How HIV scared young Motswana from Law degree

| Monday March 31, 2014 11:34

She must have been sent by witches as I come to think of it and she said to me “Your girlfriend has died of AIDS and you must go for a test immediately” and 18 years later I am fit as ever.

So I went to Tebelopele Voluntary Counselling and Testing Centre, when they were still at the former BDP office. They took a blood sample and asked me to wait outside, after some time they called me in and asked for another blood sample, since the first one was not conclusive, it showed one line instead of two on their little white thing that looks like a thermometer.

Then they called me again and told me that indeed I was HIV positive. The lady told me to eat lots of meat and suggested that I start taking Modurecare tablets to prolong my life. There were no ARVs those days.

I got a little scared because I knew a lot of my friends who had died in the last couple of years. And I prepared myself for the day I would be buried at Broadhurst cemetery.

I had just been accepted at the University of Botswana to study for a law degree (LLB). I thought it was no use so I changed my course to a two-year diploma, just so I could get the allowance and buy the Moducare tablets, to ease the coming pains, since I did not think I would be alive in the next five years. I did not finish my diploma as I did not complete my project, and got a job which led me to drop out of my final days at UB, but my other grades were above average.

The job was not what I wanted, but I thought it was my way of earning an income to feed myself better in the decade of death. I had always wanted to be a lawyer and my heart was never with the job or any job I had after that.

I am now on ARVs, which happens to be one tablet a day, my viral load is undetectable and my CD4 count is that of a healthy person. I drink alcohol as much as my funds can permit, smoke weed everyday and my cigarette and I have never been sick and the only time I was admitted to hospital was the day I was born and when I was in a car accident.

My only regret is that I did not do my LLB, otherwise I would be driving a car of my choice and doing something I love, which is wearing a nice suit and addressing a court of law, providing a service to someone and making people happy. Problem is I am not young anymore (46 years) so I cannot go back to law school or study for a new career.

I appeal to Good Samaritans out there to give me a job so I can spend my next 30 years living and not thinking how my life would have been like had that person not encouraged me to go for an HIV test 18 years ago. I have some Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT), a Diploma in Computer Studies (DCS) and about 20 years accounting job experience.

I appeal to you not to give up on life because of HIV, take your medication and you will live to enjoy your pension or witness the discovery of a cure.

*The name of the person has been withheld, but contributors may respond to monitoreditor@mmegi.bw