Posted on April 19, By unaidsap. This is her self-told story of how she became the first person living openly with HIV in Fiji. I grew up in the harbour town of Suva. I was brought up in the Seventh Day Adventist Church. During youth camps we had two sessions on HIV. To me it was just a session. I got married at 21 and got infected in my marriage. My husband was sickly and became bed ridden.
I did not blame him. I felt like he got infected before we were married and did not know he was living with HIV. In he died due to AIDS-related causes.
He was We did not have treatment in Fiji at that time. People living with HIV were just monitored. In the initial stages there was depression, denial and stress.
But as soon as I got diagnosed one of my dreams was to meet another person living with HIV. With my family there was no change in the way they treated me. It was support from the word go. I did not see any element of discrimination from my parents and siblings. Coming out was not an overnight decision for me. It took me six months to juggle the pros and cons. Somehow my mind was not dwelling on the negative.
Because there was no support system in place at the time, I felt the need to speak out. So I started with the church.
