Living with AIDS

The following blog post was written on the evening of 5 July. Due to technological restrictions it will be posted at a later date. Internet connection is dial-up, therefore images will be attached upon returning to South Africa during the weekend of 11-12 July. Sorry! I have the pictures picked out and will post as soon as I can!

Today we woke to a cooler morning in Lesotho and it turned out to be a stalking hat type of day, it even snowed a fly flakes in the afternoon….snow in Africa is definitely something to write home about.

After breakfast this morning this morning a woman named Dephani spoke to us about her experiences living with AIDS. She described the incredible stigma that exists for Besotho about HIV/AIDS. In fact, this stigma extends to getting tested for the disease, because it is assumed that you have it is you go to be tested. Also, there is poor privacy at the clinics and community members will usually find out who has been tested. Dephani explained that she was tested after encouragement from her doctor. She had been battling with TB for an extended period of time, lost a great deal of weight, and was wheelchair bound. After being tested she began taking the ARV’s immediately and is doing quite well today. Her children have been tested (8 and 10 years) and are both negative, however her husband remains too afraid to be tested.

Dephani explained to us that one of the reasons that HIV/AIDS is spread is because woman do not feel like they are empowered to say “no” to men. In addition, there are levels of rape that exist in this area by groups of young men that often work together. When asked how many women are raped it was stated that 80-90% of women 18 years old have been raped and if they were to try and fight against their attacker they would most likely be killed. This was shocking to us all.