Unless a man’s life makes indelible impacts and challenges on the lives of others, he’s easily forgotten when he dies.
The way we handle our lives in difficult situations will determine whether the world remembers or forgets us. My life journey with HIV has been a tumultuous affair since 2004 up until now but I have stood up and I have overcome the worst.
A lot of people have asked me why I have decided to make myself the subject of humiliation, mockery, derision, stigma and discrimination among other bad titles telling everyone my HIV positive status instead of just being quiet about it and life goes on uneventfully like everyone else.
I know that a lot of people out there are asking who is this Piason Maringwa who talks so much about HIV as if he’s the only one who has it when there are over one point two million people in Zimbabwe living with HIV.
The main reason I talk and write so much about HIV is because it’s something I have lived with for over three decades, I have a wife and daughter now 31 years who are both living with HIV and both got it from me. I also know how it feels to be HIV positive, the fear associated with being HIV positive, how to disclose to an unsuspecting wife my positive status, how to raise a daughter born HIV positive from infancy to adulthood, marriage and motherhood among other issues.
I have helped a lot of HIV positive people both young and old regain their good health and move on with lives in a positive way. I am aware of the fact that had I not come out some people alive today would either be dead or in denial. A lot positive people who know me feel very happy whenever they see me in good health because they feel assured that they too can still enjoy good health too.
I had to take the big decision to disclose my HIV positive status first to my wife, siblings, community and the world at large because I had to. The knowledge that one is not alone in one’s suffering is good medicine to those in similar circumstances.
I am HIV positive yes and I suspect I got my HIV from prostitution before I was married around 1988 or 1990. I have always implored people never to feel sorry for me or any member of my family because we are enjoying excellent health and I have been fully forgiven for bringing HIV home by my family. I am very comfortable talking about HIV/AIDS issues and am not at all apologetic or blaming myself as I know that I am not the first or last one to be HIV positive. I am also very grateful to God for bringing me this far after I almost died of tuberculosis in 1999 that same year I tested HIV positive.
I am writing this article as prelude to my imminent birthday on 24/10 when I will be turning 60 with more than half of those years having been lived with HIV.
I also want to celebrate the good work that my wife Mai Simba has done to enable me get this far. I am certain that had she not been there for me I would have long been dead. I have always told people especially those living with HIV that without a loving and caring spouse especially a wife they will not last long.
Mai Simba is such a loving and caring wife who at times forgets herself to care for those she loves most. I owe this woman a lot and I shall die a very sad man if I don’t live to fulfill one wish she had when we got married in 1990. Mai Simba had wanted us to have a real white wedding before we were man and wife but due to circumstances beyond my control that wish is still to be fulfilled.
I am working so hard to make that wedding a reality even if it means wedding at 70.
The reason I decided to disclose my status was after I had seen the trauma a lot of people went through when they tested positive. I remember one guy I was tested with at St Luke’s Hospital who fell flat and fainted and later died. There is a lot that needs to be done to make people accept their status and disclose and take their ARVs in public.
By Piason Maringwa
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