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Two years ago I travelled from my village in Zavala, in Inhambane Province to Maputo, Mozambique ´s capital, to undergo my third surgical fistula repair. I was 23 years old at the time and had been suffering from obstetric fistula for seven years, since the day I delivered a stillborn baby at my house with assistance from my mother, after hours in labour.
The doctors had told me that my fistula belonged to the most complicated ones and that several operations were necessary before I would be fully cured. I believed them and had hope, because I longed to be just a regular, healthy young woman again, attending school and one day becoming a policewoman.
On this trip, the doctor darkened my day when he informed me that I tested positive for HIV/AIDS. I cried when I heard the news because I knew I would die early.
For two years now I have been living in silence, carrying the secret about my status alone. For me HIV/AIDS is even more difficult to live with compared to fistula. Fistula is a sad experience for me, it challenges my life because it makes everything so uncomfortable and unbearable, due to the incontinence and smell, but HIV/AIDS might put an end to it!
I did not know anything about HIV/AIDS before, and it makes me sad because if I did I could have done more to prevent it. I just hope that the doctors soon will put me on treatment so I can live longer.
I fear telling my parents about my status because I worry how they will respond and think of me. I am also worried about the response of my community because I know that they say people living with HIV/AIDS will die early.
My boyfriend never told me he was HIV-positive. The relationship only lasted six months but now it feels like he will always be a part of me.
Now I am awaiting my sixth surgical fistula repair at Maputo Central Hospital, and I deeply hope that this time it will be a successful one, and set me just partially free to live normally again as the shadow of HIV/AIDS will be hanging over me forever.
I believe that treatment is the solution for my life, and can make me survive. I dream of having two healthy children one day, and I would like to study so I can teach other young women challenged by the destiny of fistula and HIV/AIDS what to do with their lives.
*Not her real name. This story is part of the “I” Stories series produced by the Gender Links Opinion and Commentary Service for the Sixteen Days of Activism on Gender Violence
📝Read the emotional article by @nokwe_mnomiya, with a personal plea: 🇿🇦Breaking the cycle of violence!https://t.co/6kPcu2Whwm pic.twitter.com/d60tsBqJwx
— Gender Links (@GenderLinks) December 17, 2024
0 thoughts on “Young woman committed to overcome double suffering”
My sister your are so special know and believe that .Your will to go out ther and educate other people about HIV and AIDS tops it out .Can you try and look at this in a positive way that through your experiences you became the AMBASSADOR who will bring change and give light to your community ,dispel myths around HIV and I speak Health in your body so you may beggin your race of freeing many .When you are strong enough you will have the strength to tell your family at the moment take care of youself and know that there are many people who have been living with the Virus for more that 20years .