Victoria
Publicly disclosing one’s HIV-positive status takes strength.Disclosing it in a country where the public still believes myths like AIDS is spread with just a touch is nothing short of heroic.
Yet that is exactly what Victoria,a participant in Project HOPE’s Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) program in Namibia,has done.
Victoria,a wife,mother of two,and new entrepreneur,is HIV positive.So are her husband and three sisters.Thankfully,her two daughters tested negative.
Through willpower and initiative,Victoria and her family started a new life after illness caused by HIV compromised her husband’s ability to work.As part of the program,Victoria received a small loan which she used to buy stock for her shop.Successfully repaying the first loan qualified her for a second,which will further support her store.
The OVC program not only enabled Victoria to provide income for her family,but also equipped her with health education.Motivated by the “positive living” messages endorsed by the program,she began collecting information on HIV and AIDS,cooking healthier food and even started caring for others within as well as outside her immediate family.When her sister’s grandson suffered from malnutrition,for example,Victoria took the six-year-old boy to her house and nursed him back to health.
Perhaps most amazing,however,is how Victoria bravely disclosed her HIV status to her community,though she knew she would face a lot of stigma and rejection.But Victoria persevered with courage and managed to win the trust of many people.Today she is proudly leading an HIV support group of nearly 50 women and three men.
Victoria and her husband are now on an antiretroviral treatment program,which has considerably improved their health.Victoria says social work as well as her new business have changed her life.“I have become much more self-confident and economically independent,” she says with a big smile.
In spite of the obvious hardships,Victoria says she is happy.The money she makes with her little shop not only pays for her children’s school fees and the family’s medical care,but also enables all of them to lead healthy lives with dignity.And whatever money is left at the end of the month Victoria uses for her HIV support group.She is convinced:“Without Project HOPE all this would have never been possible.”
