Mugenyi dedicated her life to informing others about HIV/AIDS

Oct 18, 2009

WHEN Sharon Tuhaise ran mad in 2007 and was admitted to Mulago Hospital for three months, nobody imagined she had HIV. It also did not occur to her that she needed to test for HIV/AIDS. But Tuhaise’s condition deteriorated by the day; she developed dia

This year, to commemorate the World AIDS Day, December 1, The New Vision, in conjunction with the parliamentary committee on HIV/AIDs, will award individuals who have played a remarkable role in the fight against HIV in their communities. Profiles of the people nominated by the public will be published every day until end of November.

By Hope Mafaranga
FactFile
Name:,/b> Yayeri Mugenyi, 50 Status: Widow
Post: Counsellor in Kisomoro sub-country
Director, Muhumuza Orphans HIV Group
Patron, Bunyangabo Kunihira HIV Group
Achievement: Encouraged many people to test to avoid infection or infecting others, formed group to look after HIV-positive children and those orphaned by AIDS, and sought treatment for those already infected
Contact: +256782- 024353

WHEN Sharon Tuhaise ran mad in 2007 and was admitted to Mulago Hospital for three months, nobody imagined she had HIV. It also did not occur to her that she needed to test for HIV/AIDS. But Tuhaise’s condition deteriorated by the day; she developed diarrhoea, vomiting and cough and was severely anaemic and dehydrated.

“My mother got tired of looking after me and abandoned me in the hospital. She later picked me up and took me back to the village in Karambi, Kisomoro sub-county in Kabarole district to await death,” Tuhaise narrates.

But while she was on her deathbed, an angel appeared by the name of Yayeri Mugenyi. Mugenyi was Tuhaise’s neighbour in the village. She came to check on her and urged her relatives to take her back to hospital, an idea they all rejected saying it was a waste of time; she was already dead.

“My own mother picked me up from Mulago and took me back to the village to die but this woman with a heart of gold rescued me; in fact she resurrected me from the dead,” she says.

Amidst her relatives’ protests, Mugenyi took Tuhaise to Buhinga Regional Referral Hospital in Fort Portal for an HIV test. Here she was confirmed HIV-positive.

She also had tuberculosis in its late stages and was henceforth put on TB treatment for eight months
“My relatives told Mugenyi that she was wasting her time with a dead person but she insisted and took care of me. If it had not been for her, I would be dead,” she adds.

Willy Rubarama, 40, testified that Mugenyi helped him to keep his wife HIV free. He says in 2000 he started feeling weak and fell sick frequently. Soon he developed rashes allover his body and lost a lot of weight.

Mugenyi approached him and encouraged him to take an HIV test which turned positive.

He says that he was scared to tell his wife about his sero status and pretended as if nothing happened.
“I feared to disclose my status because I was worried she would abandon me with the children,” he says.

Rubarama explains that after Mugenyi disclosed to him her HIV status, he gathered courage and asked his wife to take a test but his wife was tested HIV-negative.

He says his biggest challenge is to make sure that he does not infect his wife with the virus. “I wished I had not asked her to test because she would know that I had been unfaithful to her,” Rubarama says.

Rubarama says Mugenyi counselled and encouraged them to abstain or use a condom which he says has kept his wife HIV-negative for the last eight years.

In 2003 Rubarama was put on antiretroviral treatment and his health has since improved.

He advised discordant couples to be honest and spare their spouses from the virus. He advocates voluntary testing and counselling and openness. “My motto now is: Know you HIV status and declare it.

Mugenyi has also touched the hearts of orphans who are living with HIV.
She formed an NGO, Muhumuza Orphans HIV Group in Ryamabwa, Kabarole district which sources school fees for them.

On unique case is that of Joseph Donald Muhebwa, 17, a P.6 pupil, who lost his parents in 2004 and 2005. When his parents died he started staying with his stepmother but then started falling sick.

His uncle and aunt told him they did not have money and time to waste on child who had “slim”. His worries increased after his stepmother also fell sick. He says he wanted to commit suicide.

“I felt worthless and thought I did not have anything to live for,” he says.
Mugenyi counselled him and took him to Joint Clinical Research Centre (JCRC) in Fort Portal for an HIV test. He is now on ARV treatment and has regained his health.

Prossy Keneema, 29, a mother of four, says she discovered she was HIV-positive during one of her antenatal care visits.

She told Mugenyi to talk to her husband so that he can go for testing. They are members of Bunyangabo Kunihira HIV Group and their main role is to advocate couple testing and encourage people to declare their sero status.

Grace Timbigamba says she stopped taking her drugs because people were telling her the drugs will kill her faster, but Mugenyi told her that she been on ARVs for the last 12 years.

“I am still alive because of Mugenyi. If she had not advised me to stop listening to rumours about ARVs, I would be dead by now,” Timbigamba says.

Mugenyi’s story is that of a life of adventure and boldness. She boldly tells of how she contracted HIV and advises other women and men to desist from living recklessly in order to avoid falling in the same trap.

“I used to bring men in our home whenever my husband was away on safari. My husband was a driver and used to be away for six to eight months in Mombasa and Kigali. I was lonely and at times I felt my husband was also cheating on me so I wanted to revenge.

I would wonder how he could spend more than six months without having sex,” she says.

In 1991, she says she was in Kampala and listened to the late Philly Bongley Lutaaya’s song, Today’s It’s Me, and she was inspired to go for an HIV test.

“When I heard the song I became suspicious because I was sleeping around with so many men,” she recalls.
Mugenyi explains that husband started losing weight in March 1992, but when she requested him to go for an HIV test he declined.

He later told her to go and test herself but warned her not to reveal her results to him.

She says he dropped her at Virika Hospital and gave her sh80,000 for the test. The results took three months to come back at that time.

She explains that her health condition worsened in 1993 after giving birth to their last born. In October 1995, her husband died. She recalls that he was very thin at the time of his death. She too was bed-ridden.

“I was carried to the graveyard to bury my husband because I could not stand up on my own. Our relatives had to stay around after the burial of my husband waiting for me to die so they bury me too,” she says.

Mugenyi decided to disclose her sero status to her sister, brother and children.

“After my husband’s death I picked courage and told those close to me. I promised my children that I would be fine and would take care of them. My children are the reason I am still living,” she adds.

Mugenyi says in 1998 she got skin rashes, diarrhoea and vomiting and had a persistent cough. She was taken to Kilembe Mines Hospital where she was diagnosed with TB. She was hospitalized for three months.

Her suffering did not stop at that; in 2002 she was bed-ridden again this time with meningitis six times consistently. She was in the hospital for eight months.

“Every one knew I would die,” she notes. She says since she started taking ARVs in 2003 her health has improved greatly. She says at that time a dose of ARVs was sh250,000 per month but it kept on reducing until 2007 when she started getting free drugs from JCRC.

Mugenyi discloses that even after declaring her sero status, many men still wanted to inherit her. “Because I was looking health because of ARVs, many men thought I was not telling them the truth. I refused and I told them my husband had died of AIDS and I did not want to infect anyone,” she says.

Mugenyi confesses that she is not very sure whether it was her or her husband who brought the disease in the family but that does not make much sense now. What she wants is to live and help other people to live longer.

“That is my major goal,” she says. I lived recklessly and contracted HIV because I was ignorant and I don’t want anybody to fall in the same trap because of ignorance.”

Mugenyi has formed Muhumuza Orphans HIV Group to help children living with HIV and Bunyangabo Kunihira HIV Group to sensitise the public about HIV/AIDS. The groups have more that 5,000 members.

“My role is to follow up people who have declared their status, and to sensitise the youth about HIV/AIDS. However, one big challenge Mugenyi and her members still face is testing their CD4 account because the machine at Buhinga hospital broke down a year ago. They have to pay sh11,000 to have their CD4 count done at JCRC.

Do you know anyone who has played an important role in the fight against HIV/AIDS in their communities? Nominate the person, indicating name, phone contact and what the person has done in his/her community to help people PREVENT HIV infection. Also give your name and phone number. Write to: The Features Editor, The New Vision, P.O Box 9815, Kampala. Emil: feature@newvision.co.ug

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