Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1998. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Sunday Times, South Africa - Sunday, October 25, 1998
Janet Heard
That was 11 years ago, but for the past three years, he and his wife, Liesel, have been buying vintage red wine to usher in the millennium.
They plan a huge party at their newly built home, Lofdal (Praise Valley), in Stellenbosch.
The Christian couple, who married 10 years ago, live on hope. And as things get worse, they get stronger, especially since last December when Christo - a haemophiliac who contracted the virus through blood products - was told he had entered the final stage of the disease - AIDS.
Christo, 34, said: "I have to dream. It is often practical planning. We went ahead and built this house three years ago. One room also serves as a a guesthouse, which is a way for Liesel to continue earning in the future."
On learning that he had AIDS nine months ago he planted an olive tree in his garden. "Before, I didn't want to do that, now I have the courage and I am watching it grow."
He plans to do his masters degree in community work, and is a member of the Libertas choir.
The couple carry their motivational message into their AIDS-awareness work, to which they have dedicated their time for the past six years.
"I wanted to make a difference and be a witness of hope," said Christo, who targets high school pupils through the "I have hope" AIDS peer-group project sponsored by Old Mutual.
The couple have a punishing schedule, flying around the country up to three times a week. As World AIDS Day approaches on December 1 they are in demand.
Yesterday, the Greylings saw one of their many programmes bear fruit as nine schools displayed their projects in Somerset West.
Pupils come up with their own innovative projects - such as setting up Internet pages, poster displays and quizzes - on how to spread AIDS awareness.
Christo said the school projects involved five children per school, "but they reach a wide audience". One school in Virginia reported their AIDS awareness message had reached 15 000 people.
"I always say we only light the flame, then others keep the blaze going," said Christo.
The Greylings have travelled a long, hard road since 1987, when Christo went to hospital for a routine check and a doctor told him he was HIV positive.
"I felt flat," said Christo, who was a theology student at Stellenbosch University at the time.
The couple kept it a secret. They married the the next year and told Liesel's parents after the wedding. It took them five years to pluck up the courage to "come out" in public.
"We announced it while I was a minister at a sermon in Windhoek in 1992. It was such a relief," said Christo. "The isolation and loneliness of living a double life had become unbearable."
In the sermon, he announced he was leaving the church to go into a new ministry to teach AIDS awareness.
"We talk freely about our lives, even our sexual experiences," said Liesel, 34. "We know the risks, we use condoms, and after 10 years of marriage I'm still OK. We live a normal life. We do not have gloves lying all over the house."
Christo said the biggest fallacy about HIV was thinking you will die tomorrow. Eleven years ago, he was told he had about four years to live. Then, when he was given the AIDS diagnosis, he was told he had between 16 months and three years.
He had lost 10kg in two weeks. Now he is on a trial drug "which seems to be working". He has gained weight and has a sparkle in his eye.
The couple felt the government was waking up to the reality of AIDS, particularly after Deputy President Thabo Mbeki's unprecedented broadcast to the nation two weeks ago to launch an R80-million AIDS awareness campaign. He described AIDS as a scourge" threatening the new SA". Projections show that by the year 2005, one in five South Africans could have HIV.
Christo said the churches "must get moving. They have this misconception that their congregations do not have HIV."
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