Here is a personal testimony from a special client – a woman who almost lost her life to HIV/AIDS but who has become well and is now a trained health worker helping others. Her words have been paraphrased here:
My name is Rosemary. I was very sick and thin and didn’t know what was wrong with me. I was so sick I was in bed. The community thought I was already dead. Later, a community health worker came and visited me. She taught me a lot, and told me I needed to know my HIV status. I trusted her and she took me to the hospital. I found out I was HIV positive. I didn’t know what to do but I just decided I needed to follow her advice. So I started on drugs. Thanks to the treatment, I’m alive! I’m strong and I can work. I can look after my children again. I started to visit one of the HIV support groups in the project but I felt so stigmatised and scared at first. Gradually I became comfortable and together with the others I learnt about how to live with HIV and I got courage too. Later on I was asked if I would like to become a community health worker and I was trained. One client I looked after was a friend of mine. She was so sick she was almost dead. She couldn’t eat or talk. I spoke with her and gently encouraged her, and told her where I’d come from in my own experience. She trusted me and I helped her go and get tested. Now she’s on treatment and is very well, doing her own business and attending a local support group.