Mariana

Mariana is a thin, yet strong appearing woman with kindness in her eyes. She has lived in her current village for the past five years, moving there when she remarried after her first husband died of AIDS. It is a natural fit as she had grown up in the Kabwe area. She too is HIV positive and has known her status for eight years, and it is only in the past three that she has needed the readily available anti-retroviral medications. She and her husband live a simple life of subsistence farming of maize, ground nuts, sweet potatoes, and a small vegetable garden. Even though I had to pry it out of her, she does have dreams outside of her village. She has a strong desire to rid the country of the stigma associated with HIV and is currently volunteering at a rural health center doing VCT (Voluntary Counseling and Testing) three days a week. She wishes she could go somewhere to receive further training and move up in the ranks of VCT.

When I asked her about her family, she told me how she was one of seven children to her parents. At this point there are only four of them left; she has lost three siblings as well as her mother and father. One of her sister’s died after giving birth—she had a c-section and afterwards developed an infection that took her life. I try not to flinch when she tells me another sister was lost to AIDS, and the other sibling was lost to cerebral malaria. The thirty year old does not waiver a bit. This much death in a family is the norm here, and I am reminded of this throughout the afternoon as I hear more and more stories that are the same.

One thing that has gone right for her is her own experience with childbirth. She always went to the nearest clinic or hospital and has suffered no complications. This is unusual as most women in her village deliver at home. They either don’t have transportation, or the roads are too terrible during the rainy season as small streams form that wash away small bridges. Mariana hopes that we can help her village by getting more women to come to the clinic and is willing to help us any way she can.

Life has not been easy for her, but she always remembers her drive to help her fellow man. She does important work by facilitating VCT, and is willing to do whatever it takes to end the stigma against HIV/AIDS. As for her children, her wish for them is simple. She wants them all to get the opportunity to be educated through twelveth grade. No dreams of astronauts and doctors, just a high school education. And when pressed further for what kind of work she hopes her children will one day do? Again she thinks of others. She hopes they end up working for the Ministry of Health.