Hillcrest AIDS Centre Trust’s help creates a world of hope for patients

TWENTY-NINE-YEAR-OLD Nelisiwe* was admitted to the Hillcrest AIDS Centre Trust’s (HACT’s) Respite Unit in late November, last year.

For the past three years she lived on the harsh streets of Durban’s Point area, doing anything to get her next Whoonga fix.

Prior to this, Nelisiwe, an AIDS orphan, stayed with her grandmother in KwaMashu and was earning a good living through local modelling work and contracts.

But her world came crashing down in August 2014 when her beloved gogo passed away and she was chased onto the streets by her uncle who wanted to rent out the family home. With no one and nowhere else to turn, the streets and drugs quickly become Nelisiwe’s new source of solace and comfort.

Living only for her next fix, Nelisiwe’s health quickly declined as she defaulted on her ARV medication.

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Weak and severely malnourished, Nelisiwe was thankfully referred to HACT’s Respite Unit by a care worker from a local homeless shelter.

Nelisiwe’s treatment in the Unit began with a strict regime to wean her body off the Whoonga, a physically and mentally challenging process that Nelisiwe described as ‘worse than childbirth’.

Now clean, Nelisiwe has resumed her ARV medication.

She is feeling and looking better and has started, with the help of HACT Nurse, Nokuphila Khanyile, to tentatively make plans for her future.

“Nokuphila has been like a mother to me since I arrived. She makes me feel comfortable and has shown me a lot of love, like I haven’t had in a long time.”

First and foremost, Nelisiwe needs somewhere to stay when she is discharged from the Unit, but while this is important to ensuring she doesn’t go back to the streets, she has something much more important on her mind, her 11-year-old son.

She has not seen him once in the three years she lived on the streets.

“I really want to see my son again and tell him how sorry I am and how much I’ve missed him. I’m scared what he will think, but I hope to make him understand that I still love him.”

With the help of Nokuphila, Nelisiwe has been writing letters to her son, which she one day soon, hopes to share with him.

“I’ve been given a second chance and I really want to be a good mother to my son and be there for him now. I know now that I have to take care of my health first if I want to do that.”

*Name has been changed

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