Africa is a continent

I'll give you your ticket when your time comes

AIDS has become an epidemic across the world but has particularly become a plague across the whole continent of Africa. It doesn't discriminate, white, black, learned or uneducated, wealthy or poor, religious or atheist. There have been many conversations, debates, protests, arguments etc. about this thing called AIDS. I remember driving through a township (shanty town) and seeing a makeshift cemetery because all the other cemeteries were full, coffins have been sold out and children orphaned...all because of HIV/AIDS.

The victims are of course not considered victims but often treated as though they were the virus itself. It's true that risk behaviors include having unprotected sex, sharing needles while using illicit drugs and so on. But having lived in South Africa I also know that many of the HIV/AIDS patients are uneducated, still holding onto traditional beliefs and practices. Most babies now born to HIV positive mothers can live a HIV negative life thanks to anti-retrovirals but soon contract the virus via breastfeeding because the mothers can't afford formula milk. We also can't forget the impact and influence culture and tradition has on one's behaviour. Anyways, my purpose is not to discuss the reasons why HIV/AIDS persists in plaguing the human race and all the political and cultural reasons behind it.

This post is to introduce you to a young lady named Thembi Ngubane. She was diagnosed with HIV when she was 18 years old. She was featured on NPR's radio diaries and you can listen to her talk to the virus here. Thembi died of drug resistant TB and you can listen to an introduction to her here. And this is Thembi's blog.

I think Thembi is a magnificent example of someone with hope and courage. She had to fight her own battle against not only HIV/AIDS but also, shame, culture and ignorance. I solute her. Thembi Ngubane.