If I kept it to myself - World YWCA

If I kept it to myself
I am happy because of my openness. I
always find people at my home who need my
counselling. The majority of them wonder how
I live as a widow with four children to take care
of. Many are HIV positive and seek advice about
how they can live like me. I always feel proud to
help others cope with the disease.
I joined the National Association of Women
Living with HIV and AIDS, where we help
positive women gain courage to live positively.
We also teach each other how to cook and
weave mats and baskets, and talk about our
challenges as African women, and how to
address these. We learn how to write wills and
memory books. I haven’t yet learnt enough
to write these but I hope to once I master the
necessary skills.
I am also an active member of the Uganda Youth
Positives (UYP). This is a club of people up to
the age of 30. Through the club we teach the
youth, both affected and infected, about the need
to abstain from sex, and to those who cannot,
to use condoms. We also encourage them to
use the opportunities of being in school if they
still have a chance. We advise them to always
test with their partners, three times in gaps of
six months before they engage in sex, and also
to be faithful to each other because it is the key
to living a healthy life. We also encourage them
to give other people information about HIV and
AIDS and assistance to the sick. This is a new
club and it is basically for information sharing
purposes.
I am currently making local hand bongos,
necklaces and other traditional ladies’ jewellery
from which I earn a living. I am looking around for
a job but nothing has yet come my way. However,
I am positive about life.
All my children are in school. The first three
stay with my mother in the village. The last one
is staying with my paternal aunt in Kawempe. I
want my children to study up to university and
get better jobs, but most importantly I want them
to make informed decisions because I believe
that if I had studied, I would have been able to
have enough information about HIV and make
informed decisions. I want them to be in good
schools but I have no money to pay for this.
Nevertheless, I will try my best as long as I am
living to give them an education.
36
Born: 1978
Country: Uganda
Organisation:
National Association
of Women Living
with HIV and AIDS,
Uganda Youth
Positives (UYP), TASO
(The AIDS Support
Organisation)
Campaigns for:
Voluntary Counselling
and Testing (VCT),
positive living