Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2005. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Sunday Times (Johannesburg) - September 20, 2005
Rowan Philp
Despite having no mountaineering experience, former television presenter Paddy Nhlapo, 35, and Karoo entrepreneur Richard Yell, 45, plan to tackle Mount Kilimanjaro.
Their project - Pozitive Ascension - has been adopted by the Khomanani "Positive Living" HIV/Aids awareness campaign, which plans to record the climb with a camera crew.
Yell, who works as an inspirational speaker and event organiser, said the stress of secrecy around HIV was a major trigger of illness for those living with the virus - and he literally intended shouting his status "from the mountaintop" to make the point, he said.
"On World Aids Day each year, I make a killing - I take home about R20000 - but the rest of the year, nothing.
"Corporate South Africa reverts to using HIV-negative people to feel confident the job will be done properly.
"This is ridiculous. We are ordinary people, capable of achieving anything, like anyone else," he said.
Nhlapo, formerly a presenter of e.tv's Beat It magazine show, has lived with HIV for more than 12 years. He has seen little improvement in public perception of the virus in that time.
"I am not sick; why then do people assume I cannot do what I set out to do?" he said. "I do not live in HIV, HIV lives in me, and I'm the one in charge!"
Yell said a member of the original team had withdrawn because he was battling the effects of a new course of antiretroviral drugs. Another had pulled out due to her work commitments.
Yell has trained for six weeks - hiking up the Karoo's Camdeboo Mountain - while Nhlapo goes jogging every day.
"My doctor is quite happy about the climb," said Yell.
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