We decided to do this after meeting and hearing from Gilbbert Momora, our boss and the director of Kwatukumbuchire who we are working with.
Below is an extract from his story - we are hoping to publish either while we are here or shortly after our return to the UK. With World Aids Day (Dec1st) only a few weeks away please read this story and share it.
"I started working for the Machinga food security project as a field officer in 1998 and arranged to marry my first wife. In 1999 we had our first son but he was very sick and I became suspicious of why, so in December I went to the hospital for a HIV test. I went to collect the results in January 2000 and was told that I was HIV positive. I returned home to tell my wife, but she told me she already knew as she had held the baby as it passed away earlier that day. I wanted to tell people of my status but did not want them asking questions of my wife. The only person I told was the pastor of the church. I enrolled in bible school with my wife for the following three years, however during our final year my wife started acting strangely and I was suspicious of a bad spirit. She began preaching Christianity to Muslims, even though I tried to stop her.
My wife and I graduated together in 2003 and our church arranged for us to receive ARVs from a local hospital. My wife refused the drugs and became anaemic. The day before our ordination she went home and did not attend the ceremony, she asked me ‘what’s the point in being ordained when I am going to die in three months?’. Three months later she returned home and told her family she would die on Friday. On Friday morning she came to me and said “I think I should die so you can marry” and later that day she passed.
Later in 2004 I became involved in youth activities and HIV awareness campaigns. I was appointed a youth coordinator and would speak to large groups of people about my status and tell them my story. Someone came to me with vitamin supplements and said “You are not alone, you can live life after this” and I realised many people were living with HIV. My college arranged money for me to but supplementary food which helped meet my nutritional needs.
I graduated from college and faced a lot of stigmatisation, people would say I should not be chosen as a pastor as I have HIV and will die soon. I became a board member for the Malawi Network of Religious Leaders Living with, or personally affected by, HIV (MANERELA+) and started to speak openly about HIV. I visited churches, did interviews for radio stations and attended a state function to speak about HIV which was broadcast on television in 2008.
I have never been in a situation where I thought to myself ‘things are working out’. I struggled through everything, even as a youth co-ordinator, I would submit ideas and proposals for programs but the ideas would be taken and funded elsewhere so I couldn’t do anything.
One time I was sharing my experiences with a group of young people and explained that I could not marry again and a young woman stood up and challenged me, saying that I could. I replied that if she was serious she would write me a letter… and she did. Her name is Gertrude and we are now married. She understood the issue of HIV better than others as several members of her family had died from the virus, but she knew we could live a normal life. We now have two children Hope, 5, and Passion, 1, who are both HIV negative.
I have been doing well since I was diagnosed with HIV in 1999 but recently I have been getting worried. I worked unpaid as a HIV coordinator for two years because the church kept saying the money was coming to pay me, but it never did.
I was called into a meeting recently to be told I was being dismissed by the church and was no longer a pastor. The reasons they gave for my dismissal were trivial; riding a motorcycle assigned to my wife and failing to pay back some debts bought on by working unpaid. I suspect the dismissal was connected to HIV stigma. I do not want to take legal action against them as it does not set a good example for the people. I am hoping they will realise their mistake so I can rejoin the church and maybe one day I will get my money.
When I tested positive for HIV I wanted to bring people together who were living with the virus. People started to come to my house when they discovered they were HIV+ as I was very outspoken about the issue. There were 12 people who would regularly come to discuss issues of HIV so I suggested we formed a group. By 2006 the group was meeting fortnightly at my house and we received training from MANERELA+. Many more people joined the group until there were 32 of us and we looked at getting land so we could meet. The village headman supported the idea and with funds from MANERELA+ we bought a plot of land and built a small structure where we could hold meetings. We took the name Kwatukumbuchire which means ‘remember us’ and started youth activities, adult education, child care and village savings and loans programs to support people in the village. Everyone who works at Kwatukumbuchire is a volunteer, including myself but everyone is struggling and I want to help them.
The church has the ability to fight stigma. There are many programmes out there to support people living with HIV but often they do not reach those most in need. The information is there but people are not empowered to do things on their own. We need to teach them how to fish. I see much dependence, even in the church. People living with the virus can do things, like me. People are surprised when they look at me because I look so well, they do not expect me to have HIV.
I want to help people but I feel like I’m failing to reach them."
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