17 Mar 2015

Who would have thought that someone who lived an irresponsible life, without education would one day be lauded as United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) hero?

When Ms Balekanye Mosweu got the news that she was HIV positive with her second born, fear engulfed her. Many ideas ran through her mind, the idea of giving birth to an HIV positive baby, the baby being sick and eventually dying.

Life became bleak for a moment until the nurse attending to her raised the subject of Prevention of Mother–to-Child Treatment (PMTCT) programme. She had no idea about it, but today she talks confidently and endlessly about it.

“Like any other parent, I have dreams for my children. Mothers have no reason to give birth to HIV positive babies because I am a testimony of the effectiveness of PMTCT,” said Ms Mosweu.

She said expectant HIV positive women should not be ashamed to protect their unborn babies because of what people would say, adding that failure to take treatment was in fact what would make people suspect that something was wrong. 

“People who are on treatment are just healthy like you and me, so we should not see pregnant women on the verge of death yet treatment is available,” she said. Ms Mosweu said people should know that the issue of stigma could not be overcome in one day, it would take some time before people realised that HIV/AIDS was a sickness like any other.

The single mother of four children from Matsitama was among the 12 heroes that were honoured by the US Ambassador Mr Earl Miller, for making a difference in other people’s lives. The Matsitama based heroine had her first child at 18 years in 2000.

 Then she met her partner, then the two like any other partners tried for a baby in 2002 and it was then that Ms Mosweu got to know about her status. 

“Although my partner showed signs of sickness I never thought of HIV until when I went to register for Anti-Natal Care. I was hurt to learn about my status and also blamed myself for not being cautious,” she said. She then accepted her status and enrolled for PMTCT. 

She persuaded her partner to test and take treatment but to no avail. He eventually succumbed to the sickness when the baby was still five months old. 

After nursing her broken heart, from the loss of her partner, she met another lover, and such as in her previous relationship got carried away and got a wakeup call when she started experiencing the morning sickness.  She rushed to the hospital where she learnt that she was going to be a mother again, and this time around twins.

Unlike other mothers to be who would jump to the news of expecting double, she knew that she had to act in order to have healthy babies. “I really took a chance that I would not want any mother to take. I knew better but still found myself in that position,” she said.

She said she enrolled for PMTCT and said she was skeptical this time around and opted for caesarean section. “You are not always fortunate, I knew that what I did was risky and did not want to take chances, and I am glad that my twins are free.”

 She said she put her head on the chopping board for her children. Her desire is for her children to be better people and lead better lives than her. She said due to life challenges she moved from Francistown to stay with her mother at Matsitama.

Since the birth of her twins, who are now nine years old, Ms Mosweu has made it a point to be more of a peer educator to those around her. 

“Sometimes people waste time by giving wrong diagnosis of their sicknesses when they personally have an idea of what they are suffering from and I usually tell such individuals to test and know their status,” she said.

She said there is a relative that she assisted to get enrolled for treatment. She said funds permitting she would want to run a project for community peer educator and show others that being positive was not the end of the world.

Although the social welfare services has removed her from the programme with the notion that she is fit to work in some entities such as Ipelegeng, that is impossible due to her asthmatic condition. ENDS