Women who fight the odds
As part of a mission to Zimbabwe, Ms. Hendrica Okondo, Programme Director for Africa and Middle East at the World YWCA, visited a number of local YWCAs and met with several young women living with HIV.
The situations she witnessed and stories related to her are moving and inspiring. She met two women, Maria, a young woman, and Mai Kwati, a woman whose passion to help her community keeps her young. Their experience touched her profoundly.
“When faced with reality, children and young people are strong, have dreams and are resourceful. The YWCA provides many opportunities for these young people at regional, country and global levels.” said Hendrica Okondo
Maria is 21 years old. She is a lively resourceful and bright young woman, full of enthusiasm for her future. Her life was not always as bright, however. She was born positive, both her parents died of AIDS and she was brought up by her elder sister.
Maria’s life changed after having the privilege of attending a YWCA Regional Training Institute (RTI) in Nigeria, where she learnt how to live positively. She understood that, although she was born positive, she still had the right to live a normal life, to strive for more and that she could even bear a child. This was a real eye opener!
Today Maria is a cross border trader bringing in clothes from South Africa to sell in Gweru/Midland. She dreams of becoming a lawyer and is saving money for law school. She also devotes time to the YWCA to train others on how to address discrimination and stigmatisation and live positively.
Another breakthrough for Maria is that she has been selected as one of the young women the YWCA will support to travel to Vienna this month for the International AIDS Conference. She never dreamt of having the opportunity of leaving her country, discovering a new continent and sharing her experiences and challenges with other young women from all over the world. She can’t wait!
Mai Kwati is an amazing woman. She is HIV positive, she is a musician and singer, she is a cross border trader, and she is a caregiver to some 200 positive children. Mai Kwati has, in fact, devoted her life to helping both young women and men overcome stigma and live positively
In her role as Community Home Based Care adviser, she visits households in her township, where women caregivers care for their husbands, siblings or adult children. In many cases, when she asks them if they know their status, they reply they are too sacred but accept that she take their children/grandchildren for the HIV test. Those children who are positive are encouraged to come to her soup kitchen daily for breakfast, lunch and dinner – so that she sees that they have access to pediatric ARVs and other necessary medical treatment. When the parents/guardians see the children’s health improving, they eventually get tested themselves and start treatment.
When she is not in her soup kitchen she is travelling through the townships with her band, singing in the streets, to once again encourage people to be tested, but here she gets her message across through music. She even uses it therapeutically, often giving out free CDs and teaching those listening to dance and sing. She manages an acapella group of women living positively and young women and a men’s dancing troupe, popular in Harare.
Maria and Mai Kwati are but two of the many truly admirable women Hendrica and others have come across during their travels. Women who overcome the tremendous challenges they are faced with in life to become leaders and help and guide others - Women who personify what the YWCA has always stood for.
