By Leah H. Mwainyekule
AS he stands in his shop serving customers, the old man
looks happy. A big smile on his face
assures the buyers that they have come to the right place. He sells commodities to them, jokes with them
and laughs with them. But behind his
laughter, behind his smile, behind his jokes, is a sad story of being
neglecting by his own children for being HIV positive.
Collington Mwakipesile realized he was HIV positive in
2004 when he decided to take a voluntary test after noticing that he had the
symptoms. When it was confirmed that he
was actually positive, he decided to tell his older daughters but they didn’t
like it. And ever since, they are not
really close to him.
“That year two of my children died of AIDS and I was
taking care of them here at home. After
they passed away I realized that I also had some of the symptoms that they had,
and I was falling sick more often. I
decided to take the test and it was confirmed that I was HIV positive,” he
explains. “But unfortunately when I told
my other two daughters, I experienced stigma from them.”
Things with his wife were not better as well. She got angry and refused to take the
test. During that time she got too much
into drinking and used to get back home passed midnight or even the following
day. They used to fight a lot and all
the children were on their mum’s side.
“One day we had a huge fight and my son decided to help
him mother and fight me as well. They
were all over me and that was when I realized I had nothing left. I decided to leave the house and stay on my
own,” he remembers with sadness.
However, their relatives intervened and told him to go back home and
that the children were old enough to rent their own place. His wife decided to leave with the children.
“I got lonely, very lonely to the point that sometimes I
would wake up in the middle of the night and start crying like a baby,”
Collington says. But not anymore. The 67 year old has found peace in his group
called Upendo where he is the Secretary General. The group that has members who are people
living with HIV in the Sinde ward in Mbeya Urban, implements under KIHUMBE through
its Home Based Care program.
“The group has been my family and my whole life. I have found peace because there are people
here who love me and treat me as a human being,” he explains. Through the group, he has also been able to
borrow money that they contribute each week, and has managed to open a shop and
a stall where he sells house products. He
also has one goat that was provided to him by the program, and he expects that
it will produce many more goats in the future.
And Mr. Collington has not given up on his kids either:
“I still love my daughters; and
although they are not close to me, most of the time I try to contact them and
visit them. They are still my children
and I will always be their father.” And
with this, he smiles again. A big smile
that assures everyone that Collington is now a happy man who is looking forward
for a brighter future.
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