The Bible is very clear about man born of woman’s short life that is full of pain and problems and there is no way we can runaway from this harsh reality of life.
Every day of our lives brings with it it’s own fair share of problems and joys which we all must embrace positively for who are we to only want to receive only the good things. Most people find it very difficult to embrace bad situations but sometimes we find ourselves embroiled in them without prior preparation for them.
Testing HIV positive or having a partner who tests positive is a very difficult pill to swallow for many people even at this point after all the awareness programs that have been made during the nearly 40 years HIV has been in existence.
A lot of work has been done in the area of awareness programs and intervention but a lot of people still find it very difficult to accept an HIV positive result.
I remember during the early years of HIV some people would spend all their wealth recklessly thinking that they would soon die ending up very poor as they continued to live long after their wealth was gone.
Some would commit suicide leaving their children orphaned and spouses widowed. Some would even go out on an HIV spreading spree infecting innocent people before they die as revenge for being infected themselves ,now this kind of mentality is very bad.
Some people adopted very reckless behaviours at home, at work and such other places that terribly affected their and other people’s lives. When HIV comes home people should react responsibly and with composure with the knowledge that being HIV positive is not the end of life actually it might be the beginning of a new and better life like it did to us .
Whenever I talk about HIV, I always talk about my HIV and the HIV in my immediate family of 4.I also feel that the story of HIV will never be told correctly if not told by those of us who know what it is and how it feels to be HIV positive. So in this article I shall try and tell my reader how I and my family of 4 have managed to live positively with HIV for over 3 decades and what we have done with the time given to us by God.
The only mistake I made after testing positive was not to improve myself academically and professionally as I felt like a lot of people still do that it was futile to persue further studies while living with HIV.
My childhood ambition had been to be very highly educated and become a lawyer and even after getting my first job that ambition remained deeply imbedded in my mind but was destroyed after testing positive leading me to only ending as a mere secondary school teacher. I am very happy though that after regaining my usual focused and composed self I embarked on what I would term a very productive life with HIV which has seen me travelling the road from the time I began teaching in 1994 when our daughter born positive was born till my retirement on 31 December 2025.
I shall travel with you reader and show you the small but very enjoyable achievements I believe I have made.
When I came back home to Gokwe from Manicaland where I had worked in Nyanga, Honde Valley ,Vumba ,Mutare urban and Buhera districts for over 15 years I felt geared to settle down teaching at my village school Mkoka Secondary school in 1999.No sooner than I was beginning to enjoy life in my village and school was I attacked by a terrible bout of TB and was soon hospitalized at St Luke’s hospital undergoing treatment for TB I later tested HIV positive.
After treatment for TB I returned back to work and was soon involved with HIV awareness campaigns at a time ARVs were not available. It was very difficult talking about HIV/AIDS then but I soldiered own starting at family level going up to community level with lots of discouragement and booing but I never backed down and like a mad man I persevered.
In 2004 with the coming in of Concern World wide and Kana hospital outreach team I helped form the first support group at Mkoka Clinic and I would go on to help in the formation of more support groups within our constituency .I also helped a lot of school children born HIV positive regain their confidence and accept their new statuses and move on with life .Most of these children including my own daughter born positive have grown into adults and are going on with their lives just like everybody else.
I discarded the victim mentality at a very early stage and have stood with my head held very high wherever I was refusing to be bullied, discriminated against by anyone throughout my teaching years and was acting headmaster with HIV for 7 years. I have been chairperson of all the combined support groups in my constituency for the duration of their existence.
In 2012 I transferred to Batanai High School near Manoti Growth Point and the first thing I did was form a Support Group and a lot of people still testify that I saved them from certain death as most were unaware that their illnesses were mostly HIV related. Besides starting support groups at Manoti I started the first pre school and the first in 2014 and it grew from 2 children and grew up to 70 students when we were forced to close in 2020 due to COVID-19 induced lockdowns.
We failed to reopen after lockdowns due to vandalism that had destroyed our building and play Centre.
In 2013 I began writing weekly newspaper articles beginning with The Times,The Midlands Observer ,The Sunday Mail though briefly, The Zimta magazine and the National AIDS Council magazine Interventions and The Midweek Watch among other publications. I am still writing weekly newspaper articles on HIV and hope to continue doing so until I drop dead. I have also been invited sometimes alone and at times with my wife for TV and radio broadcasts on most of the TV and radio stations in Zimbabwe .We also get invited to gatherings such as churches and workshops organized by NAC and other stakeholders.
My biggest achievement was getting baptized on 17 August 2013 at Kana Central SDA church which has been a very big turning point in my whole life as I now feel very comfortable with my life free from my past life of sin, drink and prostitution. I really feel I am a new person and to cap it all I have written a book in fulfilment to an undertaking I made to God back then in 1999 when I was so close to death at St Luke’s hospital undergoing TB treatment and felt my salvation only lay in God’s Grace.
I am so grateful that God gave me Extra and bonus time to care for my children and see them grow into adults. I have entitled my book The Extra Time and it’s available to everyone by contacting me on my number below.
This article aims to show everyone grappling with the uncertainties of being HIV that one can still enjoy a very impactful, useful life with HIV. Just be focused have a positive mindset and enjoy a very productive life with HIV.
Piason Maringwa
+263774322043
