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Kenya AIDS Watch Institute

AIDS HOTLINE        02-726083

AIDS Hotline: Kenya AIDS Watch Institute (KAWI) launched Kenya's first National Aids Hotline to disseminate information on issues related to the disease. More >>>

A Candid Perspective: Ms Sophie Muthoni, a person infected with AIDS, shares her experiences with the participants during in Mbagathi Conference organized by KAWI. Ms Muthoni is also an AIDS counsellor with KAWI, helping people face up to the challenges posed by HIV/AIDS.

I NEVER THOUGHT I COULD CATCH AIDS

Getting infected with HIV Virus does not mean immediate death and an infected person is capable of leading a happy, productive and health life for a long time even after the infection. All one needs is a strong resilient spirit and the right positive attitude towards life to be able to cope effectively with the depressing situation, as you will find out from the moving testimony carried below as told by Pamela Miheso, a person living with the disease.

"My names are Pamela Miheso from Western Province, Kakamega District. I moved to Western Province from Nairobi after the death of my husband in 1999 who was also the family's breadwinner. My little business had been drained at that time as a result of sacrificing all my time and resources to taking care of my husband.

After his death the low financial position forced me to search and shift to a place of a relatively lower living cost, and I landed in Western Province.

I was one of the many Kenyans who strongly believed they could not contract HIV/AIDS. I discovered in 1997 while attending antenatal clinic that, for several years I had been living with the HIV virus. My heart bled in anguish when I thought of all my shattered dreams, while the question of  "how come" persistently boggled my mind. My high hopes in life were completely devastated.

But after several meetings and discussions with friends who have experienced a similar problem, I have now decided to harness all my efforts towards giving moral support to people living with HIV/AIDS and to live positively with my situation.

I am presently involved in community work for a Non-Governmental Organization known as Society of Women and AIDS in Kenya [SWAK], of which I'm also a member. Their empowerment has helped me to look at myself differently as a full human being since HIV does not make me a lesser human being.

I am currently the chairperson of one of the many Post Test Clubs that mushroomed as a result of the Government's Voluntary Counseling and Testing Services [VCTs] where I meet many people who are still in denial of their HIV status hence requiring my kind of experience to encourage and enable them face the challenge.

In collaboration with the Western Provincial AIDS Control Committee [PACC], I have decided to focus my attention and efforts in making the Western people see the reality about the epidemic, to accept it as real and more so to give moral support to the infected.

Looking at my business, I do thank the K-REP Officers who granted us loans irrespective of our HIV conditions as they have enabled me to replenish my shop whose proceeds have greatly assisted me to supplement my dietary needs which currently is my only means of treatment and keeping healthy.

I also feel obliged to extend my gratitude to the Catholic Secretariat of Kakamega Diocese for employing me despite their knowledge of my HIV status. To them it is not the status that matters but the valuable services I am able to offer them while I'm still strong.

My joy also lies with my daughter [Carmel Miheso] who is now four years old and has been testing HIV negative since birth. "We need your love, for you are our hopes!" she always tells me.

Behind this emotional success is my dear sister-in-law, Evelyn, who tirelessly takes care of my baby with a lot of affection. We make a happy family despite my HIV status.

As you read my story, remember, anyone can get AIDS and we are glad that with the abundance of information and facts, it will not be you!"

"INFECTED, BUT LIVING POSITIVELY"

Former Chief Speaks Out

"Ever since I went public about my HIV positive status, I have had a lot of peace within myself," says Duncan Olum, a fifty-one year old father of three grown up children, and a former Chief of Nakuru town, who is now retired.

A widower, Olum suspected to have been infected in 1994 when his wife for twenty-seven years, the late Margaret Acholla, died of AIDS.

"Margaret started being sick since 1990, and she was on and off treatment all the time," he says, and adds: "Throughout her illness we had no idea of what was happening as she was being treated symptomatically for this and that infection:.

In 1994, her condition worsened and she was admitted at the Rift Valley Provincial General Hospital, Nakuru. Olum says, "There was now widespread talk of HIV/AIDS and that begun to get to me. I pestered one of the doctors who was treating her and he advised that we should do an HIV test on her. It was ppositive.

By this time, Margaret was too ill. Olum did not even bother with the results as he feared that this would devastate her. She died a few days later.

For two years after the death of his wife, Olum had no signs of ill health. Then in 1996, he began to have frequent headaches and continuos diarrhoea which would not respond to treatment. By 1999, he had lost a lot of weight and was only a sorry skeleton of his former self.

"I had had enough of my own denials and wanted to know the truth," he says, displaying the many AIDS educational posters which he makes. "I took a voluntary HIV test at Nakuru Provincial Hospital. It was positive."

Olum says that he was not surprised by the result. He had always expected it and this only acted as a confirmation of what he already knew.

"Strangely, this strengthened me," he says. "I refused to cry and resolved to use the tragedy for the benefit of others. I swore to tell everyone about myself, use my body as an example to teach and place hope in others by living positively."

Wasted and weakened with sores all over his mouth, Olum still experiences the characteristic bouts of diarrhoea, body itching, cough, difficulty in feeding and has a variety of fungal infections. Fortunately, he has never been hospitalized. he attributes this to a substitute mixture of herbal concoction which he prepares and administers to himself.

It is a ground combination of black jack, Mexican Marigold and Aloe Vera plants, mixed with honey, which he boils, preserves and takes the extracts twice a day. For fungal and other skin infections, he makes a special lotion from garlic and this has kept his body exceptionally smooth.

Olum almost swears that he has no idea what happened. Since he got married to his only wife in 1975, he had been faithful throughout the marriage. He says that his wife was equally faithful, but he refuses to let the nagging mystery of where the disease came from weigh him down.

"The most important thing is to be open with my condition and hope that this will let others know that AIDS is real."

Today Olum works with several AIDS groups in Nakuru. He is an active member of the Association of People with AIDS in Nakuru [TAPWAN], and gives HIV/AIDS lessons in schools, youth groups and churches. He says that some of those he meets do not approve that he should be broadcasting his condition to everyone.

"I made up my mind to go public after the HIV test and will do that as long as I can," says Olum. "My decision to be open made me free emotionally and psychologically. I am glad that I have been of use to others."

These two articles were originally carried  in the Maisha Newsletter published quarterly by the National AIDS Control Council (NACC).

HIV/AIDS is a real threat to society and everybody has the right to all the information and facts concerning the pandemic. The KAWI AIDS Hotline enables you  to pose your questions to professional counselors who provide you with adequate information to enable you stay negative if HIV negative, or if positive, face up to the challenges posed by infection. Referrals to Support Groups are also made.

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