New Vision (Kampala) - November 1, 2009
Moses Nampala

IF sad tales behind people living with HIV/AIDS were measurable, then Proscovia Ayo's plight would weigh down the scale. For the 10 years Ayo has lived with the virus, her life has been punctuated with cruelty, humiliation, despair, grief and total rejection.

However, this did not render her vulnerable but strengthened her to launch a spirited HIV/AIDS advocacy campaign.

Her plight acted as a basis for the ministry of education to formulate the education and sports guide lines on HIV/AIDS in 2006.

The pain and shame she endured have lived to protect teachers who bear the same burden of HIV. As a result of her plight and efforts, the ministry launched the national post-test club network for teachers living with HIV/AIDS. The club has over 3,000 members.

The policy guidelines on HIV/AIDS state that the ministry shall ensure zero tolerance to stigma and discrimination against employees on account of their HIV status.

The ministry legitimises the post-test clubs as a means of information sharing, behaviour change and promotion of positive living among employees.

Alice Olwenyi from Peta sub-county in Tororo attests that Ayo's zeal in advocacy has not only benefited her colleagues in the teaching profession at national level, but has trickled down to the grassroots.

Ayo is the brain behind the Tororo Forum for People Living with HIV/AIDS Network.

Olwenyi says the network constitutes a big number of the civil community living with HIV mainly in the rural areas of the district.

"Occasionally we converge and share experiences and support each other morally," Olwenyi adds.

She got to know Ayo through the TASO talk shows which Ayo presented on the local FM radio station.

"It is her continued assurance that there was hope to live even when one is infected which gave me the courage to test. The move dispelled my worries after the death of my husband," Olwenyi says.

"I have been able to take care of my five children and it is my conviction that I will see them grow. I am no longer stressed except sometime this year when there was rumour of drug shortages," she adds.

Brenda Nakka, a civil servant, says she shivers when she remembers how fast she was wasting away for fear of stigma. She had no courage to visit the nearby centre to establish her status.

"I remember insisting that if I was to test, it had to be discreet and outside Busia, Tororo and Butaleja," Nakka says. Through communicating to Ayo, arrangements were made for Nakka to test at Mbale hospital where she was immediately put on ARVs.

Grim life of the fifth wife

When Ayo completed her course as a Grade III teacher at St Mary's Teacher Training College in Soroti in 1982, her father quickly arranged for her to marry his elderly friend aged 50 who was a driver. Ayo later learnt that she was the fifth wife to her husband.

"I found all my co-wives had long quit the marriage, leaving seven children who I had to take care of," she recalls. It did not take long for the young bride to discover the ugly side of her promiscuous husband.

Weeks would pass without him returning home. Peers would confess seeing him around with a number of mistresses. He would leave the family with no food and no money and on return, he would beat up Ayo if she dared complain about his escapades.

One time she decided to quit. "But because my father had received two goats and some money as bride price, I was not allowed to return to my parents' home," she explains.

It was then that she thought of going back to upgrade her teaching career. In 1991, she obtained a Grade v diploma from the Institute of Teacher Education Kyambogo and she was posted to Osukuru Primary School as a headmistress. Then signs of the HIV infection had started showing.

Moment of truth

When Ayo developed genital herpes, her fears that she had the dreaded virus were confirmed after going to hospital.

She could not reveal her results to her husband but from that time she refused to share a bed with him, a decision that strained the marriage.

He would beat her up but she refused to give in until he learnt to leave her alone.

In 1999, her husband was bedridden for six months. The health workers said his CD4 cell count had gone down. He soon died.

During the burial something that Ayo will live to remember happened. Just as the casket was being lowered into the grave, her stepson came charging at her.

"He swung his leg and kicked me and I wriggled in pain, he flogged me, but the mourners quickly intervened," Ayo bitterly recalls.

"The bitch infected my father with HIV. I must kill her today," he ranted. Ayo says she cannot explain the humiliation she underwent before her pupils who had turned up for the burial.

After the burial she picked her four children and fled to her relative's home in the neighbouring village of Agururu.

Shunned for her status

Months after the incident, she was transferred to Okwara Primary School. As she was preparing to report to the new station, one of the teachers called and warned her not to appear at the school. The parents had converged at the school with clubs and machetes ready to finish her off.

They had written to the district education officer (DEO) demanding to know why his office chose to post an infected person to head their school. The authorities replaced Ayo with another person, but did not post her anywhere.

For months she tried to approach the DEO's office in vain.

Turning point

In 2005, when Ayo was guest speaker during the national policy guideline HIV/AIDS Forum at Rock Hotel in Tororo, she narrated her experience.

Her story served as an eye-opener to the policy makers in the ministry, highlighting the discrimination and stigma the teachers and other workers in the sector were facing.

For her activism and advocacy, she has taken part in local and international HIV/AIDS fora in Britain, Germany, Denmark and Kenya.

Ayo is not only an inspiring but an icon of hope, many people she has interacted with confess.

Do you know anyone who has played an important role in the fight against HIV/AIDS in their communities? Nominate the person, indicating name, phone contact and what the person has done in his/her community to help people PREVENT HIV infection. Also give your name and phone number. Write to: The Features Editor, The New Vision, P.O Box 9815, Kampala. or email: feature@newvision.co.ug

Name: Proscovia Ayo | Age: 46 | Status: Widow | Location: Tororo | Contribution: Highlights the discrimination and stigma that HIV victims face | Profession: Teacher

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