Born with HIV, now 23
Sep 29, 2007
MARTHA Naigwe was born with HIV. On Tuesday she will celebrate her 23rd birthday. Never did she know she would reach this age. “It is just God… It’s a miracle,†says Martha. “Many of my friends with whom I used to get treatment at the Mildmay Centre have died.
By Harriette Onyalla
MARTHA Naigwe was born with HIV. On Tuesday she will celebrate her 23rd birthday. Never did she know she would reach this age. “It is just God… It’s a miracle,†says Martha. “Many of my friends with whom I used to get treatment at the Mildmay Centre have died.
Everytime I heard that someone had died, I would think I was next. That night, I would hardly sleep fearing that I might die in my sleep.â€
Martha’s father passed away in 1995 and her mother in 1999. They both died of AIDS.
Soon, Martha started falling ill frequently. Her aunt, a nurse, later took her for a test and she was HIV positive.
Of seven children, Martha, who is the fourth born, was the only one infected.
Martha was 14 when she was told she had HIV. Being an adolescent and in S2, the news hit her hard.
“I did not know what HIV was so I wondered why my aunt broke down crying,†she says.
However, Martha asked her friends back at school. What she heard sent her into despair.
“I couldn’t handle the pain of knowing that I didn’t have a future. You fear to dream because you know that your days are numbered. The shock never left.
“But what hurt most was knowing that it was mainly transmitted through sex and I had never had sex. When I learnt that I got the disease at birth, I got very angry.
“I prayed that my parents should come back to life so that I could ask them. You see, there is a difference between a sexually active young person getting HIV and one who is born with it,†she says.
Martha spent the next year ill and out of school. “Getting to know that you are HIV positive makes people think about death. You see no future for yourself but that should not be the case,†Martha, who is now a volunteer at the Mildmay Center, says.
Today, she is undertaking a guidance and counselling course.
She wants to spend her time instilling hope in young people living with HIV; convincing them that HIV infection is not necessarily a death sentence.
Martha has also become an AIDS activist, campaigning for more children to receive live-prolonging treatment and care.
Zeal? Yes. Martha is living her life. She is no longer afraid that she is going to die. She believes she will soon sweep Mr. Right off his feet and together they will make a family.
Her smile is infectious. Her beautiful, big eyes, adorable; she tells of how her ‘team’ (friends) invited her to ‘party’ at Club Silk yesterday (Friday) night.
But what really stands out for Martha is her bravery in telling people that she is HIV positive. When boys make advances and she tells them her HIV status, many say she is just evading them.
“I have saved many lives. In fact, some boys don’t believe until I show them my results. Some of them remain friends but others begin shunning me. That is the dilemma young HIV positive people face,†she says.
Like Martha, Lillian was born with HIV. Lillian, a computer science graduate, is 25. Unlike Martha, she does not have the courage to declare her status in the press.
She has faced a lot of discrimination from society since childhood. They stare at her. In childhood parents carried off their children so they would not play with her.
Lillian lost her mother in 1986, and her father in 1987. Her younger brother, Edmond, died the following year.
“So what is death?†Lillian kept wondering. When she finally asked, her aunt said death is when you go to heaven to be with Jesus.
But her aunt always rushed her to the hospital at the slightest sign of illness, ‘so that she would not die’.
This meant Lillian was constantly taking some kind of medication.
“So why don’t I stop taking these medicines so that I can go to Jesus,†she asked one day. Her aunt burst out wailing so loud the whole neighbourhood gathered.
“I ran and hid under my aunt’s bed.
I thought I must have done something terrible to make her cry like that. I heard people outside asking my cousins if I had died. Those are the same people who never allowed me to play with their children.
“I wished I could die, may be Jesus would allow me to play with his children. I closed my eyes, praying that I would die. I must have slept off.
“The next morning I awoke with a start. Sunshine was coming in through the door. Then I heard my aunt’s voice. Everyone was searching for me. I realised I was still alive. But I learnt never to ask my aunt again about going to Jesus,†says Lillian.
Dr. Addy Kekitiinwa, Director of the Baylor Paediatric Infectious Diseases Clinic (PIDC) at Mulago Hospital attributes Martha’s and Lillian’s long survival to the fact that their HIV status was known early enough and they got the right care.
She says normally in developing countries like Uganda half of the children born with HIV die by the age of two and two thirds die by the age of three. However, with proper medication, good nutrition and general care, they grow into adulthood.
“People did not imagine that these children would grow beyond that age,†she says. “I think they will live like any other person and die of other causes, not HIV.â€
For instance at PIDC, doctors have been studying a cohort of 150 HIV positive children in Kampala, who have been monitored since the age of six weeks.
“It is now three years and none of them has passed away due to AIDS, yet without treatment 66% of them would be dead by now,†says Kekitiinwa.
She recommends early testing, taking the prescribed medication faithfully, basic health care habits such as using a mosquito net or drinking clean water, and a balanced diet with sufficient protein. “Children with HIV need more protein than other children,†she says.
Currently over 5,000 children living with HIV are getting care from PIDC. About 600 of these are aged over 10.
According to Dr. Bernard Okongo the Country Director of Uganda Cares, about 700 children are getting care from their centers countrywide. “HIV/AIDS is just a chronic disease. It means someone can live with it for many years,†says Okongo.
Another 700 adolescents aged between 13 to 19 years old are receiving care from Mildmay center in Kajjansi on the Kampala – Entebbe highway.
Countrywide, about 140,000 children aged 15 and below are living with HIV. Each year, another 25,000 babies are born with HIV in Uganda.
However, thanks to new knowledge and life-prolonging drugs, it will be possible for them to grow into adulthood provided their status is known early enough.
MARTHA Naigwe was born with HIV. On Tuesday she will celebrate her 23rd birthday. Never did she know she would reach this age. “It is just God… It’s a miracle,†says Martha. “Many of my friends with whom I used to get treatment at the Mildmay Centre have died.
Everytime I heard that someone had died, I would think I was next. That night, I would hardly sleep fearing that I might die in my sleep.â€
Martha’s father passed away in 1995 and her mother in 1999. They both died of AIDS.
Soon, Martha started falling ill frequently. Her aunt, a nurse, later took her for a test and she was HIV positive.
Of seven children, Martha, who is the fourth born, was the only one infected.
Martha was 14 when she was told she had HIV. Being an adolescent and in S2, the news hit her hard.
“I did not know what HIV was so I wondered why my aunt broke down crying,†she says.
However, Martha asked her friends back at school. What she heard sent her into despair.
“I couldn’t handle the pain of knowing that I didn’t have a future. You fear to dream because you know that your days are numbered. The shock never left.
“But what hurt most was knowing that it was mainly transmitted through sex and I had never had sex. When I learnt that I got the disease at birth, I got very angry.
“I prayed that my parents should come back to life so that I could ask them. You see, there is a difference between a sexually active young person getting HIV and one who is born with it,†she says.
Martha spent the next year ill and out of school. “Getting to know that you are HIV positive makes people think about death. You see no future for yourself but that should not be the case,†Martha, who is now a volunteer at the Mildmay Center, says.
Today, she is undertaking a guidance and counselling course.
She wants to spend her time instilling hope in young people living with HIV; convincing them that HIV infection is not necessarily a death sentence.
Martha has also become an AIDS activist, campaigning for more children to receive live-prolonging treatment and care.
Zeal? Yes. Martha is living her life. She is no longer afraid that she is going to die. She believes she will soon sweep Mr. Right off his feet and together they will make a family.
Her smile is infectious. Her beautiful, big eyes, adorable; she tells of how her ‘team’ (friends) invited her to ‘party’ at Club Silk yesterday (Friday) night.
But what really stands out for Martha is her bravery in telling people that she is HIV positive. When boys make advances and she tells them her HIV status, many say she is just evading them.
“I have saved many lives. In fact, some boys don’t believe until I show them my results. Some of them remain friends but others begin shunning me. That is the dilemma young HIV positive people face,†she says.
Like Martha, Lillian was born with HIV. Lillian, a computer science graduate, is 25. Unlike Martha, she does not have the courage to declare her status in the press.
She has faced a lot of discrimination from society since childhood. They stare at her. In childhood parents carried off their children so they would not play with her.
Lillian lost her mother in 1986, and her father in 1987. Her younger brother, Edmond, died the following year.
“So what is death?†Lillian kept wondering. When she finally asked, her aunt said death is when you go to heaven to be with Jesus.
But her aunt always rushed her to the hospital at the slightest sign of illness, ‘so that she would not die’.
This meant Lillian was constantly taking some kind of medication.
“So why don’t I stop taking these medicines so that I can go to Jesus,†she asked one day. Her aunt burst out wailing so loud the whole neighbourhood gathered.
“I ran and hid under my aunt’s bed.
I thought I must have done something terrible to make her cry like that. I heard people outside asking my cousins if I had died. Those are the same people who never allowed me to play with their children.
“I wished I could die, may be Jesus would allow me to play with his children. I closed my eyes, praying that I would die. I must have slept off.
“The next morning I awoke with a start. Sunshine was coming in through the door. Then I heard my aunt’s voice. Everyone was searching for me. I realised I was still alive. But I learnt never to ask my aunt again about going to Jesus,†says Lillian.
Dr. Addy Kekitiinwa, Director of the Baylor Paediatric Infectious Diseases Clinic (PIDC) at Mulago Hospital attributes Martha’s and Lillian’s long survival to the fact that their HIV status was known early enough and they got the right care.
She says normally in developing countries like Uganda half of the children born with HIV die by the age of two and two thirds die by the age of three. However, with proper medication, good nutrition and general care, they grow into adulthood.
“People did not imagine that these children would grow beyond that age,†she says. “I think they will live like any other person and die of other causes, not HIV.â€
For instance at PIDC, doctors have been studying a cohort of 150 HIV positive children in Kampala, who have been monitored since the age of six weeks.
“It is now three years and none of them has passed away due to AIDS, yet without treatment 66% of them would be dead by now,†says Kekitiinwa.
She recommends early testing, taking the prescribed medication faithfully, basic health care habits such as using a mosquito net or drinking clean water, and a balanced diet with sufficient protein. “Children with HIV need more protein than other children,†she says.
Currently over 5,000 children living with HIV are getting care from PIDC. About 600 of these are aged over 10.
According to Dr. Bernard Okongo the Country Director of Uganda Cares, about 700 children are getting care from their centers countrywide. “HIV/AIDS is just a chronic disease. It means someone can live with it for many years,†says Okongo.
Another 700 adolescents aged between 13 to 19 years old are receiving care from Mildmay center in Kajjansi on the Kampala – Entebbe highway.
Countrywide, about 140,000 children aged 15 and below are living with HIV. Each year, another 25,000 babies are born with HIV in Uganda.
However, thanks to new knowledge and life-prolonging drugs, it will be possible for them to grow into adulthood provided their status is known early enough.