made an appointment and I met my doctor. Like a scene in a movie, I walked into his rooms with confidence and braveness, while silently convincing myself that I was not HIV positive. Tests were conducted and, in no time, the truth was told. Yes, I ...

I AM HIV POSITIVE AND LIVING WITH IT! When I tell people about my HIV status, it’s never to elicit sympathy, but to educate. You see, I strongly believe that knowledge is power and the more we know about the disease the less scary it is and more importantly, less people have to die. When I first discovered my status more than seven years ago, I was totally devastated; the shame of having to tell my family was more than anybody should have to deal with. I had been in a relationship for over two years and never for a moment thought that it would end this way, unfortunately we can only be accountable for our own behaviour and not that of the people around us. The person who infected me denied it emphatically and refused to have blood tests ...

My name is Thembelihle Dlamini-Ngcoya, shortened to "Lihle". I was born and raised in a small community of Lamontville on 24 November 1974. I was my mother's only child, but have 5 siblings from my father's side. I am the eldest in my family. My home language is Zulu, but can also speak, read and write, English and Xhosa. I discovered my HIV positive status in April 2002, when I was sick and diagnosed with extra-pulmonary TB. I then decided to have an HIV test and discovered that I am HIV positive. I then started TB treatment and joined a support group in McCords hospital. I then joined TAC late 2002, started a support group and a TAC branch in my community. Since then, I have been able to help many people in my community, who have been encouraged to go for VCT, tested positive and started ARV treatment. I also ...

On the face of it – I am a regular South African Guy, but the way my story turned out is anything but regular. My name is Trevor Kleinhans. I was born in 1962, and I had made a success of my life. In 2003 I was 41 years old and the Managing Director of a large listed Warehousing & Distribution Company. I was successful and happy and I thought I had conquered life. Then suddenly my life started going down hill at one hell of a pace. I had recently formed a business partnership, and needed to go for blood tests for a large life insurance policy. One of those was an HIV test. And that test came back positive. I went straight into denial. Followed closely by drug addiction. Looking back on it now – I realize that part of my reaction was because of my past: a childhood dominated ...

“I am because we are and this why I am who are I am” I’m a young women living with HIV, I came to the knowledge of my status in April 2001. I was young and enjoying life like any other young person not expecting this news. I consider my self lucky in way because I tested while I was still healthy not sick at all but was just curious to know, but also consider my self unfortunate. It was unfortunate that this happened at the time when treatment was dream for a poor Philippic girl because I rely on my small nutrition booklet as my guide to Positive living except only in Khayelitsha ARV's were starting to be available. I then decided I’m going to start an new life. A life of internal isolation, guilt and some denial. My mother and ...

Willie Engelbrecht, born in 1964, is a police janitor who lives and works in the Boland, the area around Robertson in the Western Cape. Willie joined the police as a labourer at the Pinelands garage in 1989. After working at several other police stations, he is now permanently stationed at Robertson SAPS. Willie has been living with HIV since 1998. He says, “I spent a long long time lying in hospital. And, as I lay there – I realised no-one had time for me. But I hoped. I hoped there was just one person. One person that would come and support me. That’s what I hoped.” Willie says, "To be a Positive Hero I needed to look at my life. If I really scratched into my life I had to see how long I had been sick for. Now I am healthy – I work hard in my community, there in Robertson. I am open ...

I fell sick in May 2004, while I was a second year student in CPUT. I had TB, pneumonia, thrush and sores. I finally found the courage to test after being sick for months and the results were what I knew but didn’t want to face. By then my CD4 count was 15 and I weighed 35kgs. People talked, gossiped, judged and some thought my family was under a curse because both my sisters died due to AIDS-related illnesses. In January 2005, I started taking the ARV treatment. I came back to continue with my studies and later joined the HIV/AIDS support group on campus. After a year my CD4 count was 854 and my weight was 62kgs. I join the HIV/AIDS Peer Educators Programme and began living openly and positively with my HIV status. I then developed lactic acidosis and lipodystrophy, which are both side effects, caused by ARVs and ...

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