She calls herself Katleho Letsoalo. But that’€™s not her real name because she still hasn’€™t disclosed her HIV status to anyone, except to her close friends who are also HIV-positive. The colourful 23-year old University of Johannesburg student remembers the day she was diagnosed with HIV like it happened yesterday.      

‘€œI got diagnosed on the 3rd of March, 2010. So, it’€™s been a little over a year now’€, recalls Katleho.

‘€œIt was an ordinary day. I woke up in the morning and I decided to go get tested. And, boom! I was positive. Just like that! I wasn’€™t feeling any symptoms. I wasn’€™t feeling ill or anything lie that. I just woke up and decided that I wanted to know my status on that particular day, and that’€™s the day that I found out that I was positive’€, she continues.        

Fellow student, Sifundo Nkwanyana, who is originally from KwaZulu-Natal and is studying Business Administration at the University of Johannesburg, was 19 when she discovered that she had HIV. It took her four years to disclose her status. And like Katleho, when Sifundo, who is now 25, decided to test five years ago, it was an impulsive decision.  

‘€œIt didn’€™t even cross my mind that I was positive. I just went there just for fun. I was just going to test just for fun. That was it’€, she says.

In spite of the fact that she knew about HIV and that it had visited her family, Sifundo never believed that she was at risk.

‘€œHIV was just far from me, even though I had seen some of my family members who had HIV and some of them dying of HIV-related illnesses’€, she admits.      

Katleho was no different. She actually thought that her upbringing would protect her.

‘€œI couldn’€™t associate it with myself. I was one of those people who would think, ‘€˜HIV would never happen to me’€™. I’€™m educated. I went to one of the top schools in South Africa. I’€™m from a good family. I’€™m articulate. I’€™m well-spoken. So, HIV could never happen to me. But it did!’€

The two were not prepared to deal with their diagnosis.

‘€œI’€™m young, I’€™m in varsity. My parents expect so much from me. I expect so much from myself. With the lack of knowledge that I had back then, I was thinking: ‘€˜Oh, my Gosh! I’€™m going to die. What’€™s the point of even continuing with varsity because I might not live to enjoy my qualification’€™? It was a very traumatic period in my life’€, says Katleho.                

‘€œYho! It was very scary as well’€, adds Sifundo. ‘€œI was doing my first year’€¦. From KZN. Oh, my Gosh! I’€™m the second child in the family who got the privilege to be in a university and, then, oh, my Gosh! There I am, now I have HIV. I thought: ‘€˜Flip! I came to Jo’€™burg to get HIV’€™. My family members are going to think: ‘€˜Look at her. She went to the city and she started sleeping with all these men’€™ and stuff like that. There were a lot of things that were going through my head. I thought of dropping out of school. But, then, I thought: ‘€˜Let me just continue. Death will actually find me, probably, when I’€™m doing my third year. At least, I need to die with the qualification’€¦ come, on! They need to say something good in my obituary’€™.’€, she says.            

Katleho says she wishes she had a support system to pull her through when she found out her HIV status.

‘€œI just needed somebody to just tell me and to just bang it into my brain that I’€™m not dying, I still had my whole life ahead of me. I can just get knocked down by a car as I walk out as opposed to being killed by the virus, and I still had to continue with life and just look to the future and be positive about life. That’€™s just what I needed to hear and I didn’€™t’€.

She found help in a support group for students at the University of Johannesburg.

‘€œOnce you get diagnosed, you’€™re thinking: ‘€˜Oh, my Gosh! I’€™m the only one on campus who has got HIV’€™. We started a movement. It’€™s called the UJ Positive Advocacy Movement. It’€™s a group of HIV-positive students. We don’€™t just talk about HIV. We talk about every other issue that actually encompasses the whole life of a human being besides HIV because at the end of the day, we don’€™t live HIV’€¦ we’€™re living with HIV. We’€™re students, we’€™re struggling academically, we’€™ve got relationships, we’€™ve got family problems, we’€™ve got all other things. We discuss such issues. We also find things to empower ourselves so that we can be able to help out other newly-diagnosed students’€, explains Sifundo.  

The UJ Positive Advocacy Movement has about 15 members. Sifundo and Katleho urge fellow young South Africans to empower themselves with knowledge about HIV so as to prevent infection and to deal with their diagnosis if infected.