Stop the Cycle of HIV: Support Women and Children!

Joy (not real name) is a 19-year-old peer educator working at Alive Medical Services. She is a young lady who was miraculously chosen by a foreign lady (Natalie) in 2007 during one of her visits in prisons where she used to explore and engage with street children. On this specific visit, Natalie noticed a group of young children in the prisons cell and felt drawn to Joy, she asked for her file and any form of information they had on her. She also asked about the procedure it would take for her to take Joy into her care.

Joy, 8 years old at the time didn’t know anything about her family nor had she heard from or of her parents and since there was no one to claim her, the process for Natalie to become her legal guardian was a successful one, she finally got a family.

After a series of being sick and sessions at Mulago hospital, Joy and her new foster mother Natalie did not know exactly what was happening with her health. She decided to consult a friend who referred her to Alive Medical Services, she was looking forward to getting free treatment at AMS.  Joy received several tests, the first one being an HIV test which confirmed she was HIV positive and the reason why she was getting ill more often. Joy was then started on ARVS.

She continued to take her medication all through school until high school when she stopped because she was confused about why she should take medicine indefinitely. After a while, she started getting sick because of not taking her medication.

 “In my high school days, we learned about STIs where the teacher mentioned most of the signs and symptoms of HIV and I happened to have one physical sign, the skin rash,” Joy sadly said.

Joy had an irritating skin rash and her fellow students saw her taking medication daily, which led them to become suspicious of what illness she might have, making her even more uncomfortable. She was now even more depressed than usual and was finally sent home to seek medical attention as her illness seemed to be getting worse. Once home, she confided in her foster mother about her insecurities, this paved way for them to return to AMS as she realised it was time to disclose to Joy the actual status of her health.

At AMS she met with Dr Elizabeth who was very professional at handling her case, she explained to her what it meant to be HIV positive and why she had been told to take her medication, the benefits of taking it more effectively. She remembers the first weeks being the toughest, but with the support from her foster mother, she was able to cope.

AMS has become more than the family, friends, and parents she has ever wished to have. “AMS embraces you the way you are, at some facilities, you go pick your drugs and that’s it. The rest is usually not their business”. Joy acknowledges.

Joy is glad she was chosen among the young people at the centre to train and become a peer educator at AMS, and this is giving her plenty of opportunities like sharing her story, attending summits, conferences as well as visiting other facilities, being able to interact with other peers on their daily challenges. Most of all she has become more confident and is not lost in the self-stigma that had built up during her high school days. She is very hardworking, easy to talk to with a dream to improve her life and grab onto future opportunities.

Joy is now a peer network coordinator who is using her story and life experiences to change lives and she is grateful to AMS staff for the endless support and unconditional love with all adequate services available all the time. She wants to work so hard and facilitate herself for further education in Public health so that she can help people who have gone through the same experience. She also wants to own an orphanage for abandoned children so she can be able to give back to the community especially those on the streets.

Sara (not real name), a 28-year-old single mother of two boys, works as a housemaid for an Indian family and resides in Kanyogoga, a slum area in Namuwongo. Sara joined Alive Medical Services in 2010 after a series of what seemed like signs of HIV. She had a skin rash, an irritating cough and she was consistently losing weight, these were all signs of HIV according to what people said. She used to escort her friend who was already in care at Alive Medical Services for drug refills. Her friend kept on encouraging her to test as she showed some of the signs of HIV. Sara was at first afraid to take that step of knowing her HIV status as she was a breastfeeding mother of a 17-months-old baby. She courageously took the test and the result was positive as she had suspected. 

“I was at first traumatised about the news; I was even afraid to tell the counsellor that I had a breastfeeding child at home ("Naka were") and when I told my husband, he left me with the child,” Sara said sadly.

Sara did not disclose to the health worker that she had a baby before she confirmed her status. As her child grew up, he repeatedly fell ill and then developed a skin rash at 5 years; not to mention the child has a mental disability and is deaf. “I felt like he already had so much to deal with, but I had no choice”.  She then decided to bring him for medical attention where they suggested for an HIV test. Sadly, the result turned out positive.

Sara felt hopeless because she did not have any psychosocial support and her friend had died. She got the courage to disclose to her mother after five years as she could no longer handle the situation by herself. Fortunately, her mother was supportive, compassionate and she has never been judgemental towards her daughter.

From the day Sara found out her HIV status, she has gotten the best counselling and health tips especially on the importance of having a balanced diet. Sara regained hope, self-love through all the support offered at Alive Medical Services, from food to medication and she is more stable now and managed to get a job where she earns fair pay which she didn’t expect once her life had taken a turn. “Even if my child barely speaks or hears, he usually looks at the clock and when it clicks 8:00 pm, he taps me as a reminder and gives me the sign that it’s time for medication, the only challenge will be disclosing to him in such a situation when he gets older”.

Sara restored her life back and had a second baby who was under the guidance of the health workers in the EMTCT section at the clinic. Her second child is happy, healthy and HIV-negative.

For all these years she has spent on medication, Sara would love to thank the whole staff of Alive Medical Services especially the lady in the EMTCT section (Linda) who has been very supportive; “she tells the truth of what will happen if you do it the way you are told to do and she will show and help you how to do it the right way”.

Mwebale nyo, mwebalilire ddala.

(Thank you so much)