|
Survivor Lends a Strong Hand By Ferial Haffajee JOHANNESBURG - In her Transnet office at the 54-floor Carlton Centre in Johannesburg, Maria Ndlovu, the assistant manager of the parastatal's Education for AIDS Project works to deshroud AIDS. She is a towering figure of empowerment in a battle against the epidemic in South Africa - her mission given impetus by her own experience. "I was dying to talk to someone who was HIV-positive, to ask them 'Is what I'm feeling HIV'. But they were so silent, so gloomy, so sad. It was as if they were waiting for the electric chair," she recalls of her first visit in 1996 to a support clinic at the H F Verwoerd hospital in Pretoria. Ndlovu was raped at her flat in Pretoria and contracted HIV from the rapist. Caught in the crosswinds of myth, prejudice and denial, the other people at the clinic would not engage in the spirit of community she was looking for. The Whites created a psychological distance - "as if they were not part of us HIV-positive" people - and the Blacks, kept their replies to her curious questions curt and quick. South Africa has one of the highest HIV/AIDS rates in the world, but the epidemic is still shrouded in shame and myth. According to UNAIDS, 19.9 percent of adults in South Africa are infected with HIV. With a total of 4.2 million infected people, South Africa has the largest number of people living with HIV/AIDS in the world, as well as one of the world's fastest-growing epidemics, UNAIDS data shows. One in four South African women between ages 20 and 29 are infected with the virus. Today, Ndlovu is a picture of living positively with HIV. Her neat earrings, black suit and a gold slit tooth reveal a certain style. She is the beneficiary of what must certainly rank as a best practice HIV/AIDS project-The Greate Involvement of People (GIPA) In South Africa, UNAIDS modified the programme to place individuals in business. Along with Ndlovu, eight other members are placed in disparate companies across the economy. Workplaces seemed a good choice. Research was beginning to show just how severely business was being impacted by the epidemic. GIPA advertised for people living with HIV/AIDS and Ndlovu was among those who applied. She succeeded and in 1999, she was employed by Transnet, a transport parastatal. The GIPA programme has given Ndlovu and the other participants the voice to go out to cut through silence by tackling prejudice at the workplace. This is important, because one of the reasons for the silence is the fear of losing your job. "It's important for the business sector to get involved. It's no longer a health issue, it's a business issue. We have to deal with absenteeism, rising medical aid costs and about retaining skills." Ndlovu apologises as she takes the third call during our interview. These are either from employees who are HIV-positive; or from those affected because they are caring for family with AIDS. A secretary knocks on her door, getting her to check a new aspect of the company's HIV/AIDS policy. In her two years at Transnet, Ndlovu has become integrated and integral to Transnet's response to HIV/AIDS - a core function of the GIPA programme. "I walk my talk," says Ndlovu, explaining her success. She has used internal communication tools like the magazines of Metrorail, Spoornet and Transnet to let staff know she is there for them. She gives talks and seminars every week. A recent secretary's conference elicited several disclosures from those present and also made her a range of new friends. "They call to say 'how are you' or send me press-cuttings on HIV. They now know there's me and I've been told that simply seeing me does make a difference." The GIPA participants also become a quietly effective "drop-in" counselling service for colleagues, so building exactly the kind of supportive work environment that encourages others to find out their HIV status, and manage their health. A cleaner at Transnet got to know Ndlovu and confided that her daughter was very ill, in and out of hospital, and confined to bed. Her boyfriend had died of AIDS, yet the girl denied the disease. Ndlovu visited their home and related her story. She told the young woman of her rape in 1996, the subsequent AIDS test and the cold realisation that she was HIV-positive. "So am I," said the girl, a response that freed her mother from questioning, to effectively caring for her daughter until her death a few months later. "Sometimes I really think I was meant to be where I am," says Ndlovu. Her impact extends beyond Transnet. On top of her immense personal talent, GIPA has given her the tools to play a bigger role in society. Ndlovu regularly speaks at seminars and she counsels. She attributes her success to the fact that, "I have discovered that simply seeing and hearing me can make a difference," she says of her work. Ndlovu looks good because she takes care of herself. She is not on antiretrovirals, but swears by vitamin and herbal supplements. She says that visible programmes like GIPA are important. She remembers her first weeks with AIDS when bad medical experience followed bad medical experience. Her doctor did not offer counselling, her experience at the hospital was alienating and terrifying. "The first thing I thought was ÔI'm going to die'. The
medical profession has, in the main, mismanaged the disease,"
she says. " The language of AIDS must change. No disease should
victimise anyone." |
|
|