Affected by Hiv&Aids!

Hiv&aids hit home.

It's been years since I've known about this virus but I have never been really affected. I would wear the Red Ribbon on World Aids day but I'd be wearing it just to show support that wasn't really from the depth of my heart. I'm not saying I never cared because I did but I never really understood how much wearing the ribbon mean to people infected and affected by the disease. I'm convinced I'm not the only one who took it lightly. There are people who are not infected but affected who go an extra mile than most of us. I had a neighbour who lost her parents through the disease and she was extremely sensitive when coming to this topic. She worked during the week as a teacher then on weekends she would volunteer at the local clinic to help with Hiv&Aids patients. I didn't understand why she would go there and torture herself that much because all those people there were reminders of how her parents suffered.

I didn't understand until it hit home. My sister fell ill one day and we thought it was just flue but it got worse day by day. The HIV symptoms were all there but we decided to ignore it. She was losing weight,losing appetite,losing hair and her skin was darkening. Eventually walking became hard and she would easily get tired and sweat at night.  She stopped going to work, she didn't go to the clinic immediately because she took her illness to her pastor at church. She thought she would be healed from church. Months passed by and she was getting worse,we were losing her. A year later she went to the clinic and tested positive.

She couldn't believe her ears and eyes and not even counseling helped. From the day she found out she couldn't sleep at night. In her mind she was already dead. She started taking her ARV's but it worsened her situation. She now couldn't hold her bladder so she would pee on herself and next thing she started messing on herself aswell. Her appetite went away completely and her eye sight reduced. One morning she woke up to no voice and sight. We were all scared and rushed her to the local hospital,she got admitted and died a day later.

She found out her status much,much later when the ARV's wouldn't have been of help anymore. The lesson in all this is that we should all get tested   every three months and know our status always. Don't forget to condomise because prevention is better than cure.