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Episode 24 - Stigma and Prejudice

There is a lot of stigma around HIV in South Africa. In some rural communities the virus is even seen as being the result of witchcraft making the HIV sufferer "bewitched".  Besides this it is also seen as a disease that only affects people who are promiscuous, sex workers or homosexuals.  This week on Siyayinqoba Beat It! our support group and guests discuss the stigma attached to HIV/AIDS and if anything in the foreseeable future can be done to alter the mindsets of people who perpetuate these unfortunate views.  Zuki, from the Siyayinqoba Beat It! Outreach team, joins us in studio for this week's show.

Shalom Ncala: Siyanamukela ku Siyayinqoba Beat It! Uhlelo lwawo wonke umuntu ophila nesandulela ngculaza. Abalingane babo, imindeni , nabangani, abasebenza nabo kanye nabasebenzi beze mpilo. Samkela ithimba elisekelayo. Hello. Isandulela ngculaza akusona isigwebo sentambo singanakeleka. Kodwa ke kusekhona ukucwaswa nenzondo mayelana nesisifo. Ukusilekelela ukudingida le ndaba namhlanje sino Zuki Ntshuntsha osuka ethimbeni lika Siyayinqoba Outreach, sawubona Zuki. (IsiZulu) Welcome to Siyayinqoba Beat It! The show for everyone living with HIV, their partners, families, friends, colleagues and health workers. Welcome to the support group. HIV is not a death sentence it can be treated. And yet there is still terrible stigma and prejudice about this disease. To help us discuss these issues today is Zuki Ntshuntsha from the Siyayinqoba Outreach team. Hello Zuki

Zuki Ntshuntsha: Sawubona Shalom. (IsiXhosa) Hello Shalom

Shalom: Ninjani? (IsiZulu) How are you Zuki?

Zuki: Siyaphila Shalom kunjani? (IsiXhosa) I'm very well thank you.

Shalom: Kumnandi ukuba nawe namhlanje. (IsiZulu) It's nice to have you joining us today.

Zuki: Ndiyabulela sisi. (IsiXhosa) Thank you

Shalom: Ibinzane lethu lokuqala namhlanje li lelidabukisayo kakhulu. Livela endaweni encane yase Mpumalanga  Koloni lapho umama osencane athatha khona impilo yakhe kanye neyezingane zakhe emva kokuhlukunyezwa ngumphakathi wakhe. (IsiXhosa) Our first insert today is a very sad story. In a small village in the Eastern Cape a young woman takes her life and those of her children after being ostracized by her community.

Luvuyo Nibe: Namhlanje sikwi lali wase Mtambalala apho usisi Nokuzola Mfiki othe wazibulala yena nabantwana bakhe kuba kusithiwa  ne HIV.(IsiXhosa) Today we're in Mtambalala village where Nokuzola Mfiki killed herself and her children because there were rumors that she's HIV positive.

Zanele Quwesu: uNokuzola ebeyi ndodakazi yam suba enguMampinga. Ebedla ngondibalisela izinto ezimhluphileyo mhlawumbi emphethe kakubi. Yona  le  AIDS iqala ngo February. Waye wafika phaya ekhayawabalisa intoba, sisi kukho usisi una ka Ngqaza  ondifikeleyo, wathi iyu mntaka anti bendiye esifihlweni eMtambalala so njeba bendiye esifihlweni eMtambalala ndive into ebuhlungu into bana le ntombazana imbingcwatywa ibine AIDS so ke iyithatha emyenini wakho. Uthi ke uNokuzola ndathi akukho ngxaki ubalisela mna ke ngoku. Uthi emveni koko wavele watsho isikhalo nje ukukala inyembezi angatso esi sibabazekayo. Uthi uye wakhala wathi ondiyakusizela mntana ka anti kuba uzakufa ushiye izigede zabantwana . (IsiXhosa) Nokuzola was like a sister to me because we shared the same clan name. She would tell me about anything that was troubling her. This AIDS thing started in February. She came to me and told ne that some woman, Ngqaza's mother, came to her and said that she had been at a funeral in Mtambalala and that the lady they were burying died from AIDS and she got lit from Nokuzola's husband. The Nokuzola said ok, no problem. After that, this woman started crying and she said I feel sorry for you because you're going to die and leave your children.

Thelma Mfiki: Uthe ndiyaqonda inokuba kusemva kwenyanga ezintathu okanye yeyesine le, uthe ndiyahlukumezeka xandiya edolophini ngoba ikhona into xandingena emotweni  ufike kukho izagwelo kuthwa " Iyo akanqinanga ngoku iyamtya le AIDS" emveni koba bekukho lentetho yalo makoti. (IsIXhosa) About three or four months back, Nokuzola said she was being tormented when she goes to town. People in the taxi would say things like; "Look at her, she is so thin, this AIDS is killing her." All this after that woman had said what she said.

Vuyo: Abahlali bafumanisa ukuba uNokuzola ulahlekile baqalisa ukumkhangela. (IsiXhosa) The community realized that Nokuzola was missing and people started looking for her.

Ntetho Quwese: Kwafikwa ekuseni kum kwathi kukho umntu olahlekileyo nabantwana bakhe apha phezulu omnye usisi. Senyuka safika kowabo safika sekukhona abantu. Kwathi bekukhangelwa lomntu ubhale incwadi ubhale iileta zide zapha ku 10. Kwafumanisa ukuba ngekhe ezileta umkhondo zimkhomba lomntu kufanele ukuba akhekho ngoluhlobo athetha ngalo ezileteni. Kwathiwa angekhe makhe sitsone apha emahlathini sihambe sifuna. Xa neti ndilapha yini naba ndabona unina loo naba ababantu balele apha. Abantwana bendlalelwe ingubo apha. Beleliswe apha bobane, ingumntwana omdala ngokulandelana kwabo  njengoba ezogcina apha omncinci. (IsiXhosa) They came to me early in the morning and they said this lady had gone missing with her children. We went to her house and there were some people there already. They said the lady had written about ten letters. From what was in the letters, there was an indication that she had passed on. We decided to go to into the bush and look for them.  When I got here, I saw the bodies right there, I saw the mother first. The children were covered in a blanket here. All four of them, from the eldest to the youngest.

Thelma: Uthe ndiyahamba nabo kuba umama akazokwazi ukuba gcina. Ndiyahamba nabo kuba ndiyabathanda andinokwazi ukuba shiya .Ndihamba nabo. Sithi mhlawumbi inoba uhambe nabo mhlawumbi eye kulondawo ayakuyo kanti kungoku ahamba nabo kaloku ukuba bezakufa nabo. Lo mntwana ibilithemba elikhulu lam. (IsiXhosa) She said: "I am taking these children with me because my mother can't look after them. I'm taking them with me because I love them too much. I can't leave them; I'm taking them with me." We thought she had just taken them somewhere. But she meant that they were going to die with her. She was all I had, my only hope.

Pastor: "Bawo othandekileyo siyayifaka lemizimba yabo emhlabeni, kungu mhlaba emhlabeni, kulithuli elithulini, ilithuthu elithuthwini." (IsiXhosa) "We commit these bodies to the ground; earth to earth, dust to dust, ashes to ashes."

Vuyo: uNokuzola utshiya abantwana bakhe bokuqala abathathu abasahlala eMtambalala.(IsiXhosa) Nokuzola leaves behind three other older surviving children who still living in Mtambalala.

Shalom: This is a very troubling insert because yathi  mna xa ndifunda le article on the newspaper it became so real intobana istigma is really there. And it becomes totally totally frustrating for wonke ama effords ayenzakalayo uba we must get rid of stigma if ever smaller communities ezifana neziya zase Mtambalala bavumele yonke lento lena ukuthi yenzekale iyangi disturbing. (IsiZulu) This is a very troubling insert because when I read this article in the newspaper it became so real that stigma is really out there. And it becomes totally frustrating for all the efforts we put in to try and get rid of stigma if ever smaller communities such as Mtambalala are going to allow these things to still happen. It is deeply disturbing.

Zuki: Shalom for me I think as people who are doing treatment literacy in the field. I think that shows ukuba we still have a long way to go, because apparently it is clear that kusekhona abantu that we do not reach nge treatment literacy. Because if lamntu  ebehlala apho sikwaziyo kufikela khona ngemfundiso ze HIV. I don't think lanto ibazaku leader kude kubekhona umntu ozibulalayo ngenxa yokuba kusithiwa une HIV. Even people by looking at the person bagcinga ukubana if ipartner yakho ithe yane HIV okanye someone obene partner yakho uye wabulawa yi HIV then naye uzakubane HIV. Because you can't say umntu une HIV without lamntu being tested for HIV. (IsXhosa) Shalom, I think as people doing treatment literacy in the field think that shows that we still have a long way go because apparently it is clear that there are many people out there that we don't reach with our treatment literacy. If our HIV education reached as far as Nokuzola's area, I don't think there would be rumors and death because of HIV. People just look at you and if your partner r ex has died of HIV, it means you also have HIV. You can't say a person has HIV without the person being tested for HIV.

Shalom: We might be saying in the rural areas but nase malokishini kunzima ukusurviver . I know for a fact mina istory engingakutsela sona ukuthi had we not moved mina ne family yam from ilokis esasihlala kuyo  phayana eKatlehong samuva saya eJameson Park apho sesihlala khona ngoku, kwakuzaba nzima for mna ukuthi ngi dealishe nendaba ye stigma endakuzi experience xa ndipha elokishini. Ikhona lento iyenzeka emalokishini eyenzeka eMakhaya emaphandleni igcwele yonke indawo and people still need not to assume into yokubana hayi uyahamba usibani banyana. Because uyambulala umntu xa uzakumxelela uzakuhamba  just because of HIV. (IsiZulu) We might be saying it's in rural areas but even in the townships, it's hard to survive. I know for a fact that had me and my family not moved from Katlehong to Jameson Park where we stay now, it would have been hard for me to deal with stigma I would have experienced back in the township.  Stigma is alive, in the townships and in the rural areas, it's everywhere and people still need to not assume that a person is dying. You are the one killing the person by saying they're going o die Just because of HIV.

Busi Maqungo: Into endinokuyithetha mna is that okokuqala nge- efforts esele sizenzile nesizenzayo to try and fight istigma intoba masingabikho one would think you know intoba us sitting here as Siyayinqoba nezinye iprogrammes ezikhoyo abantu trying to come out about i-HIV status zabo, trying to show ebantwini ekuqhibeleni i-HIV is not about dying, not about getting thin, is not about getting sick  and all those things. It makes me feel as a person ohambe yonke lomgama into yoba onke okoselendikwenzile ku useless because  it doesn't reach aba bantu endifuna ihambe iyokufikelela kubo. So  what is it exactly that I ‘m doing xa kanti kukho abantu aba sa stigmatize abanye abantu , kusekho abantu abasa khokelela ekubeni abanye abantu bade bayasweleka .(IsiXhosa) For all the efforts we've made and still are making to try and fight stigma, one would think that us sitting here as Siyayinqoba and other programmes, people trying to come out about their status, trying to show others that HIV is not about dying, not about getting thin, it's not about getting sick and all those things. It makes me feel as a person who puts in all this effort like all that I have done is useless because it doesn't reach all the people I want to reach. So what is it exactly that I'm doing if we still have people stigmatizing others, if we still have people dying because of stigmas?

Andile Madondile: Kwi family yam ndithetha nge family yam ebenye qha umntu ebe supportive ngumama ekude ese Welkom but abantwana  basekhaya  mna bendisebenzisa ipayinti yam, ipayinti yam ide yafakwa ipayinti . That is where nam I decided to take my life but luckily I thought I had looked the door  you see . But umntwana yam wabuya wangena xa efika xa ndiqalisayo ukuthi ndiyajinga kanye. Wakwaza umntwana utata uyajinga ineighours zaphuma zahi haybo meza kwazi ukwenza lento. Mna I believe xa ungafani eough support kwi family yakho yenye yezinto ezilidishela ukuthi ufune ukuzibulala. (IsiXhosa) In my family only one person was ever supportive to me, my mother all the way from Welkom and none of my other siblings. I had my own mug; it was ever marked with paint. That's when I even decided to take my life, but luckily I thought I had locked the door. My daughter walked in just as I was hanging from the roof and she called the neighbors' to come and stop me.  I believe that not getting enough support from you own family is one of the things that lead to people taking their lives.

Shalom: Unganyakazi , sizobuya khona maduzane. (IsiZulu) Don't go away, we'll be right back.

Shalom: Siyanamukela futhi ku Siyayinqoba Beat It! Sikhuluma ngokucwasa kanye nenzondo ngesandulela ngculaza. Ekhe sibheke  ibinza lethu elilandelayo. (IsiXhosa) Welcome back to Siyayinqoba Beat It! We are talking about stigma and prejudice still associated with HIV. Let's go and watch our next story.

Luvuyo Nibe: Namhlanje sikwi sikolo sase Ngcaka eMtambalala, silandela u-TAC efundisa abantu ge HIV/AIDS.(IsiXhosa) Today we're at Ngcaka High School in Mtamabalala, following the Treatment Action Campaign educating people about HIV and AIDS.

TAC member: Isandla phaya ndikunotile miss. Mandikhombe esiya nondoda (IsiXhosa) I want hands, teacher you are noted. Come boy, say something?

Azola Dyumani: Ukuwazi kwam isehlo  sehla pha kwa Mamu Mfiki, into eyabangela lanto kungakwazi uku umntu  athi xa ephoxhwe yinto angakwazi ukuyiphuhlisa komnye umntu. Yilanto eyabangela ukuba ade umntu abe ne stress ade abe wenza esasehlo (IsiXhosa) From what I heard about what happened to the Mfiki family, it happened because of the trauma that we sometimes can't even talk about. That can cause stress and lead to someone doing something like this.

TAC member: Wayephoxwe yintoni? (IsiXhosa) What made her unhappy?

Azola: Wayephoxwe lilizwi elasuka emntwini lokuba une HIV(IsiXhosa) Someone who sais she was HIV positive.

Nozicelo Mdigi: Namhlanje into endonwabise angankumbi esiyifumene apha kule mfundiso ikhoyo namhlanje kukuba ungaze nakancinci uthi umntu ngokumjonga nje uthi lowa U-HIV positive ngoba lityala elo. (IsiXhosa) What makes me happy about the education we  got her today is that you must never say someone is HIV positive just by looking at them because it is a crime.

Mbuyi selo Dyumani: Mna bendicinga ukubana xa une HIV awukwazi ukuphila nayo, into ithi yenzeke uyafa kuphela . So ndiye ndafunda namhlanje intonabana uyakwazi ukuphila unayo. (IsiXhosa) I've always thought that If you have HIV you can't live with others, you just die. But today I learn that you can actually live with HIV.

Nombhaliso Manyola: Mna apha ekuhlaleni besicinga into yokuba umntu one HIV gumntu obokufanele ahambe yedwa pha kude angasondeli kwabanye abantu abangenao i-HIV. Sicinga nento yokuba umntu xa esondela ecakwakhe okanye segula senomzimba omncinci ucinge ukuba uzakosulela xa usondele kuye. (IsiXhosa) In this community we thought that people who have HIV must keep to themselves and not live with those who don't have HIV. We thought that of we came close to them when they're sick and skinny, we would also get sick.

TAC member: Xa une HIV okanye omnye wakhowenu ene HIV ayithethi ukuthi maka isolate iyithethi ukuthi ngoku akasengomntu ayitheth akafanelanga ukuthi ahlale nani. Ukuba ngu bhuti wethu isengu bhuti wethu. Ukuba gumama wethu isegu mama wethu. Ukuba ngusisi wethu isengu sisi wethu, ekufuneka qha kukuba sim supporter. So ngethemba ke bafundi ke siphindela emakhaya sibanike uthando olwathando uvela umnika lona useza kuqhubelaka umnika lona okukho nto itsintsileyo siyayibona lento. (IsiXhosa) If you or one of your family members has HIV, it doesn't mean that you must be isolated or that you're not human anymore. If it's our brother, he's still our brother. If it's our mother, she is still our mother. If it's our sister, she is still our sister, all we need to do is support them. So I hope we're going to go back home and love them just the same.

Vuyo: Amanye amalungu ka TAC angene kwindlu ngendlu efundisa uluntu. Amalungu ka TAC aye kwikliniki ekwi lali yaseMtambalala ethetha nezigulane kwi gumbi lokulinda. (IsiXhosa) Some of the TAC activists went door to door to educate the community. The TAC activists also went to a clinic in the area and spoke to patients in the waiting room.

Thandeka Vinjwa: Njengokuba silapha sinxeba ezi zikipha ezibhalwe HIV positive siyayibona. Esi sehlo sehlayo apha eMtambalala sokuswela kwabantu abayi 5 ingamarhe okuba lasisi wayephila nentsolongwane kagawulayo bubukho bethu apha sizokukhusela eminye imiphefumlo esenoba ngaphezulu kwaleyana mhlawumbi . So sizokuthi kuni kwanele ngamangcwaba abantu abasweleka ngenxa yokuhletywa ngabantu. (IsiXhosa) We're here in our "HIV Positive "t-shirts. This tragedy of five people dying because of rumors that the woman was HIV positive, that's why we are here today, to prevent more deaths. We say enough with people dying because of all the gossiping.

Pholokgolo Ramothwala: (SeSotho) Sometimes we underestimate the power of ignorance and how much the power of ignorance can fuel stigma in a community and especially in a small community. Busi you said you were disappointed to see something like that and what  you're doing .We need  more of  us, we need more people who can go into a community  because television sometimes doesn't reach everybody

Busi: And kulusizi ukwazi kude kwathatha isedlo esinjeyana sika Nokuzola khona ukuze i- organization ezinje ngo Siyayiqoaba no TAC  babe kanti baphindela back kwi communities kuyo kwenziwa aba door to door campaign ibe yona i-damage seyenzekile. Mna lonto leyo indivisa ubuhlungu kakhulu because yonke lanto leyana ka sisi Nokuzola ibonakalisa intoba asikabiphi nomsebenzi esiwenzayo. (IsiXhosa) And it's sad to see that it took something like Nokuzola's story for organizations such as Siyayinqoba and TAC to go back to the communities and do these door to door campaigns, after all the damages has been done. It just makes me sad because it shows that we haven't done enough.

Pholokgolo: (SeSotho) Another thing from the insert is the importance of community involvement. I agree that it happened and there's nothing we can do about it but community involvement and the action that TAC took after wards, you at least start looking at addressing fears or whatever that causes stigma in that community.

Busi: It used to make me feel happy xa ndihamba down the road ndidibane nomntu akuxele ukubana Busi ndikwazela kwa Beat It and i-show yenu indinceda ngoluhlobo noluhlobo noluhlobo yenze oko. But ngoku xa kuza kuthi kwenzeke lento siza kukhumbula kwezinye zencwadi ezibhalelwe uSiyayinqoba recently about losisi ulipolisa ebe sms the sms thing it wasn't a letter ukuba she was about to do the same thing as Nokuzola ezakuzibulala ngompu yomsebenzi and ekhulelwe . Xa waye sandula ukufumanisa ukuthi she is HIV positive incidentally kwabe kudlala i-show ka Siyayinqoba I think it was a PMTCT show or something like that but ke wathi ehleli nompu apha ecaleni kwakhe  I actually spoke to her on the phone intoba wathi ehleli nompu apha ecaleni kwakhe zakuzibulala kwavela uSiyayinqoba and lonto leyo yawujika umqondo wakhe and namhlanje ukhona umntwana is two years and there are happy and all those things. (IsiXhosa) It used to make me feel happy when I walked down the road and someone comes up to me and says "Busi I know you from Beat It! And your show has helped me in this and that way.  But when I see things like this. You will remember one of the letters written to Siyayinqoba recently about this police woman, sorry it was an sms not a letter, she was also about to do the same thing that Nokuzola did. She was about to kill herself with her state issue firearm and she was pregnant. She had just found out that she's HIV positive, incidentally a Siyayinqoba programme came on air, I think it was a PMTCT show or show something like that but she had the gun in her hand, I actually spoke to her on the phone, a Siyayinqoba show came on and she changed her mind. She's still alive, her baby is two years old, they're happy ands all those things.

Shalom: Culturally there are still things that actually give right to stigma. Ama believe ethu thina njengabantu they actually bring rise to stigma because ukubangabe umntu uthi ngiphathwa yikhanda ini ini people are never going to thing of some other opportunistic infections. Bathini hayi abaphantsi bayakufuna, uyaphahlelwa uyathwasa yiyiyi (IsiZulu) Culturally there are still things that actually give right to stigma. Our beliefs as people actually give rise to stigma because if someone says they have a headache; people are never going to think of some or other opportunist infection. They will say it's the ancestors; they are calling you and things like that.

Zuki: In rural areas they don't know about HIV. Even if you have TB then kusakuthiwa ukatywe yimpundulu that's what they say. Treatment literacy it can go a long way and iyakwazi uku cutter down stigma on its own, ungakhange nje uthethe nge stigma because if umntu uya understander I science yezigulo then abantu bazokwazi uku understander, ukubangabe umntu une TB  then umcacisele impawu ze TB umntu uzo understander ukuthi yi TB leyo aikatywanga yimpundulu. Because if okhe nje wakhohlela igazi then ukhatywe yimpundulu ezilalini  and apho kufuneka iye khona kufuneka iye kwamabani okanye kufuneka uye kwi sangoma uyonyangwa khona, of which kwalomayeza lawo aso nokwenza ugule worse . (IsiXhosa) In the rural areas they don't know about HIV. Even if you have TB they say you are bewitched. That's what they say. Treatment literacy can go a long way and cut down stigma on its own, without having to talk about stigma specifically because if people understand the science of diseases, they will understand that if you have TB you're not bewitched. If you start coughing blood, they say you're bewitched and the only place you go for help is to some sangoma, whose medicine even makes you worse.

Shalom: Sisa thatha   ikefu eliphuthumayo Siyabuya khona manje (IsiZulu) We're taking a quick break, be back now.

Shalom: Siyanamukela futhi ku Siyayinqoba Beat It! Sikhuluma ngokugcwasa ne nenzondo akoyanyiswe ne sandulela ngculaza kanye nendlela zokubhekana nesisifo. Akhe sibheke udaba lwethu olulandelayo. (IsiZulu) Welcome back to Siyayinqoba Beat It! We're talking about the stigma and prejudice still associated with HIV. Let's take a look at our next insert.

Luvuyo Nibe: uSiyayinqoba undwendwele uJonny Steinberg, ongumbhali omkhulu eMzantsi Africa. Sithe sambuza nge ncwadi yakhe  ethi Three Letter Plauge ebhalelwe eLusikisiki. Simbuze nge Stigma kwilali sase Lusikisiki. (IsiXhosa) Siyayinqoba visited Jonny Steinberg, one of the big writers in South Africa. We asked him about his book, the Three Letter Plague based in Lusikisiki. We ask him about stigma in Lusikisiki village.

Jonny Steinberg: You I could have written a book about an activist and that would have been writing a book about a tiny minority of people in Lusikisiki. For the 18 months that I was there, there were maybe at most 35, 40 very active members of the Treatment Action Campaign in a population of a hundred and fifty thousand people. The work they were doing was magnificent but it was not representative. I spent 18 months in and out of the village and found that once medicine had been there for a while for 2 to 3 years everybody knew about it.  Most people's conception of AIDS had been radically changed by it and expanded by it.  Most people knew where to go and get treatment but many, many people would see treatment in secret because they still feel heavy, heavy stigma or they would not see treatment at all. That is such a striking story despite the presences of MSF, despite the great deal of knowledge and education, so many people I met still feel a huge burden of stigma. And not to write about that would have been crazy. That was one of the striking things I saw a great deal of staff s happens between people, which is fine if people are not spoken about it.  And AIDS kind of blows it all up. It blows all the cover all the discretion away. And I think for the woman with HIV becomes an escape goat for huge amount of male fear about woman that is so carefully and gently pushed under the carpet under normal circumstance. One of the things that I discovered in Lusikisiki is that you can have huge stigma but if people know that treatment is a walking distance so many will go and get it. Even if they are modified, ashamed or humiliated many won't go and get it for those reasons but many will because it is there. Communicating is hard communication about sex is hard about death is hard. There are many people you won't reach but if you have excess then everybody can go everyone can choose their own way to go.

Pholokgolo: (SeSotho) From Jonny's inset the first thing I would like o say is there s a huge difference between HIV and AIDS. A person who's got HIV does not have AIDS! That's one of the things that increase stigma, in my opinion. If someone says you have AIDS whereas you have HIV, you start associating it with death. Another important point that Jonny made, it shows that even if you cab bring mobile clinic, with ARVs, a VCT centre and so on, people don't understand the issues, you'll have that building or mobile unit for five days and nobody will come, mainly because we don't challenge some of the issues affecting us in our houses, we don't challenge the issues that our own communities we see as more important than our health.

Zuki: Yazi I have a story of someone we were in a workshop and then someone asked a question yokuthi ndinga disclose njani xa abantu behleba ngam gossiping around nge status sam? I had a different answer. But umntu owamphendulayo who is also HIV positive wathi then baxelele ukuthi you are HIV positive. If you stood there wabaxelela intobana you are HIV positive akhekho umntu ozakuhlela ngoba bayive ngawe ukuba u HIV positive and for me I had a different answer ndaqonda ukuba I mean unyanisile. (IsiXhosa) I had a story about someone we were in workshop and someone asked; "how can I disclose if people are already gossiping around about my status?" I had a different answer but someone who is HIV positive said just tell them that you are HIV positive. If you stood there and told them that you are HIV positive, nobody will gossip because they heard it from you. I had a different answer but that to me made sense.

Andile: Ngalendlela uyibeka ngayo indlela nam endathi ndakwazi ukuthi ndiphume ngayo kwi community yam. Ndaya nje kwi public meeting bangakuxelela yayi yi meeting ebusuku ndaya kulameeting ndabaxelela ukuthi I am HIV positive. Emva koko kwathuleka we gcwaka akwabikho nto ndaphuma. I would encourage nabanye benu bahambe bayo testa kwangethuba kungekabikho late. (IsiXhosa) What Zuki just said now is the same wasy I came out to my community. There was a public meeting, I went there and I said I'm HIV positive. After that, the whole room went silent and I said I will encourage that all of you go and get tested in good time because for me, it was quite late.

Shalom: Ukucwasa nenzondo mayelana nesandulele ngculaza kunganqotywa ngokubonisa singaphila izimpilo eziphepile nezinomvuzo sine sandulela ngculaza. Sonke silapha kwelithimba likhuthazayo le Siyayinqoba Beat It! Sesiphile nesandulela ngculaza iminyaka eminingi manje. Njengokubana sesibonile ukucwasa kanye nenzondo okungazi okubulalayo hayi isandulela ngculaza. Singathatha ukuzwa kuni lapha ku Siyayinqoba Beat It! Sibhaleleni kuleminini ngwaneni evele kumabonakude wenu njengamanje . Sizobuya ngesikhatji esifanayo kona lapha ngesonto elizayo. Khumbula zivikele uvikele nabenanye. Protect yourself, protect others. Kuze kube ngokuzayo bye. Bye  (IsiZulu) Stigma and prejudice about HIV can be defeated by showing that we can live a healthy and productive lives with HIV . All of us in the Siyayinqoba Beat It! support group have been living with HIV for many years now. As we have seen today, it is stigma and ignorance that kills, not HIV. We love to hear from you at Siyayinqoba Beat It!  Drop us a line at the details on your screen now. We will be back same time same place next week, remember, protect yourself and protect others. Until next time bye bye!