“I can also reach places that I yearn to go to” – A story about being HIV positive
- By Sylvia from Uganda
- 2 avr. 2015
- 3 min de lecture
Sylvia is a 21 years old vibrant young women living in Kampala, Uganda. She’s a receptionist at the National Forum for People Living with HIV/AIDS (http://www.nafophanu.org) and also an HIV activist and a singer. No less!
Sylvia discovered she was HIV positive when she was 13 years old after she started hearing rumors about the cause of her mother’s death. She went by herself to get tested and did not tell her friends or family that she was HIV positive. She told her father that she was asthmatic to explain why she had to get drugs and go to the hospital. “I kept it as my secret” she said.
When she got the results from the test, she first felt really bad and cried. It was undoubtedly a lot to take for a teenage girl. But Sylvia is a strong person. Later on she decided not to let the disease take over her life, opened up about her status and became a HIV activist: “I consoled myself when I discovered I wasn’t alone in this situation”.
Disclosure is not an easy process. When she refused to publicly disclose her status to the rest of the students at her school, she got dismissed from it. Even family ties can be damaged by the disease. Sylvia told us her father kicked her out of their home once he did not want to pay for her hospital bills and treatment anymore. She recalls: “When he knew I was HIV positive he did not see any value in me since I was born with the virus”. Because of her status, many people –including her family- rejected Sylvia. She felt like she had no family anymore. But today Sylvia has hope again as she’s about to start her own family.
Indeed, Sylvia is pregnant of her first child. “Soon I am going to give birth. I am going to be a hero. I believe in God and that I am going to give birth to a HIV free baby.” She remembers the day she knew she was pregnant as one of the best time of her life: “When I was told by the doctor that I am pregnant, at first I felt scared but then I thought it was a gift from God and that he has given me a reason to believe in myself. Like anybody else, I can also reach places that I yearn to go to”. “I can be an important person to at least one person in life” she added.
The key is not to lose hope or self-esteem. By becoming a HIV activist, Sylvia found a new meaning to her life, “I can move on in life because I realized that I’ve been called to help many children, young people and adults from getting infected by the virus.” And she also doesn’t frequently face stigma anymore, she said that “most people know my status, some appreciate me for what I do and some others may not like it for their own reasons like self-denial, but only a few of them tell me what I do isn’t good or try to discourage me to do it.”
Sylvia started a campaign called BE A HERO to teach people about the treatment of HIV positive people and to fight the stigma and discrimination in religious places, education centers and communities. She also uses music to raise awareness about PMTCT (Prevention of Mother-To-Children Transmission) so that other HIV positive people can have HIV free babies.
In conclusion, we asked Sylvia what she wanted to say to newly infected people who may read this article, and this is what she said:
“Newly infected people should stand strong and know that they are not alone. We are many HIV positive people although only a very few are open about their status. In Genesis 1:26, God says ‘Let us create man in Our Image’, it means that if I was created in His Image, than the real me is positive, and so is my body”.
