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Type
Newsletter
Author
Limbika Youth Organisation
Publication Date
April 9, 2009
Posted
May 30, 2009
Relevance
Malawi
Categories
Health
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Margaret Banda a 35 had lost hope in life. In her own words, she “underwent more misery than the most unlucky person would foresee in life”. Between 2003 and 2006 she was hit by spell of illnesses, prodding her husband to divorce her, her acquaintances to run away and her employer to fire her.
“My husband told me he had had enough of my bad health and we separated. My employer (a private primary school owner-where she was worked as a teacher) sacked me charging that I had become a liability to the institution,” says Margaret.
“With an eight year old daughter to look after, I was reduced to a drifter. I couldn’t figure out where these illnesses were coming from. I had live a decent life and thought of being HIV positive was far removed from reality,” she adds.
Margaret hails from Chiputu village in Lilongwe district. Limbika Youth Organisation support Group reached out to her back in January, 2008 after hearing her sad story encouraged her to go for HIV test.
Margaret tested positive. She instantly became a member of LIYO Support Group and she declared her status to fellow Group members. The group assisted her to access antiretroviral therapy after a CD4 count test.
With love, support and encouragement from the Group Margaret informed her ex-husband about her sero status and asked him to go for a test. Her husband, however, refused to take a test arguing he could not be infected.
Margaret now runs a successful business. Her daughter is now thirteen and she knows her mother is HIV positive and so does the rest of her community.
“I was mesmerized by my daughter one day, months after I disclosed my sero status to her. I had fallen sick and some neighbours paid a visit. When neighbours asked her what I was suffering she told them I had AIDS,” recalls Margaret adding that she is proud her daughter is not humiliated about her mother’s HIV positive status.
As an active member of Limbika Youth Organisation’s Support Group Margaret joins fellow members every Saturday at Chiputu Trading Centre where they meet to discuss issues affecting the group. And through the group’s door-to-door visits, Margaret has influenced more people to go for a Test either at Malingunde VCT or Ndaula Health Centre.
One of VTC Counsellors at Ndaula Health Centre says the Centre tests an average of 8 people per day, and this is gratitude to the confidentiality the Centre uphold and campaign mounted by support Group. The Group has 230 members from which 112 are pro-active. Three quarters from the group have publicly disclosed their sero status.
Limbika Youth Organisation Support Group is just one of many support groups in Lilongwe which are assisting the Malawi government realizing its goals of encouraging people who tested positive to disclose their status as one way of living positively.
The group has also been successful in influencing positive behaviour change among different groups and assisting them overcomes post stress.
For more on HIV/AIDS visit http://www.aidsmalawi.org.mw
Or http://limbikayouth.blogspot.com
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Organization
This resource was created by:
Limbika Youth Organisation
The Organization has several programmes which target young people, and women. These include taking part in the fight against HIV/AIDS, Youth Development, Environmental Conservation and vocational skills training. With computers received from National Youth Council of Malawi, we are training young...
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