One day while queuing up for my 3 months’ supply of ARVs at our local medical facility, a well dressed gentleman driving a slick car arrived and started complaining about inconveniences of collecting ARVs for other people while they stay at home.
The gentleman appeared so impatient and didn’t want to stay at the health facility for a minute longer than was necessary, but the wise nurse had seen through him and calmly told the gentleman and all those harbouring similar thoughts that the clinic was only giving ARVs to real card holders and not to those sent by others.
The nurse went on to say that they wanted to check on every client’s physical health condition before giving them supplies. Our gentleman friend was taken aback and begged the nurse for a private chat which the nurse calmly declined and insisted that there was no way he could be assisted if he was not the real client. Our gentleman friend had to remain waiting for his turn until everyone had been served and gone .Truth is our gentleman had come to collect his own supply but was ashamed to be associated with being HIV positive.
The other incident was where I met two familiar guys from our neighborhood who had just fallen off their motor bike and the whole space nearby was strewn with ARVs bottles.
I helped them get up and fortunately they were not seriously injured but the looks on their faces showed that they were very much ashamed because of the knowledge that I knew what the small white plastic bottles contained. They tried to explain that they had been sent by other people to come and collect medicines for them at this faraway medical facility but deep inside my heart I knew that they had come this far to get the ARVs now lying all over the place for none other than themselves.
These are not isolated cases for there are still a lot of people living with HIV collecting their ARV supplies from faraway places to avoid being seen by those close to where they live. This though is very counter productive as it exposes those involved to other unseen dangers such as serious injuries from accidents as in the case of those who fell off their motor bike.
A lot of people living with HIV in the diaspora especially those who lived and worked in SA had their ARVs collected on their behalf by relatives and friends back home in Zimbabwe and regularly sent to them via Malaicha and other runners and this worked very well while it lasted. In most cases those collecting the ARVs for diaspora clients did so very honestly after telling hospital staff the truth and there was no problem whenever they went to collect their ARVs because everything was done honestly and above board.
The above two scenarios are stark reminders that while a lot of awareness and other programmes have been rolled out to empower people living with HIV regain their confidence a lot still remains to be done to remove the fear, shame and other negative feelings caused by being HIV positive. A lot of people still feel ashamed of being HIV positive so many years later.
There are several types of people living with HIV amongst those coming from South Africa and each category has its own peculiar needs. There are those who were already positive when they went to South Africa, then we have another group who acquired HIV in South Africa and another group who are yet to be tested though they strongly suspect that they’re positive basing on their sexual activities while they were in South Africa.
Now that we have returned home the best foot forward is to familiarise ourselves with local medical centres and personnel. We also need to physically go and he examined for any opportunistic infections that might have infected us during the years we were undergoing long distance ART therepy. One’s health is one’s responsibility and when one’s health deteriorates one suffers alone.
The fact that someone else used to collect ARVs while you were in the diaspora does not mean that that person should continue doing so now that you’re home. Go there in person get physically checked for any side effects and get everything corrected so that you continue to enjoy good health.
Those that got infected while in SA let your partners know your status so that they make informed decisions. There is no need to deliberately infect your partner if you already know your status. Similarly those partners of returning Immigrants who got infected while their partners were away in the diaspora should let their partners know their statuses too. Infact the most sensible thing to do is to go for HIV testing before sleeping together. Let’s all act responsibly to avoid situations we will all regret later. Being HIV is not a death sentence as was previously thought and everyone should move on with their lives just like anyone else.
Piason Maringwa
+263774322043
