1. W
HEN her
hus-
band
passed away and
left her four months
pregnant, she had
no idea that her life
would become un-
bearable. She had
no idea that she
would suffer and be
rejected by her own
relatives, and she
had no idea that
she was HIV posi-
tive.
Teresia Damian is
HIV positive. She
doesn’t hide it and
wants people to
know about her
status so that she could help her community change their
behavior towards HIV positive people. She also wants to
help those who are positive like her, by encouraging them
to know that it isn’t the end of the world for them. Actual-
ly, she is a happy woman.
“I learned that I was HIV positive when I was sixth months
pregnant with my last born and had to get tested at the
antenatal clinic. I later found out that my late husband’s
relatives had known about what led to his death but did
not tell me,” she recalls, adding: “Actually when I learned
of my test results I felt devastated, but then I picked my-
self up and decided to be strong.”
But Teresia’s journey to happiness was not that easy. Her
husband’s relatives kicked her out of the house with noth-
ing but a small bag
of her clothes. She
had to move from
Korogwe district to
Tanga City in Tanga
region, north of
Tanzania and start
a new life with her
three year old
daughter, living in
her aunt’s home
while she finds a
job. She gave birth
to a healthy baby
boy and vowed to
protect him from
contracting the
virus.
“I decided to stop
breastfeeding him
when he was two
months old. I didn’t want him to contract the virus. My hus-
band’s relatives had promised to help me buy baby milk, but
they didn’t live up to their word. I suffered. I would go and
beg for money from other people, buy some little milk and
mix it with lots of water so that the baby wouldn’t go hungry.
I knew it wasn’t nutritious, but I didn’t have a choice,” she
explains.
“I asked a certain man to teach me how to be a tailor, and I
would help him sew some clothes and get 300 shillings that I
would buy half a kilo of sugar with, and ask good Samaritans
for vegetables so that my children and I could get at least
one meal per day. Sometimes I didn’t eat and had to cook
porridge and put salt in it because I couldn’t afford to buy
sugar. At least it helped my kids not to cry of hunger and
wake up the angry neighbor,” she says.
HIV positive and happy due to SILC
Pamoja Tuwalee
...ni jukumu letu sote

2. HIV positive and happy
that I have never really fallen sick. I use medication as re-
quired and I am sure that I am absolutely not even close to
death. Everybody knows about my status, I do not hide it,
and I teach them how to live positively. Those who stigma-
tize others, I teach them that they shouldn’t do that,” she
says.
From being a beggar to a brave young woman, Teresia is
one hell of a lady who understands the importance of pro-
tecting your child at all cost. She has suffered, has been
ridiculed, has starved, and has been abandoned; but she
never lost hope. She knew that being a mother meant pro-
tecting your children, and thanks to SILC, she is probably the
happiest woman in Kange area. Being HIS positive definitely
isn’t the end of the world.
In her pursuit for a better life, Teresia was lucky to be visit-
ed by someone she had never met before who introduced
her to PASADIT, an organization that implements the
Pamoja Tuwalee program in Tanga Urban. Through the
program she joined the Shalom Women SILC Group in
Kange area and learnt many things including saving money,
food production and tailoring. She started by renting a
sewing machine before she managed to have her own.
Teresia has already taken three loans of 50,000 shillings
each, as well as a bonus of 160,000 shillings from the
group’s first round of profits. And you couldn’t imagine the
first thing Teresia bought after receiving the loan.
“A mattress. I bought myself and my two babies a
mattress,” she says, laughing. “The last time I
slept on a mattress was in 2007 after I was kicked
out of my house. All of these years we have been
sleeping on a mat – a borrowed one, actually –
and our bodies had already grown used to that.
So I just had to buy a mattress,” she laughs. The
second thing that she did was have a carpenter
make her a bed. After that she opened herself a
bank account and started saving even more mon-
ey.
The ever-smiling Teresia is so thankful to the SILC
model for saving her and her children’s lives.
Right now she can afford to feed them, shelter
them, buy them clothes and take them to school.
Her daughter is eight years old and in standard
two, while her son is five years old and in nursery.
And what’s more, the child is HIV negative.
“Healthwise I am also doing fine, and I thank God
For more information please contact:
World Education (WEI)/Bantwana Initiative
Pamoja Tuwalee Program
Vijana Road, Uzunguni Area, Plot No. 101
P.O. Box 6234,
Arusha, TANZANIA
Tel: +255 27 254 5525
Fax: +255 27 254 5623
Email: info@worlded.co.tz
www.worlded.org
www.bantwana.org