...BUT TOUGH PEOPLE DO
Source : Kutlwano
Author : Ludo Chube
Location : Gaborone
Event : Interview
Dipuo Bogatsu’s name might ring a bell in a lot of people’s minds. Diagnosed with HIV back in 1992, Dipuo went public about her status in 1994. Since then she has been in the limelight discussing her experiences as a person living with HIV as well as a wide range of issues affecting people living with the virus. She even ran a column in one local newspaper called Positive Living with Dipuo Bogatsu. The one thing she has consistently maintained is that she was not on Anti-retroviral (ARV) therapy and did not wish to. What many may not be aware of is that her wish was granted for a good 17 years until 2009. “Since I was unemployed and could not afford to eat a proper diet my CD4 cell count went drown drastically and I had no choice but to enroll on ARV therapy.” This was also after trying out some dietary supplements, which had an adverse effect on her immune system.
Unlike a lot of people who are bedridden by the time they are enrolled, Dipuo says she is still as healthy as she looked and felt yesterday. “Except that my CD 4 count had dropped to dangerously low levels,” she reveals.
Dipuo’s first signs of HIV infection manifested in the form of lymph nodes somewhere on her head. She felt dizzy and developed a rash that itched a lot. She also had to deal with tapeworms and heartburn. When a doctor advised her to go for a test she did not object. However, she would delay getting the results. When she eventually did, two months later, she found out that she was carrying the virus. “I informed my sexual partner who at first seemed to be supportive but later grew distant,” she shares in an interview with Kutlwano Magazine. At the time, Dipuo was a single mother of two boys who were both under the age of 10.
Dipuo reveals that she went on a deliberate three-year celibacy, concentrating more on where she was headed after all that happened.
After coming to terms with her status, Dipuo started working with a number of organisations that encouraged and educated people living with HIV such as Emang Basadi’s Night shift and Population Services International (PSI). She also had the privilege of traveling overseas on numerous occasions to interact with and learn from peers. The very first time Dipuo went public about her status was on BBC London, she reveals. Not many Batswana watched the programme. The second time she did an anonymous radio interview but those who knew her well could tell that it was Dipuo’s voice.
Only at a candle light vigil organised by the Red Cross Society did she publicly declare her status in front of everyone. The reaction she got could only be expected from a nation that was still in denial about the existence of HIV in their country. People immediately broke down to tears, feeling sorry for her. That was at the time when only a handful if not less Batswana had publicly disclosed their HIV positive statuses. In fact a few months down the line, people started doubting whether Dipuo was actually HIV positive. The rumour mill started spreading allegations that Dipuo had been paid large sums of money to pretend she was HIV positive. “They were looking at my healthy outward appearance,” she says laughing.
If that was anything to go by, Dipuo would be HIV negative because even at the age of 47 and having lived with the virus for 20 years now, she still looks as healthy and as young as a spring chicken.
Dipuo says she has been working on translating some of the HIV material that has been published from English to Setswana. “Almost all of our material is in English yet mostly HIV affects people who are in the rural areas some of whom are not even literate enough to read.”
Also Dipuo feels that the ‘abstain, be faithful and condomise’ message is now irrelevant. “We are already infected; we are not at that stage where we were trying to prevent the virus. It is already here. We need to address the virus now and the people that have it.”
Being a mother Dipuo had a scare at one point when her maid alleged that one of Dipuo’s sons was infecting her with lymph nodes (dikgeleswa). Dipuo rushed her son to hospital only for the ‘lymph nodes’ to turn out to be ingrown hair bumps. The child tested negative.Many from her generation barely made it five negative.
At the moment Dipuo does not have enough money to eat a well-balanced diet with plenty of fruits and vegetables like everybody should for their immune system. Currently unemployed she has such as and when she can afford. “What I guard against are artificial chemicals that are added to a lot of processed food such as monosodium glutamate and tatrazine, they are not good for people with compromised immunity.” she quips. She has asked social workers to put her on social welfare temporarily until she can sort out some of her pending issues.
“Nna tota fa ke ne ke kgona ke ne ke ka eletsa go ja dijo tse e leng gore di nale boleng mo mmeleng wame eseng sengwe le sengwe fela se se jewang. Ke a itepa go bona gore ke dife dijo tse di utwanang le mmele wame.”
Her message to the public is that HIV is not an emergency disease. Once people wait until the last minute to get it checked and monitor it well, they are putting their very lives in danger, she warns. She also advises that positive living needs consistent self-awareness and alertness.
Notwithstanding that Dipuo would like to go back to church, she recalls a certain incident in which a pastor from one of the local churches preached about her without prior consent. That, she says, turned her off.
Being well read and a sharp thinker, Dipuo wants to understand the impact of genetically modified foods on an HIV positive person. This is a question she says she has directed to the Ministry of Health but to no avail.
Dipuo is now one of the 169 000 people who are on Anti-retroviral in Botswana, a programme run by government. She still insists that if she had her way, she would not have enrolled on the programme. Her plan had been to keep ARVs at bay for as long as she possibly could. However, even then she has to admit that 17 years is a very long time. Many from her generation barely made it five.
