This true story is about an HIV positive pregnant mother who told us her fascinating story while she was waiting to get antenatal care.
This mother, who was engaged in housework in Dubai about twenty years ago, was told by her employers to give blood for HIV testing. During that time, since the notion of having housemaids tested for HIV was not new, it did not come to her as a surprise. So, she goes with her employers and gives her blood as requested.
However, what transpired when her test results came was nothing like she had expected. Men wearing masks and dressed in protective clothing come with the police and knock on her door. When she looks through the peephole, she sees the men standing with her employers. Not thinking much of it, she opens the door for them. Once inside, the men notify her that they had come to take her away and recommend she has something to eat first. Perplexed, she thinks someone from her family may have passed and they had come to tell her the merdo – bad news. After she has finished eating, they take her into a closed van and check her into a facility where people like her were held awaiting their deportation. She could not understand what was happening. When she looks at her employers, she sees the wife crying. However, she does not tell her the reason.
After she arrives at the facility, she sees a big poster in the room that reads HIV+ with a red ribbon on it. That is when she realized she was HIV positive and was being deported as a result. No one gave her counseling before or after her test. Devastated by the news and by the way she found out, she resolves never to tell anyone believing she would be stigmatized and ostracized. Her thought was to go to her country and die there.
When she arrives in Ethiopia, there was a popular song that went something like ….”I am finished”… a fitting song, she thought, because in her mind she was finished as well.
As time went by, however, when she sees she was doing well she resolves to work and make a living. Having heard that an HIV positive person should eat well for better health, she decides the best place to do that would be if she worked as a housemaid. Once employed in housework, she tells her employers she can’t prepare raw foods, with the pretext that she was allergic, in fear of transmitting the virus to them. In this way, she worked and lived with the virus for 16 years without having the need to take antiretroviral treatment.
This woman is now married and about to have her second child. She told us that her firstborn was HIV free because she had taken all the necessary precautions. She met her husband when he was very sick after having lost his girlfriend to AIDS. When they met, he had lost all hope of living; he was distraught and not working. Afterwards though, his life has taken a complete turn. She told us, he now works and leads a good and positive life.
Although this woman had not gotten any counseling or support, she was able to lead a positive life. After having known her status, she did not give up. She went on to have her diploma and Bachelor of Arts degree in Management. She now says “being HIV positive doesn’t mean it’s the end of your life, you can definitely live”.
This happy pregnant woman is now getting all the medical help she needs to have an HIV free child for the second time. She told us she lives better than any healthy person. She said “I eat and drink well. I’m healthy and I can live a good life. “Enquliliche!” - A term used to make others envious.
What an impressive and inspiring woman. It was very refreshing to find someone so positive and optimistic about life. Being HIV positive, as the lady said is not the end of the world. If your outlook is right, you can accomplish a great deal and lead a happy and fulfilling life.
