The writer Leila Sheikh (in black) is a Senior
Journalist; producer of documentaries and Social Justice Defender.
By Leila
Sheikh
1.
After her second baby was born Eileen was
advised by her doctor to undergo Voluntary Counselling and Testing for HIV (VCT). She did and was found to be HIV
positive. When she gave the results of
the test to her husband, he hit her and hurt her badly and she was taken to
hospital for treatment where they refused to treat her without a Police Form
(PF3).
At the Police Station she showed them the
results of her HIV test and the two Police Officers told her “You are lucky he
did not kill you”.
By then E was contemplating suicide. It was her sister’s friend who knew a woman
who knew an activist for PLHIV (People Living with HIV/AIDS) Rights, who
arranged a meeting between E and the activist.
The
activist counselled E. She advised her to move out of the marital home to avoid
the spousal violence and introduced her to the Post Test club in Mbagala where
people who have undergone Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) and are found
to have HIV, are given counselling and psychosocial support.
E is now
an activist for the Rights of women who are living with HIV/AIDS.
She says
the support and counselling she received helped to save her life and she wants
to continue counselling and advocating for the safety of PLHIV women.
2.
Vivian-“I found out I have hearing
disabilities when I was five years of age.
I was extremely lucky to have loving parents and a loving and supportive
family. I was sent to ordinary schools,
not special schools for the deaf. When I
was growing up, there were no sign language teachers. I used to sit in front of the classroom and
study the teachers’ lips and learnt. I
learnt to read facial expressions, gestures, the Alphabet and postures.
I now counsel parents
of children with hearing disabilities.
I also support PLHIV
with hearing disabilities.
I do not consider
myself a person with disabilities because I live a full life with a husband and
children and my volunteer work. We also have a language, the sign language.
I hope one day there
will be sign language experts in key government departments and in law enforcement
agencies. For example, when a woman gets
raped, she cannot shout for help. When
she goes to a police station to file a report, no one would understand her
unless there’s a translator present.
In our estimate there
are nearly 1,000,000 deaf people in Tanzania, surely that merits more sign
language usage. I urge parents with deaf
children not to hide them. Deaf children
have special needs. The government ought
to allocate a budget to train sign language teachers. I’m a women’s rights activist.”
3.
Pendo- “I call myself Pendo, though I was
given a different name by my parents. I am a Sex Worker.
“In 1999 a
woman came to my village in Singida and paid Tsh.50, 000/= to my parents and to
the parents of two other girls and said she’d find jobs for us in
Dar es Salaam as domestic workers.
We came to
Dar es Salaam, were given mitumba
clothes and then were sent out to men in hotel rooms.
I hated
that woman. She took the money in
advance and then sent us to the men.
I got into
this profession when I was 15. I have
been to school, completed primary school education.
I ran away from ‘the woman’ when I was 18 and
started doing business for myself.
This life
hardens you. We have to be tough. Some of those men are rough and I learnt to
hit back. You can always spot the rough
ones.
I saw
‘that’ woman, the one who brought me to Dar es Salaam sometime
back. She had brought a gaggle of new
girls into town from the villages.
Most SWs
know of HIV/AIDS, but when a client offers more money, we are willing to engage
in non-protective ‘work’. I mean, with
all the men I have had, if I haven’t caught HIV, I’ll never catch it.
My parents
do not know what I do. I tell them I’m a
hairdresser.
Yes. SWs support each other when there are
problems, but we are not very loyal when it comes to clients. We fight over territory and clients.
Even when
we are ill we go out. We have to. In a way, we are competing with each
other. Who’s the most popular? Who makes the most money?
You see some
of those women in offices? Some of them
‘moonlight’ as SWs. Their salaries are
not enough to support their families.
We are not
the dregs of humanity. We are human like
everyone else. If we were subhuman,
would men come after us?
What is
Income Tax? You say since we are
professional women we ought to pay income tax?
Why should we? Our profession is
not recognised. We are twilight
women.
.
4.
Rehema- “My husband left me when I had a
mastectomy. He says I have become ugly; disfigured because I have one breast
removed so the breast cancer wouldn’t spread to other parts of my body.
After my second baby was born, I found it difficult to
breastfeed him from my right breast. I felt pain and there were some hard,
pellet like swellings on the breast. I went to see my doctor who recommended a
mammogram at Ocean Road Cancer Institute. When the results came back, I was told I have
breast cancer.
Throughout the ordeal of the tests my husband kept aloof,
refusing to acknowledge that I might be seriously ill. He had always admired my
looks saying “You are a beautiful woman”.
When I told him the doctor advised a mastectomy, he
walked out. My sisters looked after me when I was undergoing surgery and later,
the chemo therapy. My husband never came, especially when he was told by his
sister that I had become bald from the chemo therapy.
I have recovered, to a certain degree but my counsellor
says depression from being abandoned by my husband could retard my healing
process.
This country needs Public Education programs for families
undergoing the trauma of cancer.
I couldn’t work for two years, and had to take time off
from the Bank which employs me. My boss, a man has been supportive. His wife
has been to visit me.
Does a woman become less beautiful, less of a woman when
she loses a breast? Why does a woman get punished for becoming ill?
5.
Mariam- “I’m Albino. A woman.
Forty three years of age. I have
two children. They are not Albino. I was not sent to school because my mother
feared I would be unhappy from jeers and cruelty of other children.
Five years back I had
gone with my aunt to collect grass which we weave into mats for sale. We have to go to a forest at dawn before
sun up because of my delicate skin- albinos are prone to getting skin
cancer from over exposure to the sun. One morning we were late in getting to
the forest and the sun had become hot.
My aunt told me to sit under a tree while she collected the grass in the
hot sun.
Two men had been
following us. When my aunt was at a
distance, the two men put me in a gunnysack and carried me like an animal. I was saved by a man on a bicycle who saw me
struggling in the sack. Thinking the two
killers had stolen a goat, he shouted to them to stop. They dropped the sack which they had carried
me in and ran away.
My saviour opened the
sack and found me trussed like a goat.
He helped me out and took me to my aunt. We reported the incident to the
police but my assailants have not been apprehended”.
1 comment:
Congratulations to Leyla Sheikh. Very emotional testimonials!
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