I have lived with HIV for one and a half years… It was the sickness [that made me get tested]…I could not tell what I really had. I would have this and that. I ended up falling sick and I went to the hospital where they told me to test for HIV. Continue reading
“I can say stigma is a sign of disgrace or shame which is humiliating and demeaning to those who are subject to it… Here I must confess one thing. When I am not working, I always prefer to be alone and mostly stay at home. HIV, and its worst effect stigma, made my life dark. I lost my lovely and my young husband… Continue reading
“Women are more discriminated against than men because women depend on the men. An infected man can have sexual relationships with many women just because he has money. I mean, there is a lot of difference between a man and a woman. Continue reading
“…in this situation I am in you find that when people are talking you end up thinking they are talking about you… when the truth is these people are talking on their own… When people are laughing it is like they are laughing at you… Continue reading
“I don’t have any close relation with my neighbours as a result of appalling stigma and discrimination. We don’t call each other for the coffee ceremony or for other social involvements. Continue reading
I know what it is to be HIV-positive; I know what it is to feel discrimination. When I used to go to the health centre I had to stand in a long queue and people would look at me. We fear being recognised by people who know us and so we end up giving away our place in the queue. Continue reading
I am living in such a way that I do not think of myself as an HIV positive person [laughing]. I regard myself as a normal person like any other person and I have big dreams for things I want to do in the future. I plan like people who do not have HIV because I know this is not the end of life. Life continues as long as I take my treatment well, having safer sex. Continue reading
“When I come to [talk about] stigma and discrimination, I feel deeply sad because I was terribly stigmatised with my child. The people who stigmatised me the most were my husband’s family because of their conviction that he had contracted HIV from me. Continue reading
Yes my neighbours discriminated me… Sometimes when talking to them or helping them I could feel that I am not welcome. There was a moment that I had to go out for sun rays and I could see people’s [shadows] on the wall, their fingers pointing to me. I could feel that they are not saying good things; they are talking about my health condition. Continue reading
The discrimination was caused by lack of information about HIV issues… they believed that you get HIV by having several sexual partners and such a person was a prostitute… they treated me [the way they did] because they were ignorant… Continue reading
Oral Testimony Works 