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"We men are just thick-headed"
PlusNews
March 24, 2010

http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=88532

Moses Mataka, 49, diagnosed with the HIV virus seven years ago, was one of the first male home-based caregivers working in the mining district of Mberengwa, in Midlands Province, Zimbabwe, and perhaps he was one of the first in the country, but his road has not been easy.

"I tested HIV positive in 2003. I had been very ill for a very long time... One day I had a dream that God asked me to get up and do his work. Before I could ask, 'What kind of work?' I woke up from the dream and I was feeling stronger. My wife was making porridge for me when I walked into the kitchen. She almost fainted with disbelief.

"From that day I have never been ill to the extent of lying in bed for days. When I thought hard about the dream, I knew that the work I needed to do was to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS in my community and save people's lives. This was very difficult because I also did not have much knowledge about it.

"That was the starting point. I joined a support group and trained as a peer educator; after that I joined a home-based care programme [which closed down in 2005].

"After its closure we didn't know what to do and our patients were stranded. Although we had no support we continued visiting our clients, giving them moral support.

"After that I joined the Betseranai Home Based Care programme ... where we use male caregivers to encourage other men to get tested and support their wives in the Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission (PMTCT).

"Most women are afraid to go on this programme, because when the husbands find out they [the wives] are HIV positive they are chased away from the family home - they are blamed for bringing the disease into the home.

"This is the work I do as a "Male Champion". We go and talk to men so that they understand what the benefits of PMTCT are, but it's not an easy thing. Sometimes we are chased away from people's homes; sometimes they close their doors in our faces, but we continue visiting them and trying to convince them.

"We men are just thick-headed - I know that for a fact. We take time to accept issues because we want to live in denial most of the time, but in Mberengwa, I tell you, we are changing mindsets. People are seeing the benefits of the PMTCT programme."

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