Charity’s Story: Living Positively with HIV and AIDS in Zambia

16th July 2007
by The Editors

Photography and photostory production by Mwilo Mumbi

1 of 7: Charity Ndhlovu is 46 years of age. She is a farmer and lives in a farm house nicknamed ‘hospitality house’ by the many relatives that stay with Charity and her family in Lusaka West in Zambia. Charity is married and has 4 children – the youngest now 11 years old.

2 of 7: As well as farming, Charity is a professional tailor/seamstress and sells groceries from her home.

3 of 7: In 1999 after a miscarriage, Charity tested positive for HIV. “After my miscarriage, I frequently became ill, so I was advised by the doctor to take a HIV test. I took the test and was found to be HIV positive. After knowing my status I felt lifeless and became depressed. This is because HIV and AIDS is regarded as a death sentence and is usually identified with prostitutes and unfaithful spouses. When I disclosed my HIV status to my husband, he was very furious although he has accepted my status he does not form part of this story. I do not know where I acquired the HIV virus. It could have been from assisting my relatives who had died of HIV and AIDS related diseases as I did not use protective clothing.”

4 of 7: Charity is a HIV/AIDS activist and an active member with the HIV/AIDS support network TALC – Treatment, Advocacy and Literacy Campaign. TALC have supported Charity in living with HIV and have provided training in peer education. She is able to utilize her training in encouraging individuals, in particular those who are disabled and HIV positive like herself, to know their HIV status and to learn how to take care of themselves. Charity also coordinates a HIV/AIDS support group called Hope Support Group, which is an initiative of 12 local farmers within Lusaka West (where Charity resides) that supports those living with HIV and AIDS their area.

5 of 7: Charity speaks about her experiences of being discriminated against due to her disability and in particular is disappointed with the members of a farmers’ cooperative in her area who refused to grant her a loan (in form of farm inputs) due to her disability: “It is time people respected the unique abilities disabled people possess. I am a very hardworking farmer, last season, I had a very good harvest but it is so unfortunate that I could not get a loan. At one moment, a church elder opposed my appointment as a leader in church just because I could not walk. I wonder how much stigma and discrimination my family would suffer, if such people knew my HIV status.”

6 of 7: Since Charity has a healthy CD4 count she does not need Antiretroviral Therapy (ART). She feels that this is as a result of her ‘living positively’ – in particular through a healthy balanced diet of a glass of milk with sweet potatoes (or any fruit) for breakfast, Nshima (Zambian staple food made from maize meal) with either ‘Kapenta’ (a very small fish from the Kariba) ‘Solwezi beans’, meat or any vegetables for lunch and supper.

7 of 7: “Apart from my being HIV positive and disabled, life as a married woman is still the same. I look after my family and do the house chores such as washing plates and cleaning my house. My husband is a busy person and I am glad he always finds time to help with the house chores. I love my family very much because they make my life worth living. I consider myself a lucky woman to have a husband that has accepted my HIV status although he is HIV negative. His care and support saved me from the chains of depression”

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