Sunday Times (Johannesburg) - December 15, 2007

GRACA Machel, the wife of former President Nelson Mandela, is championing the Each One Reach Five campaign.

Machel said she wanted to reach out to her own family as well as the nation through this initiative.

The former First Lady, who did not hesitate to test for HIV or find five others to agree to do so, said: "I also want to send a message to my own kids.

"I want my family to engage on this seriously, both the Mandelas and the Machels. We are a big family and many of the family are young. I don't want to go out and do social work and not do it at home."

In addition to her five nominees, Machel invited her daughter Josina, who turns 31 this week, to take the test.

"We have much in common. She is also socially inclined and works on HIV," said Machel.

She said she had lost loved ones to Aids, including Mandela's son Makgatho and her brother-in-law Boaventura Moisis Machel. Graca is the widow of former Mozambican President Samora Machel, who died in a mysterious plane crash in 1986.

She said: "Samora's brother passed away in 1999. He was strong and well-built and enjoyed life. We saw him going slowly as he did not want to know [his status] and he didn't want to accept it. At the end he decided to go to test but it was too late and we lost him."

She said that, in contrast, Makgatho Mandela had found out his HIV status quite early and had taken care of himself, until an opportunistic infection claimed his life, at 54, in 2005.

"We know there are millions among us who do not know their status and that is why it is necessary to promote testing. It is not like 10 or 15 years ago when having HIV was a death sentence with no hope. We have very good reasons to know our status. Now it is possible to live a long, healthy and productive life and to live a long time even before [needing] treatment."

She praised Judge Edwin Cameron and Sowetan columnist Lucky Mazibuko as role models for living positively and long-term with HIV.

Machel said: "If you do not know your status and don't take a test you can shorten your life. If you don't take precautions, you can shorten your life."

As a social activist, Machel said, she had seen how HIV/ Aids had had an impact on people around her, "adults and children, women and men".

She said: "One of the problems, particularly with young people, is that either they do not have enough information or, if they have the information, there are so many psychological barriers to overcome to test and know their status.

"Then there is the problem of disclosure to family and friends, a boyfriend or girlfriend."

Machel said she hoped the campaign would erode the stigma around testing and HIV/Aids. She had her test at the Nelson Mandela Foundation offices in Johannesburg.

"It feels as normal as if I were doing a malaria test. I am from a malaria area in Mozambique where now and again you get feverish and then have a test. It is like that."

She added: "HIV is here to stay for many decades at least and we must accept it as a normal chronic disease."

Josina Machel, the co-ordinator for capacity building in the HIV unit at the Institute for Democracy in SA, said that having an HIV test always made her reflect on her life.

"I have tested before," she said as she did the test. "But it always makes me stop and take stock of my life, where I am and where I have been. I tell people A, B, C, D and it makes me think: 'Am I practising this?' It makes me question my behaviour, which is good."

A stands for Abstain, B is Be Faithful, C is Condomise and D is Do a Test.

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