Hope, age 62 | Francistown, Botswana
I was working with a family, and somebody had some kind of blisters that week. I was in Australia then. I was away from home, …
Africa
Nomampondo, age 52 | Johannesburg, South Africa
At least be there for the mothers! I always tell my daughter that she saw me struggling in front of her, bringing them up as a single parent. …
Phumzile, age 52 | Johannesburg, South Africa
We need to remember that HIV is a justice issue. If we don’t deal with the structural injustices, people will continue being vulnerable to HIV …
Sebastian, age 65 | Harare, Zimbabwe
I remember it was about 15 years ago. I was constantly sick and I didn’t know what was wrong with me. When I was hospitalized for the last time, …
Rick, age 60 | Pretoria, South Africa
Originally I was from Scotland. I’ve been in South Africa now for 36 years. I think I befriended my little virus in South Africa – that’s 30 years ago. …
Proscovia, age 55 | Tororo, Uganda
For a long time, I have been working with the media. I have been writing my stories, and that’s how I’ve been getting support. …
JP, age 52 | Namibia and Vattholma, Sweden
My partner at the time was having problems with his eyes. I had been speaking to him for some time about getting tested together. I said …
Tendayi, age 50 | Harare, Zimbabwe
I was a model, I ran the largest modeling agency in Zimbabwe. And I looked the part. Coming from high society, it was rare to find people …
Betti, age 51 | Abidjan, Ivory Coast
I discovered my status after I gave birth, in 1997. I was sick and I went to see a doctor at the hospital. I asked for a checkup and they told me …
Luwiza, age 51 | Lusaka, Zambia
Despite the health personnel saying that, “You isolate her,” my sister was there for me. My mother was there. Would sleep in the same room. My sister would be next to me …
Stephen, age 59 | Kampala, Uganda
When I started working in 1984 as a doctor, I saw so many people whom I now know had AIDS, but we were never trained – it was not there …
Naisiadet, age 52 | Nairobi, Kenya
I decided to go back to school after I got fired from Barclay’s Bank because of my status. I was diagnosed in January 1988. My daughter was breast feeding at the time. I just …
Rev. Gideon, age 53 | Kampala, Uganda
So the first question was: Are you going to keep quiet or are you going to tell someone? It took 20 minutes for me to disclose. When I was in the …
Jennifer, age 54 | Windhoek, Namibia & Zimbabwe
We women, we were really the leaders. Because we were the ones who were being blamed. But then it came to a situation where we said, …
Dorothy, age 55 | Nairobi, Kenya
I found out about my HIV status 20 years ago, that was in 1990, I think. And, how I found out is when I had a cough, a persistent cough that didn’t go off. I was given medication for a …
Davies, age 54 | Nairobi, Kenya
’m open about my status, so I do not care who I talk to when I am down. But I hardly go down because I rarely remember about HIV. It’s because I’ve internalized HIV in me, just the …