KENYA: Rhoda Kendi, "The earlier you know your HIV status, the better"

NAIROBI, 16 December 2008 (PlusNews) - Rhoda Kendi, 33, tested positive for HIV nearly four years ago. A single mother of three, she now spends her time teaching others how to avoid contracting HIV and advising those already infected with the virus on how to live positively.

She talked to IRIN/PlusNews on the sidelines of an HIV/AIDS awareness event in Kibera, a sprawling slum outside the capital, Nairobi.

"In February 2005, after I had been bedridden for about three months, friends took me to the MSF [international medical NGO, Médecins Sans Frontières] clinic in my Gatwekera village in Kibera, where an HIV test turned out positive.

"I was started on ARV [antiretroviral] medicines after they found my CD4 count [a measure of immune-system strength] quite low. Within a month, I was up and about from long days of lying idle in bed.

"At the MSF clinic I learned quite a lot about HIV/AIDS and how to live positively. Staff there introduced me to a post-test club, where I met other people who had tested HIV positive.

"This helped me greatly cope with stigma and discrimination from relatives and friends who shunned me when they learned of my condition. I made many friends who understood my predicament.

"Now I have turned into a health educator with the same [MSF] clinic. I am trained in basic HIV/AIDS information and treatment literacy. I go out to people in the slum and attend meetings or gatherings, like this one today. I give talks where I tell people that HIV/AIDS is real, and one can avoid contracting the virus.

"I own up to my status and urge people to seek voluntary counselling and testing (VCT). I tell the people I talk to: 'The earlier you know, the better', because immunity is still high and one can benefit from various vital tips that include nutrition advice that may postpone the onset of taking ARVs.

"Being on ARVs is a life-long sentence. It is a burden, as one has to religiously take the medicines at prescribed doses and times, and there are side effects. I, for example, recently had to change my treatment regimen after suffering from lipodystrophy [fat redistribution] in the buttocks. Some side effects can be very stressing and uncomfortable.

"Today, I am encouraged to see youths enter the VCT tent. Seeing fellow PLWHAs [people living with HIV/AIDS] play and make merry is motivating. I am neither leaving empty handed - I have carried away these two cartons of condoms. I have to lead by example and promote safe sex that I 'preach' about in my health talks.

"I need the protection during sex with my date. Both of us are HIV [positive] and we have to protect against reinfection in the upcoming long holidays. 'Hii ni dose yangu ya Christmas [This is my lot for Christmas]!'

"I was married before and we had three children, all girls, but we divorced about 10 years ago. My new-found love lost his wife to AIDS and he has his own family. We are not living together though, and he is yet to go public on his [HIV] condition.

"Stigma in the community is slowly decreasing. Now my friends, neighbours and relatives, who never wanted to associate with me when I turned HIV positive, are coming back to me. I talk to them on HIV and even advise some who have been infected on where to seek assistance.

"There are challenges, however. Life is hard, bringing up a family without a solid financial base. I get some little allowances from MSF once in a while, and I am learning tailoring while I sell boiled maize on the side to make a living.

"It is a tough life for a mother with HIV, but my faith in God and talking to people keeps me going."

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Theme (s): Care/Treatment - PlusNews, HIV/AIDS (PlusNews), PWAs/ASOs - PlusNews,

[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]