“This Thing” — A Fun Loving Grandmother Who Continues to Support Her Family

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“This Thing”

Ghana

55 years

Grandmother and street trader

4 adult children, numerous grandchildren

Began antiretroviral therapy in 2005

(RED):

Do you dance late into the evening?

This Thing:

“Oh, not every day”

“This Thing” earned her nickname for telling a joke about a talkative school child who was known as “This Thing”! She prefers to use her nickname because like so many Ghanaians living with HIV she is sensitive about stigma and discrimination.

“This Thing” lives about an hour’s drive from Ghana’s capital, Accra. The 55 year old grandmother learned she was HIV positive in 2000 and began lifesaving antiretroviral therapy (ART) in 2005. She had been very sick, but now, she says with a chuckle: “I’m strong, I can do anything a man can do!”

“This Thing” cares for some of her grandchildren and earns important income for the family by selling food she has prepared at her street-side stall – so all that strength is put to good use.

One place where “This Thing” feels safe to be open about her HIV status is at the Wisdom Association, a support group she belongs to for people with HIV. Wisdom receives funding from (RED) and the Global Fund to help undertake income generating activities including a small pineapple plantation which “This Thing” helps with when needed. She says her friends at Wisdom are important: “When you come to the support group … You take them as your family… if you have a problem you discuss this with them”.

“This Thing” refuses to let HIV hold her back and says she plans to live to 100 – long enough to see all her grandchildren grow up.

Her message to others is: “When you get HIV it’s not the end of your life, you can live. And if you take your medicine properly according to your time, you will live long…”