“I never allowed Aids to be the end of my life”

I am Edward Sentongo, 39 years old and reside in Nansana. The year 2008 was the gloomiest in my life after the shocking revelation that I had HIV/Aids.

At first, the doctors I visited at Namugona Orthodox hospital never told me nor my family what was really happening to me. I was bed-ridden at intervals towards the end of 2008, my health deteriorated and I could see that time was running out. My body stayed weak until I decided to visit one of the village clinics and was subsequently told that I was HIV positive.

When the news was first broken to me, my mind went blank, my system shut down. I did not know with whom I would share my problem, I really needed someone I would talk to in my family and this is when I decided to share my problem with my brother who later told my father of my infection.

My father never abandoned me. He took me to a friend who introduced me to a NGO that has taken care of me. The next objective was to convince my wife who reluctantly agreed to have a test that also turned out positive.
At this point, one problem closely followed the other, my wife abandoned me, and my children started attending school irregularly since I was the sole breadwinner and could no longer raise their fees. I withdrew to our ancestral home in Ganda village, Wakiso District waiting my death.

Despite the retreat, I never gave up on treatment thanks to Mavapo an NGO which cares for HIV infected persons.
I took ARV’s but my body was still very weak and my CD count remained so low. However I gained momentum out of hope I got from the counselors at St Balikuddembe Health Centre in Kampala.

The virus has made me lose a lot of energy thereby dropping my initial construction job to land and house brokering. Inevitably the means of sustaining my family has been adversely affected and a great apportion of school fees is being paid by my father.

I feel annoyed because Aids has incapacitated me. Some people backbite me wherever I pass saying that “omulwadde wa silimu wuuyo” meaning that the person infected with HIV is there.

At first I always felt bad and discriminated against but after going to the hospital, I found people who were in a very bad and worse condition. This gave me more courage that indeed I still have a life so I should not care what other people say about me. Amidst the gloom, I want to give advice about positive living with HIV/Aids. I have tried to talk to the young generation about dangers of HIV although many who are infected do not want to accept.