A day in the life of treatment support workers and treatment mobilisers
Eric Mweemba Nachibanga, Lusaka
"After the morning health talks I go into the counselling room, attending to those with individual questions and offering other counselling services. During such sessions, a lot of burning issues (such as the one below) are raised by clients and this leaves us with mixed feelings and the urge to help them find solutions.
On this day, I attended to two clients. The first was a 30-year-old woman, divorced due to her status and illness. She has a sick one-and-a-half year-old baby and two other children. This is what she had to share with me on stigma from the family:
'I’m facing a great burden of problems with my mother. I feel my mother has been treating me like I am not her daughter. I feel this could lead me to death as I can see it coming. I am responding well to the treatment am taking – I am on Triomune 30 – but the problem is with my mother who blames me from time to time. Mother’s actions will lead me to taking my own life and child’s life. She treats me like a doormat where everyone leaves the dirt from the shoes. My father is very supportive to me and my children. I did not want to get this HIV. I didn’t parade myself before men other than the man of her choice, who I got married to and later divorced because of the illness he brought into the house. This man has made me suffer this stigma from my own family. I am given food and separate dishes with my youngest child away from the rest of the family on marked dishes and utensils. I feel like exploding inside myself from the stigma I suffer. If only I could have someone like you to talk to my family, especially my mother. I see my days to be numbered. Please help me before it is too late.'
I was very touched by this revelation. I made a follow-up visit and shared with the family information on how to support her and on modes of HIV transmission. Today, as I write this short article, my client has been accepted by the family with apologies from the mother.
On the same day, another client shared this about her treatment journey:
'These drugs are really working wonders. Some of us had come to the brink of death, facing bouts of severe diarrhoea and vomiting before ART [anti-retroviral therapy]. I used to soil my pants with loose watery stool before I could even reach the toilet. I did not have strength to spread my bed nor bath myself. But today things have changed for the better. My stomach used to protrude like an anthill and I did not want to eat at all. I used to have a pretty face, but despite being young I started looking an old woman or a monkey. As you look at yourself in the mirror while naked, you can easily get scared of yourself and start thinking ‘What next?’ I weighed as little as a chicken. This morning I can boast that I am weighing more than 40kg from a weight of 27kg. I know God is a miracle performer. For this reason, I have a duty to help those who are in denial to accept their status and encourage others to go for VCT [voluntary counselling and testing].'
These people are now living happily, leading positive lives with support from family members. They are active members of the treatment support group and the Network of Zambian People Living with HIV/AIDS Lusaka chapter."
