MY TESTIMONYS – Napeyok Christine

I am Napeyok Christine, aged 37 years old.

In 2007 when I was just 24 years old. I started feeling sick. I had cough and no appetite and so I was taken to Matany Hospital. From there they did X-ray and septum tests and the result was that I was T.B positive. I was admitted for two months in the TB award. I was very weak. So weak I could not even carry the five little jerrycan. After two weeks they did me an HIV test and the results came as HIV positive. When I received the results I was shocked. At the age of 24 years and being the first child born in the family I did not know how I would share it with my mother and my sisters about the disease. By then I was also pregnant and I gave birth. After one month the child passed on. From there what came to my mind was death. I lost hope and life became useless. Any time I would see my first born child called Brain the tears would roll from my eyes. I was living him alone in this world.

By then, stigma and discrimination and hunger among people living with HIV/AIDS was very high and death rate was high too. It happened one day that someone shared with my mother about me and my mother became negative to me and started abusing me that I am going to die and I am useless and she could not even listen to me. I thank GOD that one day I was visited by Sister Itae Eugenia at home. And when my mother saw the love, care and visiting offered by sister Itae to me it helped he to understand a bit.

After the visits I was invited for a general clients meeting where we were able to share experiences and testimonies. By the end of that meeting I was able to learn that I am not alone and that encouraged me. I became so strong and continued with my medication.

I would like to thank Choose Life Home Based Care and the Sacred Heart Sisters for the love and care they offered to me. And especially the knowledge on HIV/AIDS where later I was in position to give birth to four HIV/AIDS negative children with suppressed viral load. That’s all through the effort of CLHBC and for making me to be who I am today.

At the moment I am working with Choose Life Home Based Care as Assistant Coordinator to offer what I received from choose life home based care to my fellow clients – as the gospel says: “receive and give the love and care you received before” – and also to encourage them to understand that being HIV positive does not mean that it is the end of life. You can still live like any other person if you accept to choose life and live positively.

I am glad that the child whom I thought I was going to leave alone at the age of five years is now in senior four this year of 2020. Two other of my children are in primary level that is to say, the girl is in primary three and the boy is in primary two. And another one is in middle class at ECD centre.

In conclusion, my gratitude and thanks goes to Sister Itae Eugenia, Sister Paulina and Sister Margie for the open heart, for listening to us the clients and for being a family of care and love.

Thanks,

Napeyok Christine.