Yesterday I was given a very big cock by someone I had last seen some three years ago. As he was handing me the cock I asked him whether he was selling the cock and at the same time I complemented him for looking so healthy because the last time I had seen him he had appeared so beaten up and ill.
He replied that the cock was a gift he had personally come to deliver to me for saving his life. I was greatly surprised to hear this as I couldn’t remember when and where I had saved his life.
Anywhere to cut a long story short he went on to describe how I had told him to go and get tested for HIV and how angry he had got on that distant day some 3 years ago. In his own words he said if he had had a weapon of some kind he would have killed me for advising him to go get tested which at the time had made him very angry. He went on to say that his illness had worsened and later he had gone for testing and had tested positive and had been initiated on ART straight away and hence his glowing and healthy appearance.
He had now come to thank me for saving his life. This gentleman is not the first one nor is he the last to thank me for saving their lives as through my articles and verbal testimonies have helped many others . People thank me in their own different ways for saving their lives with some thanking me via my whatsaap inbox and others verbally. A lot of people are surprised at the easy with which we take HIV/AIDs issues with some even thinking that we are acting that we are HIV positive when we are not oooh yes we are .
I do travel a lot and most times I prefer travelling during the night using trucks and other private vehicles. During these travels I usually try to deliberately drive discussions with the drivers and fellow passengers towards issues to do with HIV. During most of these discussions I have discovered that the majority of these truck drivers and some passengers are HIV positive but prefer not to share their positive statuses with others including those close to them. Playing hide and seek with HIV is not the best thing to do as it only worsens the situation.
There are a lot of HIV positive people who pretend to be HIV negative and live very irresponsible lives. This kind of behaviour is very reckless and dangerous to say the least as it exposes a lot of people to great danger .A lot of HIV positive people feel very comfortable when they live a lie and a life of pretence while playing hide and seek with the reality of living with HIV.HIV/AIDs are realities that we all need to accept and learn to live with positively. People are comfortable with the assurances that their health is their right and no one except themselves should devulge their positive statuses except themselves. Truth is though it’s one’s right to keep one’s positive status a secret there is no way one can hide one’s illness or death. Its easy to help someone who shares one’s personal health issues than one who keeps his health a secret.
I always use myself and my family as examples of how beneficial it is to be open about one’s health issues especially being HIV positive. We have been very open about our health and our being HIV positive which has helped us a lot. I feel the reason why we continue to enjoy good health as a family is because we are not playing hide and seek with HIV. We know HIV/AIDs is real and we have to accept it as such. Members of our 22 year old Mkoka Support Group here in Gokwe and our Same Status Whatsapp group are also beneficiaries of this bold initiative as we are all still enjoying good health with HIV many years later with very few recorded deaths during the same period.
I am not saying AIDs doesn’t kill if one goes public but all I am saying is that it helps a lot as it releases the pressure and stress caused by playing hide and seek with HIV. If those suffering from such terminal illnesses like cancer, hypertension, diabetes among others can talk openly about their illnesses what should stop us from talking about our own HIV positive statuses as well We also need to be able to take our ART in public as others do.
This is time we need to own our health and live healthy lives. We need to free ourselves from the bondage of shame and blaming ourselves for being HIV positive and regain our dignity and confidence. We are people just like everyone else and it doesn’t mean that those who are not positive today are innocent, a lot are worse than us but it’s only that they did not get infected in the while doing what we were doing. I can’t say those who escaped infection are lucky because we are all lucky to be alive and nobody knows who will die first. We have attended many funerals over the years of people who were not HIV positive so being HIV positive and dying are two different things. Playing hide and seek with HIV is not the best foot forward my dear brothers and sisters. If you hid from people while looking for HIV what’s the use of hiding when you’ve found it .
Piason Maringwa
+263774322043
