Stigmatized but determined to overcome
By George Arende


“My community branded me a killer.” These are the words Sellah Akinyi Opiyo uses to illustrate the magnitude of her struggle as she tried to overcome profound stigma following her husband and her co-wife‘s deaths in 1996.

Opiyo has lived with HIV for more than 12 years. As medication has helped to transform her life, she is become determined to overcome the challenges that face many people living with HIV and AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa.

In the last six years, the number of people on AIDS medication jumped by 10 times, from 300,000 in 2003 to about three million in 2007 according to the 2008 UNAIDS report.

Opiyo is a 46-year-old Kenyan pre-school teacher in the western lakeside City of Kisumu. She has three children of her own and three more inherited from her deceased co-wife. “My husband and co-wife died without testing for HIV,” laments Opiyo even as she recognizes that millions of people in rural Kenya then had very limited information on HIV and AIDS.

“My husband’s death was a motivation to being tested,” she said. But the fear and courage to make the step was a daunting task. Opiyo said “I forged my name three times, all the results were positive.”

Opiyo was stunned by the HIV-positive diagnosis. ‘I was very healthy, the news traumatized me. I spent my last coin for herbal medication.”

She started on antiretroviral therapy in 2003. “When I received the ARV medication I knew I had my life in my hands,” Opiyo explained. “In one month I increased my body weight by ten kgs.”

More surprises awaited Opiyo. After losing her job because of her HIV status, she was warned by a church pastor to stay at home not to step foot in the church compound.

Somehow, Opiyo relied on her inner strength. “I still was motivated to call on widows and talk to them about life issues like HIV and AIDS.” Ignoring warnings from her pastor, she shared her HIV status with other church members. As a result, five women within her congregation approached her to confide there HIV status.

This further motivated Opiyo. Today she is the chairperson of the KIMEO PLWHA group, a support group of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya, whose mission is to reduce transmission and impact of HIV and AIDS by supporting members in psycho-social and economic means. KIMEO PLWHA serves more than 200 members in 14 distinct groups with the primary focus of giving hope to People Living with HIV and AIDS.
Given Opiyo’s own demonstrated determination—and profound hope—she is clearly qualified for this position. Her experience in overcoming stigmatization serves as a model for others. Today she serves as a powerful example of what it means to live with HIV.