Falesi Mlamba, 35, is a house wife. She is HIV positive. For several years, Falesi had to secretly hide her life prolonging drugs in a bucket containing maize flour. She had not declared her HIV status to her husband. The husband too had not yet gone for testing.

This went on for some time, until in her own words, “I stopped taking ARV’s because my husband had not yet gone for HIV testing and my fear was that declaring my status would spell doom to my marriage.

However as fate would have it, one day her husband found the drugs and this spelt doom to their family.

Sensing danger of marriage break-down, Falesi Mlamba approached Tigwirizane Support Group in Senzani Village Traditional Authority Tsikulamowa in Ntcheu district who visited their family and convinced her husband to also go for testing. The husband also tested positive.

With support from Tigwirizane Support Group, the two are still staying together as husband and wife. Their 11-year-old marriage is, and as a sign of adhering to drugs, blessed with a child who was born negative.

According to Falesi, the child who is a year and some months old is enjoying good health just like the two of them.

Tigwirizane Support Group is a group of HIV/AIDS women who were trained on Prevention of Mother- to-Child Transmission of HIV (PMTCT) by Youth Net and Counselling (YONECO) under a project called Investing for Impact against TB and HIV with financial support from Action Aid through Christian Aid.