“I keep this virus to myself‚ I can’t go around spreading it. It belongs to me‚” says Lawrence Sengwane‚ who has HIV.
He was speaking at the Kgosi Mampuru II Prison in Pretoria on Monday during the handing over of AIDS quilt panels to the deputy minister of correctional services‚ Thabang Makwetla.
The ceremony marks the countdown to the 21st International Aids Conference to be held in Durban starting on July 18.
The Aids Memorial Quilt is a tool to fight prejudice‚ raise awareness and funding‚ as a means to link hands with the global community in the fight against Aids. The quilt panels have been sewn by different individuals and groups around the country. Prisoners will sew them together for the quilt‚ to be handed over at the conference.
Sengwane said he had contracted HIV in1995 after serving time in Kgosi Mampuru prison.
“After I got home‚ I was a hero after having been arrested for protesting against the killing of Chris Hani. But due to ignorance I did not use condoms. I am HIV infected not HIV positive. Being positive means you have accepted your condition‚” Sengwane told the gathering.
Sengwane said he had taken it upon himself to speak out on HIV because silence would not solve the problem. He said he was bedridden with Aids‚ but due to treatment and government programmes‚ he was now only HIV infected.
Sindi Shangase from the South African National Aids Council said programmes like the memorial quilt project were intended to break the silence on HIV.
“The quilt (panels) are the size they are‚ because we wanted them to be the same size as coffins‚ because being HIV positive used to represent Aids and having Aids meant death. We need to share our own great stories at the conference‚ such as South Africa having the largest [anti-retroviral] programme in the world‚” Shangase said.
‘This virus belongs to me – I can’t go around spreading it’: AIDS victim
“I keep this virus to myself‚ I can’t go around spreading it. It belongs to me‚” says Lawrence Sengwane‚ who has HIV.
He was speaking at the Kgosi Mampuru II Prison in Pretoria on Monday during the handing over of AIDS quilt panels to the deputy minister of correctional services‚ Thabang Makwetla.
The ceremony marks the countdown to the 21st International Aids Conference to be held in Durban starting on July 18.
The Aids Memorial Quilt is a tool to fight prejudice‚ raise awareness and funding‚ as a means to link hands with the global community in the fight against Aids. The quilt panels have been sewn by different individuals and groups around the country. Prisoners will sew them together for the quilt‚ to be handed over at the conference.
Sengwane said he had contracted HIV in1995 after serving time in Kgosi Mampuru prison.
“After I got home‚ I was a hero after having been arrested for protesting against the killing of Chris Hani. But due to ignorance I did not use condoms. I am HIV infected not HIV positive. Being positive means you have accepted your condition‚” Sengwane told the gathering.
Sengwane said he had taken it upon himself to speak out on HIV because silence would not solve the problem. He said he was bedridden with Aids‚ but due to treatment and government programmes‚ he was now only HIV infected.
Sindi Shangase from the South African National Aids Council said programmes like the memorial quilt project were intended to break the silence on HIV.
“The quilt (panels) are the size they are‚ because we wanted them to be the same size as coffins‚ because being HIV positive used to represent Aids and having Aids meant death. We need to share our own great stories at the conference‚ such as South Africa having the largest [anti-retroviral] programme in the world‚” Shangase said.
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