Sunday Times (Johannesburg) - July 08, 2007
Claire Keeton

The pair are smart, outspoken and both have hands-on experience in caring for loved ones with HIV/Aids.

Coleman, 22, took care of a child with HIV and Aids for nearly three years while Beda, 18, helped out with a cousin who had Aids.

Their experiences convinced South Africa's reigning beauties of the need to tackle the disease. Joining the Each One Reach Five campaign is another step in this direction.

Coleman, from Durban, said: "Before I became Miss South Africa, I worked as an au pair with a little baby who was HIV-positive.

"I was with her from a few months old until she was about three years old.

"She was the most divine child and I loved her like I would my own child. We became very attached.

"She was so loving and affectionate. She was so responsive, even after she had been through such hardship.

"She had to take medicine three or four times a day, and sometimes I would have to wake her up at night for them."

The little girl was abandoned as a baby and then adopted by a Durban family.

She was reunited later on with her birth mother, although she remained with her adopted family .

A media and marketing studies student at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Coleman said that meeting former President Nelson Mandela and President Thabo Mbeki were highlights in her reign, which began in December last year.

When Deputy Health Minister Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge approached Coleman to be one of her five volunteers for the campaign to promote HIV testing, she agreed at once.

All five of the deputy minister's volunteers - campaign champion Graca Machel, Madlala-Routledge's husband Jeremy Routledge and son Simon, Survivor winner Vanessa Marawa, and Coleman - have done their tests, and each recruited their five volunteers.

Beda, from Dutywa in Eastern Cape, decided to join the campaign so that she could send a message to her peers.

She said: "Aids is taking young people out. It is important for us to find out our HIV status. We need to look after ourselves.

"A lot of people are leading promiscuous lifestyles and know they could have HIV, and are scared to test."

A BA student at Varsity College, the lively teenager has seen the impact of HIV/Aids up close.

She said she realised that the disease, if not treated properly, was debilitating, after being exposed to a relative in an advanced stage of it.

"My cousin on my mother's side had Aids and I saw everything she went through as I was there helping out sometimes.

"A lot of the time we do not see people who are going through this. You do not want it to happen to anyone you know, or to yourself," Beda said.

After being crowned Miss SA Teen, Beda moved to Johannesburg to study.

"The bursary was one of the biggest incentives to take part," she said. "My friends said I had a lot to give and could challenge the stereotype of just looking beautiful, with no opinions.

"I was trained in debating and always found it very empowering to voice my opinion. "

Coleman and Beda took a morning off to do HIV tests.

They had planned to go to a public HIV clinic in Hillbrow but, when the public servants' strike disrupted services, they went to Lancet Laboratories at Sandton Medi-Clinic.

After an excited reception from the staff, they went ahead with the blood tests.

Beda, who said she had never needed an injection in her life, was on edge about the needle.

With Coleman holding her hand, Beda shed a few tears while her blood was taken, but didn't stop smiling.

Coleman's test also went smoothly, and then the two posed for photos, holding up their test tubes.

The Lancet lab said it had seen an increasing number of people coming to it for HIV tests in the past year.

# Coleman's volunteers: Model and Survivor competitor Brigette Willers; her parents Fay and John Coleman; Durban model Jean-Luc Mauvis and his mother Maxine Poisson; and

# Beda's volunteers: Her best friend, Akholiwe Ngceba, and close friends Lechaee Fillis, Qaqamba Adonis, Yolanda Damba and Lethu Zide.

HOW TO BE AN HIV HERO

TAKE an HIV test and get five other people to do the same. Make it clear that no one has to disclose their results.

Let us know why you decided to join the campaign and how you felt when you took the test. We would welcome any stories about experiences that you have while participating in the campaign. Send your stories - with pictures if possible - to reach5@sundaytimes.co.za

Send us your name and the names of your five nominees so that we can publish a list of South Africans who have taken part. Please note, we do not want to know the results of anyone's test.

You can get tested at your doctor or at your local clinic.

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