Mervis Mufwempa is 25 years old and HIV positive. She became involved in Self Help Africa’s project in Chipapa, Zambia, in 2005. Since joining the Muchito HIV/AIDS support club and receiving goats, her life has changed dramatically. |
Before joining the support club, Mervis was always sick. Eating used to be a problem especially when she wanted a particular type of food. Getting to the clinic was very difficult – Mervis had to be carried her on a bicycle to Chipapa and Chilanga Hospice Clinics.
Mervis joined the support club in 2005 after being visited by one of the project Community Peer Educators of Chipapa project. She has been helped by the club’s Care and Prevention Teams to go for VCT and to start receiving medication at the Hospice in Chilanga. She is now on ART and her health has greatly improved.
From the goats Mervis gets milk which she drinks and manure which she uses to fertilise her field. Soon, when Mervis’s goats breed, she will be able to sell some of them and make an income.
The advice she gives to other sick community members is for them be part of the project by joining the clubs. Her plan is to venture into another business like trading where she could be making money on a daily basis.
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