Chiku
Tanzania
My name is Chiku and I am 16 years old. I live in Moshi, Tanzania, where I go to secondary school. I am determined to become a doctor some day. I am also HIV-positive.

I was born in Dar es Salaam. My father was drunk and aggressive toward my family, so when I was five years old, I went with my mother and sister to live with my grandmother in Moshi — about 400 miles away.

Soon after we moved, my mother started getting weak. She got rashes and could not eat anything. She passed away in 2000. During her funeral, we found out that our father had also died a year earlier. I was still very young and did not know what had killed my parents.

When I was 12, I started getting sick with similar symptoms to what my mother had. My grandmother and uncle suspected that I had AIDS but they did not want to tell me.

My grandmother decided to sell her only two cows to get money to buy local herbs that she heard would cure AIDS. The herbs did not help me at all. I got worse and eventually had to stop going to school because of my illness.

When I was 14, my grandmother heard that Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center (KCMC), a Foundation-supported hospital, was providing HIV drugs. She took me for testing and I was diagnosed as HIV-positive. I was enrolled in the care and treatment program and began taking antiretroviral medication (ARVs) to control my HIV. However, my family did not explain to me what my diagnosis meant or why I was taking these medications.

I soon regained my strength and went back to school. I started to understand what AIDS is, and suspected that I had it. I asked my uncle if I had HIV but he refused to tell me. I eventually stopped taking my medicines because I was fed up that no one would tell me what they were for.

During a visit to KCMC, I insisted that my doctor tell me everything. The doctor told me about my status and explained what ARVs are and what they would do for me. Once I had this information, I felt I had nothing to worry about.

Soon after this visit with the doctor, I resumed taking my drugs. Now, I encourage the other HIV-positive children at the clinic to continue to take their medications and to never give up.