Grace Kumchera, 35, an HIV positive mother of six, lives in Mulula village in the Balaka district of southern Malawi. Her first husband died in 1995, leaving her with five children. Grace remarried in 2005, but the man deserted her when he discovered she was HIV positive.
"I don't know how I got infected with HIV, but my first husband died in 1995 after a long illness. From that time on I lived with my five children.
"Life has not been easy for us because I do not have a job. I depend on my children to go and do some piece work and get paid so that we can buy some food.
"Because of the many problems I was going through I remarried in 2000. My new husband loved me and promised that he would take care of us.
"Then I conceived and gave birth to a sickly baby; my health also started deteriorating. Going for an HIV test was the last thing I was thinking of. Every time I had fever or an illness I told myself I would get better anyway, but this went on and on.
"In 2005 I went for voluntary counselling and testing (VCT). They [doctors] told me I was HIV positive, and because I was so weak they immediately recommended that I start antiretroviral [ARV] drugs.
"When my baby was tested it was discovered HIV positive. I went home and broke the news to my husband. He was scared stiff and deserted me and the children.
"From 2005 up to this day I have not heard anything from him. I told some of my relations and friends that I was HIV positive and their reaction was not encouraging - they simply looked at me as someone who was already dead. Most of them stopped talking to me.
"I was even denied fertiliser coupons that were distributed to poor households to buy government subsidised fertiliser because they said I am weak and cannot manage to plough my garden.
"That means I will have to look for enough money to buy food for my children this year. Doctors advised me not to take ARVs on an empty stomach, but in some instances I am forced to take the drugs without eating first because there is no food in the house. Once I do that I get so weak.
"People think because I am HIV positive I am an outcast, which is wrong. I am just like everybody else."
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"I don't know how I got infected with HIV, but my first husband died in 1995 after a long illness. From that time on I lived with my five children.
"Life has not been easy for us because I do not have a job. I depend on my children to go and do some piece work and get paid so that we can buy some food.
"Because of the many problems I was going through I remarried in 2000. My new husband loved me and promised that he would take care of us.
"Then I conceived and gave birth to a sickly baby; my health also started deteriorating. Going for an HIV test was the last thing I was thinking of. Every time I had fever or an illness I told myself I would get better anyway, but this went on and on.
"In 2005 I went for voluntary counselling and testing (VCT). They [doctors] told me I was HIV positive, and because I was so weak they immediately recommended that I start antiretroviral [ARV] drugs.
"When my baby was tested it was discovered HIV positive. I went home and broke the news to my husband. He was scared stiff and deserted me and the children.
"From 2005 up to this day I have not heard anything from him. I told some of my relations and friends that I was HIV positive and their reaction was not encouraging - they simply looked at me as someone who was already dead. Most of them stopped talking to me.
"I was even denied fertiliser coupons that were distributed to poor households to buy government subsidised fertiliser because they said I am weak and cannot manage to plough my garden.
"That means I will have to look for enough money to buy food for my children this year. Doctors advised me not to take ARVs on an empty stomach, but in some instances I am forced to take the drugs without eating first because there is no food in the house. Once I do that I get so weak.
"People think because I am HIV positive I am an outcast, which is wrong. I am just like everybody else."
jk/kn/he
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
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