“I went to the doctor 4 months ago for this,- these sores here on my leg. He told to me that I am positive. Eish! I didn’t know what to do, what to say. I just go to my home, and the children were all talking. I said to them I was tired, I had a headache, I must to go lay down. But I didn’t sleep, I just thought in my head.
I told my pastor, and he said I must not be afraid. He said I had to make a choice: If I wanted to live or not. My friend went and got me the tablets. She said I must take the tablets. But…I dunno. I’m scared. I don’t want to accept this thing. It’s hard to accept. So I just have the tablets here. But I haven’t taken them yet.
I see the people at the hospitals who are on the tablets. Eish! They are weak, they are thin, thier skin is so black. So I say to my friend, ‘what must I do?’ She says to me that I must eat a lot, so I will become fat, that I won’t be so thin. So I’m eating much now.
But I have not told anyone Christy, just you. My pastor and my friend here, but now just you.”
The average American with HIV will live 11 years beyond their diagnosis. Here in Swaziland…6 months. Even though Swaziland has the highest HIV rate in the world (40% confirmed,-70% estimated) there is still so much stigma attached, family pressure, emotional burden, and sense of hopelessness.
Please pray for my friend here, that she makes the right choices, and will begin the ARVs that will help to keep her strong and healthy.