Some of these attributes of HIV/AIDS patients are the exact opposite of the lifestyle of George Phiri, a 36-year-old resident of Ndola who has lived with the virus for over 20 years. Phiri, nicknamed Chicken George after a character in the film and novel Kuna Kinte, patronises bars in Ndola to emphasise that he is HIV positive.
"I tell people that I am HIV positive to protect myself from stigma. I got infected in the 1980s from prostitutes I picked up from disco houses. At that time, I belonged to a circle of friends, some from very rich families, whose mission was never to get married but to have sex with different women," he says.
Phiri patronised discos when his elder brother, who works for Ndola Lime Company, was at college. "Friends from rich families provided money for beer and luring prostitutes while I provided accommodation in my brother's flat, where we took the prostitutes.
"Before long, I had a child out of wedlock. The question this daughter of mine asks me is why I had unprotected sex. The answer is that in the 1980s when my daughter was born, condoms were not widely used. Today people have the option of using condoms," Phiri says.
Abstinence and the straight life is Chicken George's language. This is his standard response offered a beer: "Doctors say HIV/AIDS patients can drink beer moderately, but I have decided to stop. The other reason I do not take beer is that I am on ARVs. If I get drunk, I can forget to take the drugs. Beer can also make me go back to my old ways of picking prostitutes, thereby infecting more people."
Some of Phiri's best friends know that if they want to smoke, they should not do it at the table where he is sitting. "I have never smoked, but I know that cigarette smoke is not good for both healthy people and those infected with HIV."
Phiri tested HIV positive in 2005 after being admitted to Ndola Central Hospital on suspicion that he was suffering from tuberculosis. "My health problem was mistaken for tuberculosis. Doctors put me on TB drugs, which made me act strangely.
"When I complained, I was put on another drug, but my condition did not improve. Since I like attending seminars, I learnt from one that some people suspected to be TB patients are actually HIV/AIDS patients."
Chicken George in very strong in dealing with stigma: "My friend, I have managed to fight two types of stigma. When I tested HIV-positive in 2005, I was discharged from Ndola Lime Company as a dump truck operator. Apart from the stigma of being HIV-positive, there is another one regarding unemployment."
In terms of diet, Chicken George has advised HIV/AIDS patients to have traditional dishes such as ifisashi - vegetables cooked in pounded groundnuts - and nshima or pap, instead of junk foods.
"I do take hamburgers because when you are on ARVs, you get hungry easily. But I eat a lot of traditional dishes."
Phiri also says he reads a lot, unlike other HIV/AIDS patients who close doors to knowledge by sentencing themselves to death.
Going around the city collecting newspapers everyday provides Phiri not only with knowledge, but with a form of exercise as well: "Beyond collecting the copies of the Post, I do press ups every day to be physically fit."
At home Phiri likes talking to his four children, whom he has told that he is HIV positive. "I am very open with my children." Although his wife does not believe in voluntary counselling testing (VCT), Phiri says he has taken some people to VCT at the Central Hospital where he is given some preferential access to doctors.
"Some of the people who earlier laughed at me for being so open on my HIV status have tested HIV positive themselves. Some have even died out of depression because they thought they could not contract this disease."
He says he once sneaked into the hospital to see how some people behave after testing HIV positive. He says he met one young woman who told him that she would hide her status so that she could get married.
"That young woman said there was no way she was going to lose a man just because she was HIV positive. My message to those who would like to marry is that they should go for HIV testing before their wedding day. If you are both HIV positive and you want to get married, use a condom so that you do not re-infect each other," Phiri says.
(Sila Press Agency)
