The dynamic duo

Sisters Sinothando and Sinoxolo Mute were born in 1991 and were raised by their single mother, Neliswa in a two-roomed home in Scenery Park, an informal settlement outside East London.

With a positive outlook on life, regardless of their troubling circumstances, the girls were able to finish high school and register for a promising tertiary education at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, with Sinothando studying analytical chemistry and Sinoxolo studying IT.

But in May 2012, the Mute sisters endured a life-changing event when Sinothando was diagnosed with tuberculosis. After a formal diagnosis and a large amount of prescription medication, it was identified that her tuberculosis had developed into multi-drug resistant tuberculosis. Sinoxolo was then also diagnosed with the illness.

This created a considerable imbalance in their lives.

The two struggled to deal with the great distances to commute between home, school and their treatment clinic, and the constant side effects brought on by the medication. But soon they were able to lift their chins up and live normal lives through educating themselves and managing their disease.

With the encouragement of the Donald Woods Foundation they were able to overcome the illnesses’ physical and psychological obstacles.

Sinoxolo said the first part of overcoming the illness was accepting that you have it and educating oneself regularly about it. This has helped them deal with their emotions, something that holds tuberculosis patients back from recovery.

Today the sisters live happy lives. They are studying at Walter Sisulu University and bettering themselves one day at a time.

Sinoxolo added that that the best way to help those with tuberculosis is breaking the stigma and constantly educating the youth of the deadly disease.