Olebogeng Lenyora, the last born of six children, unable to finish school was doing short term menial jobs in her village of Serowe and could never have known that her life would change forever due to HIV. Although she was unemployed, she had wanted a decent life but couldn’t get any. She ended up being frustrated and began drinking alcohol. Lenyora then engaged in sexual activities where she had multiple partners, which put her at risk of HIV and other Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs).

“I was having headaches and coughing a lot when I met one of the nurses at our clinic, who was working for ACHAP. The nurse spoke to me about TB and HIV,” Lenyora recalls. “She encouraged me to go for HIV testing after I told her about my symptoms. Lenyora did her HIV test and received her results at the clinic where she was offered HIV counselling and testing. “The results were saddening. When I was told that I was HIV Positive, I immediately became numb, I was shattered and felt my life was over. Somehow everyone got to know that I was HIV positive and my name became popular in every home, I felt the stigmatisation everywhere I went, people began to look at me in an unpleasant way. I was called names and no parent wanted their children to associate with me and this shattered my hopes. Lenyora resorted to alcohol and engaged into more sexual intercourse with many partners as a way of revenge.

I later realised that continuing to sleep with many men was worsening my situation and that I would die fast if I didn’t change my behaviour. I have now learned to accept my life and to think positively. I have decided to rather to tell my story to make an impact in a young girl’s life who doesn’t know the dangers of having unprotected sex.

Thanks to ACHAP counsellors that got me through this difficult journey. Lenyora has learned about more than just thinking positive. “I have also learnt a lot about HIV and AIDS and how I can live a longer life being HIV positive. Now I know how to eat healthy, take my medication as advised and continue to have safe sex.” ACHAP has been so transformative in Lenyora’s life that she has voluntarily enrolled in ACHAP programmes like the Community Systems Strengthening (CSS) in her village as an advocate.

Mrs. Elizabeth Moshi, the ACHAP Community Systems Strengthening Coordinator says the project is being implemented in 10 districts – with promising results. “Our focus is engaging communities for uptake of HIV prevention, treatment, care and support services and TB control. CSS provides the community with knowledge on healthy decision making and supporting them with economic options to reduce their vulnerability. While we only focus on community strengthening, we are able provide or refer treatment services for HIV and refer those HIV positive for treatment at nearby health facilities. We also hold wellness day events where we invite our stakeholders’ such as Tebelopele for testing services” Moshi said. Thanks to CSS communities and young girls are now being empowered through health education, which greatly reduces their risk to sexual infections and HIV,” concluded Moshi.