Scholastica Goagoses, Case Manager for RnRT a consortium member for the KP-STAR project attended the World AIDS Day commemoration in Gobabis. During the event shared her story as a key population living with HIV (KPLHIV).
Yes, I may have been raped which led me to become a sex worker, and since I was not always having protected sex with my clients, I ended up contracting HIV. But that is not who I am. I am HIV positive but that does not define me. I maintain the virus by taking a single pill a day. Now, that pill has helped me to give birth to 3 negative children and a negative partner. I am HIV positive, so what? Does that mean that I must change the person that I am because of my status – that will mean that I must adapt to people’s thinking. HIV is not a death sentence anymore, the stigma is. Your thoughts towards HIV positive people are killing the people not the virus cause the virus is manageable and it is possible to live a healthy life.
As a former sex worker who lives with HIV, through my work as a Case Manager under RnRT for the KP-STAR project, I am able to educate sex workers and the other key population community on the importance of seeking health services. I also often speak to young girls on the risks and dangers of sex work, encouraging them not to go into sex work”.