Supporting young mothers in Zimbabwe – Ellen’s story
Ellen is a mother and a mentor to other young mums living with HIV in Makoni District, in northeast Zimbabwe. Initially trained as a Community Adolescent Treatment Supporter by Zvandiri, she supports other young mothers through the ups and downs of parenting.
My name is Ellen. I’m a young mother who has been living with HIV for 24 years now. I love working on projects, reading novels and watching movies – Nigerian movies!
I have a son who is 13 months old. I separated from my baby’s father when he found out I was pregnant. Life became so hard and difficult for me, trying to figure out how I am going to take care of my baby on my own. I was emotional and really stressed.
It feels so good to be a mother, but it’s difficult being a single mum. Financially, it’s tough, but I’m trying to take good care of him. I love playing with my baby, having good times with him, just trying to make him happy always.
“I LOVE TO SUPPORT OTHER YOUNG MOTHERS”
I was born with HIV. I accept my status and love the way I live my life. My baby is fine – he was tested when I gave birth to him and was negative, at six weeks negative and at nine months negative. The final HIV test will be done at 18 months or three months after cessation of breastfeeding and I remain hopeful that the baby will test negative.
As a peer supporter, I was trained to help peers accept their HIV status and live their lives to the fullest; phoning them to remind them to take their medication correctly at the right time, and holding adherence sessions with them.
Now, through READY+, I guide other young mothers living with HIV on how to look after and register their baby, and organise support groups where we meet to discuss issues around sexual and reproductive health and status disclosure.
As a mentor mother, I love to support other young mothers through the ups and downs of parenting. I love to offer advice, share experiences and provide emotional support to them.
I’m so proud because I’m helping other young mothers accept their status and to take good care of their babies.
They turn to me because I listen to them without judgement. They are free to tell me their concerns because we are of the same age and we have the same lived experiences.
GETTING YOUNG MOTHERS THE HELP THEY NEED
There’s this one young mother. She got married but didn’t disclose her [HIV] status to her husband. When he found out, they started having fights and then she was refusing to stay with him. The young mother was so upset emotionally. I supported her and also talked to them both together, and now they are back together.
We need to provide HIV education to young mothers and let them know about sexual and reproductive health and family planning information.
I’m so proud because I’m helping other young mothers accept their status and to take good care of their babies. I’m promoting health education to young mothers so that they are empowered and can be assertive when it comes to family planning and planned pregnancies.
We need to provide HIV education to young mothers and let them know about sexual and reproductive health and family planning information. Most of the young mothers I support did not finish school, causing them to live in poverty and sometimes having to stay with their abusive partners. They tell me what their needs are and then I refer them so that they can get the help they need to deal with their issues.
Planning for the future
Through my experiences of life, I’ve learned to deal with my emotions by keeping busy or by finding something that makes me happy so that I don’t get stressed. I’ve also learnt that being HIV positive doesn’t mean it’s the end of the world. I can live happily, just like anybody who is HIV negative. All I need to do is adhere to my treatment and everything will be fine.
I can live happily, just like anybody who is HIV negative. All I need to do is adhere to my treatment and everything will be fine.
I want to do more skills training in the future and expand my broiler chicken project. At the moment I have 30 chickens and would like to have maybe 130.
My hope for my son is to take good care of him and to be able to send him to school so that he can be somebody.
READY+ is part of a portfolio of programmes designed to build Resilient and Empowered Adolescents and Young people (READY). All READY programmes place adolescents and young people at the centre of programme design, delivery, monitoring and evaluation. The READY Movement is a coalition that supports young people in all their diversity to demand their right to a healthy life, led by the Global Network of Young People Living with HIV (Y+ Global) with support from Frontline AIDS and its partners.