HIV/AIDS…tell people that they must be normal; they must take care of themselves.

Rape accounts for a number of HIV/AIDS cases in South Africa. Some of these incidences go unreported or untold. With high rates of rape in South Africa, it is never very far from your doorstep. Dorcas Ndou came face to face with rape two years ago when she was only 20. She was raped and worse still, infected with what so many people still consider a deadly Virus, HIV.

Like any other rape survivor, she was confused and traumatised at the time,
“When I went to the clinic after they raped me I tested positive. I was sic, I was stressed, I got cancelled… they cancelled me at the Baragwanath Hospital”.

After dealing with the trauma of rape, Dorcas had to deal with yet another reality-HIV/AIDS. “I was like confused and stressed then I got canselled, I am coping good, like I am used to this infection…I got it …I was raped, I got that infection from rape there is nothing good, like I am used to this disease”.

Although Jane found life difficult after being raped and infected with HIV, she explains what enabled her to cope “ I was eating healthy foods …and I take some herbs. I was drinking tablets but now I don’t take tablets because they make me sic … the only disease that makes me sic is flu…then I eat garlic…I boil garlic then I pour fish oil then I drink it”.

Apart from eating healthy foods, Jane was lucky because, unlike many other people who disclose, no one rejected her and she got the necessary support from the family members when she disclosed to them, “My parents and my colleagues adviced me…like I must not be scared, I must be normal like other people…eish … I become happy like when they talk to me like that. No one has rejected me”.


She claims that people must disclose and take care of their bodies by eating healthy food. “… People who are infected must be themselves, like...they must be like other people, they must not be scared of this disease”. Jane claims that she can help other people by counselling them about HIV “they must feel free, eat healthy food and disclose to other people, telling other people about this disease”. She gave a brief example of her diet on a typical day, “Vegetables, fruits like fruit juices… I eat liquid food … like juice which have lots of fruits… they are expensive…like my mother is trying to buy them”

“I am used to this disease”, she says. She admits though, that the future seems bad for her, but she is trying to make it better, “ Now my future is bad, but I want to make it better by studying and getting advice from other people, from my brother, other sisters like nurses and my educators at school and advising other people too”.


Jane is neither planning to have a boyfriend nor sex anymore. “Eish because like I am infected, I don’t want to infect other people. Condoms are not 100 percent effective”. She says. “ I am studying tourism and Mathematics at Naledi secondary school. She says when she finishes high school, she wants to be a social worker. "I would like to tell people that they must be normal; they must take care of themselves. They must eat healthy food and they must not have unprotected sex they must use a condom”. She adds.

The story of Jane is a story of hope. It shows how so much can be done to combat HIV/AIDS. Voicing the experiences of those who are infected and involving them in HIV/AIDS interventions is now a must. As the English saying goes, “Who feels it knows it”.