Lerato Makheta
Coming to terms with being HIV-positive

Lerato Makheta* travels 64km every day to work in a clothing factory in Maseru. She is HIV-positive, unmarried with a young son. At work she lives openly with her status but back home in her village no one knows.

“In our village they associate AIDS with unacceptable behavior. I don’t think I could ever tell my family,” she says.

Lerato was 22 in 1998 when she had a relationship with a man working for the church she attends. He moved away and she has not seen him since. “I am sure he gave me this disease,” she says with no hint of recrimination.

Lerato did not know about AIDS until a year ago. While working on the factory’s industrial relations committee, she learnt about HIV and the efforts of the management to get people to know their status. Once involved, she had no problem in championing the testing cause.

She has a friend whose baby did not thrive. Her friend took the baby to a doctor, who found that the baby was HIV-positive. But still her friend was in denial. Then she got sick and was tested at hospital. She started treatment immediately and is healthy again, and this spurred Lerato to get tested.

“I wanted to know my status before getting ill. Now when I start to get sick I will go straight onto treatment. I am not worried about the future and hope to live a long enough life to see that my son can look after himself.

“At work I am proud that I can help people to get to know their condition and deal with the disease. I find that no one discriminates against me here. At home I am really close to my mother but she wouldn’t understand. It would be a disgrace.”

Lerato is the family breadwinner and also supports her parents and a sister who has three children. “With the ALAFA programme my visits to the doctor now cost me only M10 ($1.50). This is a great help to all of us.”

* Lerato Makheta is not her real name