Agnes Rukundo

Agnes lost her mother from AIDS-related illnesses when she was 9 years old. Two years later, her father died. “I never got the chance to really live with my parents and be loved by them, I was taken care of by another family. Life wasn’t easy without parents but I had to persevere no matter the challenges. As I was growing up, neighbors and people from my home area always pointed fingers at us children who lost their parents to AIDS and were living with HIV. But being small children, we never got to understand what it meant,” Agnes remembers.

Surprisingly, Agnes went through school without any trouble until age 19, when she got a terrible rash. She overheard the doctor suggest to her uncle that she get tested for HIV and hearing this mortified her. People in the community already ostracized her as someone with HIV; therefore, one evening, she asked her uncle to take her for testing. “[the health care worker] broke the news to me and told me that they had found HIV in my blood and my CD4 count was 16 by then. I didn’t know what all this meant but I just broke down in tears thinking about how I am going to die and leave my siblings all by themselves.

“Aunt Hope introduced me to the Ariel Club, they saved me. I loved the camps, where we had fun and shared our experiences. I made friends with Bena and others. During the holidays and after high school we got in touch and we would meet often to talk about our lives and how we could do better. Then, through EGPAF, we were invited to talk to young children in the Ariel Clubs about our own experience. After this we got more training and became Ariel Ambassadors.”

FAST FORWARD

Agnes continued with her studies and once she graduated as a nurse, she was taken up as a peer educator at Kisoro hospital under the USAID RHITES-SW project implemented by EGPAF. Agnes provides psychosocial support, facilitates play therapy groups for young children and engages teenagers in candid talks on sexuality and stigma. Agnes is especially keen on supporting young people fight stigma because she too had a difficult time in school.

“In 2012, at one of the district functions commemorating candle light memorial for HIV/AIDS awareness, I chose to do a public disclosure. The story was run by all radio stations and I received a number of phone calls asking me why I had to do this, I told them this is what I should have done a long time ago! Ever since that day I never looked back at anything as I received the strength that I never had before.”

When Agnes got pregnant, she took precautions to ensure her baby was HIV-free: she attended antenatal visits, stayed on treatment, and her baby completed a nevirapine-based regimen. Now, baby Ethan is three years old, HIV-free, and the light of Agnes’ life. She derives her support also from her fellow Ariel Ambassadors. She loves the WhatsApp group, through which they tackle real life challenges and hold each other accountable to adhere and live well. The group is also attended by doctors from EGPAF to support learning and offer correct clinical advice.

Agnes lives for her son and to be a good example to her siblings and other young people living with HIV/AIDS.