We all have got one life to live in this single life and have got to do our best to make it as enjoyable as possible under whatever circumstances we find ourselves in in any given situation.
People should never be discouraged by the difficult situations that they encounter from time to time and should make the most out every bad situation in best way possible. Being HIV positive is not the worst thing that can happen to anyone if one manages it positively. In this article I shall try and give a step by step way I and my family managed to enjoy and continue to enjoy life with HIV for over thirty years now. The whole of my working life as a teacher has been lived with HIV and I am now retired and am still enjoying life with HIV like never before.
My wife Sarudzai and our now 32 year old daughter are also living with HIV for almost as long and are very comfortable with me talking about their statuses. We are a family that is not ashamed of talking about our being positive wherever we are. Let me hasten to say that I have been the bad boy who brought the HIV home and spread it to my wife and our daughter who got it at birth. I have also apologized most sincerely to both and I am happy to say they forgave me long back and we are a very happy family and all those who know or live near us can testify to this reality.
The reason I continue to talk and write about HIV/AIDs is I feel that the story of HIV can only be better told by someone who is into it and someone who knows what it means to be HIV positive. People need someone who has been there or is there with them to accept his story and here I am telling my story of resilience and hope to my fellow compatriots living with HIV. There is life after testing positive and Ãf taken correctly it can turn out to be a more fulfilling one than the life before testing positive as I shall show you here.
Life should always be of acknowledging and appreciating everything God brings to us. We need to understand that God loves us all the time and sometimes tests our resolve and faith by exposing us to extreme situations as a way of strengthening us. The onus to turn our situations into our Godly given destinies depends on how we take the situations given to us by God. Having passed through the fear, shame and denial that always come after a bad situation I decided to try and see how best to attend to my life with HIV in the best way possible.
Human beings are naturally imperfect, capable of doing bad things and as such it is imperative to work very hard to be good people always.
Realising that all the bad things that had befallen me were a result of my past life’s shortcomings I decided that my remaining life should be one of making the most out of what little life remained in me and saving others from falling into the same pit I had fallen into and had resulted in me being infected by HIV.I embarked on a path of repentance and obedience to God. My first port of call was on mending my tattered marriage and family life for there is nothing good that can be achieved if your marriage is bad .
Accepting reality doesn’t mean ignoring our shortcomings as human beings. We need to choose understanding and the preservation of family life in the best way possible.
The first step was to disclose and apologize to my wife so that she would make an informed choice on the best foot forward and when she accepted my apologies and opted to continue life with me I was very happy and thanked God for His kindness.
A lot of people out there who opted for divorce after there partners tested positive are living in regret as they have now come to realize that a devil you know is better than an angel you don’t know. We are now an elderly couple and know the importance of living well together .We try to do our best to enjoy life together in the best way possible.
When our two children were still young they we never knew or believed that we would see their children but as I write today we have 5 grandchildren 4 boys and 1 girl. God can do great things if one is patient enough to follow His commands. We pray unceasingly and go to church every Saturday and this has made our life have a purpose and meaning.
People living with HIV should not embrace many negative feelings or listen to negative judgements and comments.
Learn to focus more on what is good and move on with your life just like all other people.
We have to work towards freeing ourselves from stigma and discrimination by disclosing our statuses because if we continue hiding our statuses stigma and discrimination will never end.
In my book The Extra Time I have tried to document my life before and the challenges I faced as person of the world and the new stress free life I am living now as a born again religious person.
I also encoúrage others like me to change from their old ways and embrace new life with God. I admit that I have been a very bad person but HIV has made me see life from a new angle which I might never have seen had I not been positive. I have turned my HIV positive scars into stars.
A lot of those people who find life with HIV very difficult have nobody to blame except themselves .Let’s all learn to embrace whatever comes to us be it good or bad in good stride.
Let’s as well remember that today’s pleasure is tomorrow’s pain. Living well with HIV is a choice that all of us living with HIV must embrace.
Piason Maringwa
+263774322043
