My Predicament / SBPRA (ePub)

There are various modes of contracting HIV, but the most common one is through sex. People judge HIV carriers differently, most thinking that those who are HIV positive are promiscuous. This way of thinking can put HIV-positive carriers in a very difficult position. Knowing what others think about them often forces people living with HIV to hide their status or commit suicide.My Predicament -- A Struggle with HIV narrates the story of Mba Ali, a journalist with Beauty magazine, who contracted HIV from Christy, a deported prostitute from Italy. Back home, Christy knew she was HIV positive, but her admirers did not. The fear of going for an HIV test and being told outright that she was positive, and that she would be discriminated and stigmatized against, kept her away from clinics until her death.Christy was a tall, beautiful woman, and as HIV was not written on her body, men chased after her and paid to have her. Unaware of her HIV status, Mba Ali and others befriended Christy, and were infected with the virus. Mba, encouraged by his wife and friends, started the right medication, outlived Christy, and would live positively for the rest of his life with the virus.Mba abandoned his career to pool resources and build a five-hundred bed ward, named Love Ward, to save lives. His inspiring story shows how an HIV-positive diagnosis turned into a positive.