Sibongile Tshabalala

Sibongile Tshabala is a true leader who is a driving force of change in her community. As the national chairperson for Treatment Action Campain (TAC),a partner of the Stephen Lewis Foundation, Sibongile is leaving her mark and building a legacy. TAC is a South African advocacy network that gave this change-maker and mother of three her first introduction to HIV and AIDS activism.

Sibongile was diagnosed with HIV in 2000. Five years later, she lost her husband to complications from the virus. “Before that, I was a housewife,” she explains. Sibongile had not sought treatment for HIV up to that point, for fear of dealing with the repercussions of widespread HIV stigma. “You felt insulted, you felt dehumanized, you felt like I’m nobody in this community because I will die soon,” Sibongile recalls.

When Sibongile eventually began taking antiretroviral medication she still lacked important information about the impacts of the virus and why treatment was so crucial. A chance encounter with a TAC representative, and an invitation to attend a peer support meeting, changed everything and was the start of a lifetime of activism for Sibongile.

For the first time, Sibongile met people speaking freely about their diagnosis, treatment, hopes and fears. She no longer felt alone in her journey and found hope in how people were fearlessly coming together to support one another. Inspired, she signed up to become a TAC branch organizer that very day. “This is where I want other people living with HIV like me to come and get strength,” she thought.

Sibongile has now spent more than a decade working with TAC. Made possible in part by the support of SLF donors, TAC’s campaigns and Sibongile’s leadership have led to tremendous progress. Sibongile sees TAC’s focus on women’s programming as her legacy.

“Women are still leading the struggle of humanity on the ground,” she proclaims. “And it gives me hope that one day, we’ll win the fight against abuse. We will win the fight against oppression of women, because whether we like it or not, we are still oppressed and we need to liberate ourselves.”

Your support of the Stephen Lewis Foundation
can heighten the critical voices of advocates like Sibongile across sub-Saharan Africa.

Valerie van Wyck & Grace Mdinga

As emotional care workers for Stephen Lewis Foundation partner Sophiatown Community Psychological Services Valerie and Grace know HIV stigma keeps people – and women in particular – from accessing the treatment they need. That’s why they don’t wait for women to come to them in search of help: they go into the community, knocking on doors to find people living with HIV who are in need of psychosocial and medical supports. Every day, Valerie and Grace are challenging the cultural and systematic values that drive gender inequalities in their society by ensuring that women have this access this vital support, which is not just changing their lives, but also positively impacts the lives of their children of well.

“Our aim is to try and provide relief from illnesses, mental stresses, emotions that are all over the place and just talk,” explains Valerie. Working with more than 35 clients at a time in Johannesburg’s townships, and risking their own safety, she and Grace often encounter women reluctant to discuss their HIV status. Developing a rapport can take multiple visits, but they know the critical importance of following up with those who would otherwise be isolated.

“These women are living in fear ,” Grace says. “Most of our clients are often dependent on their partners… and they feel stuck.”

Grace and Valerie provide clients with referrals to health resources and encourage them to advocate for themselves. Their tireless outreach and empowerment of women is a direct challenge to deep-rooted norms that drive gender inequity across sub-Saharan Africa. One of Grace and Valerie’s biggest priorities is ensuring women with HIV understand the importance of antiretroviral medication. “When women begin taking the medication, [you see them] taking care of themselves, of their grooming, the space that
they’re living in… finding a job or taking better
care of their children.”

Both grandmothers themselves, Valerie and Grace are passionate about ensuring mothers with HIV are better equipped to protect their families from the effects of gender-based violence. “We are not scared to step into any house, into any situation,” says Valerie. “The children benefit a lot from from what we are doing. You can see it.”

By addressing the intersections of gender-based violence and HIV, Valerie and Grace are giving a generation of children the opportunity to witness the women they love most reclaiming their power. Cycles of intergeneration trauma are cut off at their roots, and communities heal. Your gift to the Stephen Lewis Foundation this International Women’s Day can help more advocates dismantle the gender inequity at the root of the AIDS pandemic.

Susan Nduta

Called to help others living with HIV, Susan Nduta volunteers two days a week at her local hospital’s HIV clinic in Kenya, and a third conducting home visits in her community.

“I do the work because someone else made it possible for me to live a positive life,” Susan says. “I feel I need to help others to live well with HIV.”

Susan was pregnant with her second child when doctors diagnosed her with HIV. She received HIV treatment through the prevention of mother-to-child transmission program, and her son was born without the virus.

Though it could have been tempting to retreat from the world, Susan’s resolve to make a difference emboldened her. She felt called to help other women navigating similarly difficult circumstances. Susan began volunteering at her local hospital’s HIV clinic, and eventually joined Stephen Lewis Foundation partner Kiambu People Living With HIV/AIDS (KIPEWA) as a volunteer community health worker.

Though HIV treatment has become more widely available, she notes that attitudes about the virus are slow to change and stigma often keeps the women she works with stuck in violent situations.
A lack of financial resources exacerbates this isolation.

Susan has therefore mobilized KIPEWA members to rear chickens, as an income-generating project. She hopes to help women in her community address some of their basic financial and food challenges and foster independence. Susan knows when women have access to their own money, they have more control of their own destinies. They can make their own choices about how and where they live, taking responsibility for their health and well-being – and supporting their peers to do the same.

“As women we should love each other, stay together, help each other so that our lives will be better,” Susan proclaims. You can empower change-makers like Susan by making a donation to the Stephen Lewis Foundation this International Women’s Day.

Dr. Samia Masinde

“Most men see me as a man, not as a woman. I receive insults wherever I go. When I stand up to speak on women’s issues and to join other women, I am constantly challenged,” says Dr. Samia Masinde.

As a trans woman, Samia is no stranger to gender-based discrimination and inequity – much of which she encountered in her own childhood home. Her nine younger siblings joined with community members who bullied and physically abused her. Once, they attempted to set her on fire.

Rising from the ashes of her own pain, Samia has forged her own path forward and is determined to help her fellow members of the LGBTIQ community. After studying internal medicine in Cape Town, South Africa, she returned to Kenya where she now works to increase access to sexual health services for gender and sexual minorities. Today she is director of Stephen Lewis Foundation partner organization Tamba Pwani in coastal Kenya.

Samia adopted her son, Yassin, at two months old. “When he was about 10 years old I made a decision to tell him about myself because I knew that I wanted his education about diversity to start at home with me,” she recalls. “I wanted to talk to him about the stigma and discrimination he might face and to protect him.” Now, she calls him her best friend and says he is very protective of her – aware of the heightened risk of sexual assault and other forms of gender-based violence faced by trans women across sub-Saharan Africa and around the world.

Samia says it’s in her nature to fight for her fellow women. “I can’t just sit back and remain passive,” she explains. Trans women face a significantly heightened risk of acquiring HIV, and access to sexual health services is essential to preventing its transmission. Samia lives an open and authentic life as she works to protect the well-being of her LGBTIQ peers.

With the support of Stephen Lewis Foundation donors, leaders like Samia are transforming their communities. Your donation this International Women’s Day can help dismantle gender inequity to cut the AIDS pandemic off at its roots.

Lilian Nabolo

As a counsellor with SLF partner LVCT Health in Kenya, Lilian Nalobo is changing the way people perceive individuals living with disabilities in her community.

Lilian’s work supports the inclusion of adolescent girls and young women with disabilities in conversations about sexual reproductive health and HIV. A wife and mother of three, Lilian brings her lived experience as a Deaf person to her activism. She is the founder of Economic Empowerment for Deaf women in Kisumu, and has amassed an incredible record of service through leadership and volunteerism in her community.

“I empower girls who go on to mentor others that have faced similar issues by encouraging them to be transparent in sharing their own experiences about sexual health, HIV stigma and disabilities,” Lilian says. “I want to ensure that girls are informed and know their [HIV] status.”

As a relentless advocate for accessible health care for people with disabilities, Lilian sees the Stephen Lewis Foundation as a valued partner. “I think SLF support has brought significant changes in HIV services access, information, treatment and prevention amongst people living with disabilities in Kenya,” she says. Though progress has been made towards inclusion for people with disabilities, Lilian knows there is still much work to be done.

“People should know that there are vulnerable girls and young women with disabilities who continue to face significant barriers due to the inaccessibility of physical and sensory information and communication, as well as socio-economics which hinder them from accessing vital health services.”

Lilian plans to continue emphasizing and promoting the importance of including people with disabilities in society so they can access the same health, education, and employment services as the general population. “Policies need to be changed,” she says firmly. “More resources need to be allocated to serve the needs of people with disabilities, women and girls.”

Lilian is paving the way for adolescent girls and young women with disabilities to take their rightful place in decision-making for the future. By supporting SLF this International Women’s Day, you can uplift her voice and #UprootInequity.

Alzira Nguenha

Alzira Nguenha has one seemingly simple wish: a Mozambique free from AIDS.

A treatment literacy officer with SLF partner organization Mozambique Treatment Access Movement (MATRAM), Alzira coordinates a grassroots program that puts women and girls living with HIV at the centre of prevention and care. The single mother of three boys says that women “have been a pillar of support in peer [HIV] education. The majority of treatment literacy implementers are women. Most of our activists are women.”

Alzira continues this bold legacy of women championing change. Through door-to-door visits, support groups, education and advocacy, her MATRAM team focuses on helping clients understand how HIV works in the body and how to proactively maintain their health through treatment adherence. With 14 years’ experience doing this work, Alzira says she is most proud of bringing science directly to the people.

When asked about barriers to receiving HIV treatment, Alzira explains that stigma and discrimination can prevent men from disclosing their positive status. Women who are trapped by poverty and dependent on male partners for income can also be reluctant to say no to sex. The compounding barriers of illiteracy and oppressive traditionsincrease vulnerability to HIV transmission, and family pressure to combine antiretroviral (ARV) treatment with traditional medicine puts pregnant and breastfeeding mothers and babies particularly at risk. These barriers are especially acute in rural areas.

“MATRAM will continue to be a platform to raise the voice of women,” Alzira says. She helps bring together women to offer peer support in advocating for themselves and their children as well as information on family planning and the side effects of ARV treatment for mothers and babies. MATRAM also brings male traditional and faith leaders together for education sessions on human rights. The sessions model what disclosure can look like, using role play by people living with HIV.

“We are at the forefront of the national AIDS response; we are marching with our heads high,” Alzira says proudly.
“As long as we are here, we will continue to educate every woman and girl on health.”

Your gift to SLF in honour of International Women’s Day can help empower more leaders like Alzira to transform their communities for the better and #UprootInequity.

Anna Namasiku Ndunda

Anna Namasiku Ndunda wants all 400 residents in her rural village of Choi, Namibia, to know their HIV status
by 2025.

A Community Home-Based Care Provider with SLF partner Catholic AIDS Action (CAA), the goal is a personal one: Anna learned her own HIV status in 2003, when she was seven months pregnant with her first child. She recalls crying when she heard the news, burdened by the weight of her positive diagnosis. But thanks to antiretroviral therapy (ART), her daughter and two children who followed were born HIV negative.

Today, Anna is a healthy mother who travels to settlements throughout Namibia’s Zambezi region to care for others living with HIV. Her clients are members of the Indigenous San community: mostly children who lost their parents to the AIDS pandemic and women. Zambezi has the country’s highest rate of HIV, with 24% of people living with the virus.

Anna connects with people in these isolated, rural communities, where health care is under-resourced and treatment is unavailable, and traditional cultural beliefs prevent women from realizing their sexual health and reproductive rights. “You have to fight for your freedom,” she tells them. “Every woman has to stand up with their two feet.”

Anna provides HIV counselling, nutritional education, tuberculosis screening, and referrals to other health care as needed—all in the privacy of people’s own homes. Perhaps most importantly, she offers her clients hope. “Here in the villages, they laugh at people who are on treatment,” Anna says. “But I’m going to stand on my two feet and tell the world I’m HIV positive.”

She’s seen first-hand the progress being made to end the AIDS pandemic. Clients once bedridden now receive the care they need to live full lives with HIV. And while Anna once had to travel 130 kilometres to the nearest hospital for her medication, today ART is available at her village clinic. These advances keep her passion burning strong.

“I promise myself everyone in my community will know their status,” Anna says. “When I reach that mountain, I will be the happiest woman in Zambezi region.” You can help make Anna’s goal a reality and empower women leading responses to the AIDS pandemic with your donation to SLF this International Women’s Day.

Khetsiwe Dlahmini

The country of Eswatini has the highest HIV prevalence in the world—with 26% of the country’s adult population living with the virus.

That’s why Khetsiwe Dlhamini, a midwife by training, is so passionate about her work at the Wellness Centre run by the Eswatini Nurses Association in Manzini, Eswatini. She provides treatment for health care workers, who are primarily women, many of whom live and work with HIV. These women deal with the burden of “self-stigma”
in spite of their own medical knowledge—fearing patients will reject their care should they discover they’re HIV positive.

“It is a difficult situation to be in,” says Khetsiwe. “So the centre provides a high level of confidentiality in HIV treatment and care.”

Khetsiwe offers women antenatal care as well as HIV and tuberculosis treatment, sexual health care, family planning support, and cancer screening. Following her previous role on a maternity ward, she says learning a mother has delivered a healthy and thriving baby is still the highlight of her work.

A mother of four, Khetsiwe knows there are unfortunately many barriers to that successful delivery. Eswatini suffers from inadequate funding for medical facilities, and personal finances often keep women from accessing critical care. A staggering 60% of people in rural areas live below the poverty line, which means public transit fare or gas for the car are often unaffordable.

Khetsiwe helps bridge the gap to essential support for health care workers and other women. She is encouraged by the growing number of women living full lives with HIV, and by the mothers she sees giving birth to babies who test negative for the virus. Khetsiwe expresses her appreciation for the Stephen Lewis Foundation, which has supported the Wellness Centre since its establishment in 2006. “We are grateful because of the impact on the people in our country,” she says.

You can ensure leaders like Khetsiwe are able to continue providing life-saving responses to HIV
and AIDS in their communities by donating to the Stephen Lewis Foundation in honour of International Women’s Day.

Martha Nagol Kapurwa

For three decades, Martha Nagol Kapurwa has answered the same calling as her mother and her mother’s mother before her: she is a traditional birth attendant (TBA) in northern Tanzania’s Kiteto district, where she travels between remote Maasai villages caring for women during their pregnancy, delivery and first weeks at home with a newborn.

The 60-year-old mother of six—and grandmother to 23— finds joy in seeing women safely deliver healthy babies and considers the role of a TBA as her life’s work. “My passion has always been to help young pregnant women,” she says. “It really started with my own children and later more pregnant women came for my support.”

Originally from the Maasai village of Partimbo — located in the region she serves—Martha has a rich knowledge in traditional customs, such as the use of herbs during pregnancy and a tradition of sitting, not lying down, during labour and delivery. Martha also educates expectant mothers on nutrition, family planning, and infant care. Maasai women often prefer home births to delivering in hospitals many hours away, where language and cultural barriers persist and traditional attendants are not allowed. For some women, whose communities move seasonally with their livestock, traditional birth attendants are the only option for prenatal care.

Thanks to training from SLF partner Maasai Women Development Organization (MWEDO), Martha also educates her patients, most of whom have no formal education, on HIV and AIDS awareness and prevention of mother-to-child transmission. She refers mothers and their spouses for HIV testing at MWEDO’s Kipok medical facility, where they receive culturally-appropriate care, and where Martha can attend their delivery.

For Maasai women, who Martha says are marginalized by a lack of autonomy and decision making, MWEDO’s traditional birth attendants provide a link between traditional practices and access to safe and appropriate health care. And they provide vital HIV education to Maasai communities who, because of language barriers and geography, are often overlooked in the fight against HIV and AIDS.

After attending more than 100 births and advising countless other expectant mothers, Martha’s vision for the future is one where women receive the health care they need and men receive the education to support them. “We wish on International Women’s Day to raise our voices and inform the world about the importance of the presence of traditional birth attendants, and about their contribution to saving maternal and child health,” she says.

“I am relieved to see the children and grandchildren I have supported thrive on life.”