Auxillia Chimusoro legacy lives on
BRIAN Mahaso was only eight years old in 1989 when his mother, the late Auxillia Chimusoro, went on national television and publicly disclosed her HIV positive status.
Though he was too young to understand exactly what was going on, Brian clearly remembers the unpleasant exchanges between family members the evening prior to his mother’s announcement on TV, as they tried to convince her to abort her “doomed” mission.
That confrontation, however, was to prove a prelude to the storm that was to follow.
In the immediate aftermath of their mother’s historic disclosure, stigma and discrimination were to stalk Brian and his siblings around the neighbourhood like a bad rash that refuses to go away.
“In the morning when we were going to school, we could see and feel that people were talking about us,” he told The Sunday Mail.
“We were the talk of the township and the whole of Masvingo. At school other pupils would say ‘I won’t play with you because you will give us HIV’. And during break time they would distance themselves from me.”
His brother and sister, who were studying at Gokomere High School close to their mother’s home village, also bore the brunt of an unforgiving community that relentlessly sought to distance themselves from the “tainted” duo.
None of their fellow pupils wanted to sit next to them and the teachers did nothing about it.
In Auxillia’s village, the villagers gathered together and made a beeline to the headman’s homestead where they asked for the family to be banished.
“Later on, we realised that being HIV positive was associated with prostitution,” Brian said.
“People would call us children of a prostitute.” Even grown women from their community would accuse their mother of planning to pass on the virus to their husbands. Anyone would say what they want.
There was a general lack of knowledge of how one got infected with HIV,” said Brian who is now 40 years old.
The local community play centres became a no-go area for Auxillia’s children. Their peers would simply walk away on seeing Brian and his siblings. At school, he said, he was overlooked for selection into sports teams on the assumption that he would infect others with HIV.
The stigma and discrimination continued relentlessly for years. His mother, however, remained stoically determined to fight ignorance associated with the virus.
“Despite receiving endless advice to abort her television appearance, Auxillia decided to do it.
“That sort of determination probably is what enabled her to fight stigma and discrimination.
“I remember the first support group she created was in 1992 in Masvingo, which probably was the first in Zimbabwe.” After publicly revealing her status, Auxillia immediately got down to work, attempting to alter perceptions about the virus within her community.
Soon she was receiving support and understanding from women living with HIV whose husbands had succumbed to the virus. The picture was, however, different at her rural homestead where stigma and discrimination remained rife.
Auxillia, who was then employed as a maid by an expatriate doctor, remained determined in preaching her gospel. In the process, along with her friends they formed the Batanayi Support Group.
In 1996, the support group was registered as a community-based organisation fighting stigma and discrimination through sharing of information.
The group members used their own funds to traverse across Masvingo province providing support to people who had been tested for the virus while encouraging them to form groups.
Auxillia was renowned for her charisma and eloquence, prompting her employers to invite her to address international HIV conferences. These international excursions came with generous allowances, allowing Auxillia to provide her children with items of luxury and elegance. Soon Brian and his siblings were among the best dressed children in the community.
For the children, this became a catalyst for new friendships with peers who had for years shunned them.
“Despite all the bad that was being spoken about her, my mother brought packages specifically meant to help the community from her trips,” said Brian.
“My mother also assisted a number of people from our village and soon they started to open up to her.
“From then the homestead yard was always filled with people receiving medical assistance. This helped fight some of the stigma.
“Up to now people who fall sick in our community go to our homestead to get assistance.”
By the time Auxillia died in 1998, she had created a strong network of activists which helped her children continue with her work.
Brian feels his mother’s dedication to fighting stigma and discrimination during a time when there was little known about the virus helped lay the foundation for the progress Zimbabwe has made over the years towards eradicating HIV and Aids.
“By the time we got to 1999, people had information, but there was no treatment. We had the initiative for home-based care under which bed-ridden people in rural and urban homes were given care. There were community home-based care facilitators to assist because hospitals were overwhelmed.
“These support groups contributed much. “There were other organisations that contributed towards disseminating information to help people accept ARV drugs. That was another milestone realised in terms of treatment literacy.”
During an era of ignorance, Auxillia along with 12 others met in Harare to form the Zimbabwe National Network of People Living with HIV (ZNNP+) in 1992, an umbrella body that represents and co-ordinates people living with HIV (PLHIV) and those affected by HIV.
Zimbabwe observed World Aids Day recently under the theme “End Inequalities. End Aids. End Pandemics.”