World AIDS Day 2015

dez1On the fifth of December we at Tsibogang celebrated World AIDS Day along with the rest of the world. The celebration was the opportune moment for us members of Tsibogang to reflect on the year 2015. The Amogelang group had prepared a great program for the day. The dress code for the day was black, red and white keeping with the spirit of the day (World AIDS Day). It stood out how many children attended the event; the child self help group had also been quite substantially involved in the preparations for the event. The children presented a dance and a small dramatized sketch.

No South African celebration would be complete without speeches and keeping with this tradition our event was had memorable speeches that moved us greatly. Three Tsibogang members spoke each giving us their own account of the trials they faced in their life due to HIV. Sannah painted an vivid picture of difficulty she faced in accepting her HIV status, taking counseling and how long it took till she was able to publicly say “I am HIV positive and I accept my status”. Bonolo had only recently discovered she was positive and shared this very difficult experience with us: the nurse who delivered the bad news seemed more distressed than Bonolo herself. Bonolo could accept that she now had to live with an illness that had already massively shaped her life, however when she discovered that her two year old daughter – a bundle of happiness and energy – was also HIV positive even she was overwhelmed. The Self help group Amogelang (which means accept each other) now helps Bonolo on here Odyssey with HIV; she needs these friends who provide her solace and encouragement. Bonolo emphasized how prayer and reading the Bible strengthens her.

Itsholeng emphasized the importance of regularly taking the HIV medication through her own story. For 11 years now Itsholeng has been living with HIV and is blessed with three daughters all of whom are n HIV negative. In the past decade of enduring the disease Itsholeng has endured many life threatening illnesses, but she never gave up and she accredits much of her resilience to the strength she got through support from her fellow Tsibogang members, especially those in Amogelang. She concluded her with the words: “I still want to live a long life.”

The keynote address was given by Dr Hermann; his message was clear and simple: a South Africa without HIV is possible. He demonstrated this by calling a 6 year old girl to the front and emphasizing if the goals of UNAIDS were achieved – 90% of the sexually active population regularly getting tested and 90% of the infected would regularly take their medication by the time this little girl would be 21 she could live in a South Africa free of new infections. This message once again made it clear how much the behavior and attitude of the people influences how powerful this dreadful disease can be.

Like every year there was the opportunity to get tested at the event. There was good food and many highly pleasant interactions. We are thankful for this year; we were thankful that we did not have to decrease the focus of our work. We thank God for all the generous donations we received, all the prayers said for us and all the interest in our work.

Christel Lorato Hermann

World AIDS Day 2015
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