Zvandiri’s Child Adherence Support Workers asked to help major hospital

Introducing Zvandiri Magazine

I am one of the Zvandiri Magazine editors. The experience of creating
the new Zvandiri magazine was indeed a long journey. It has its share
of ups and downs, just like any journey, but one thing is for
certain, it was always interesting.

We are four editors from the Zvandiri programme and we were excited
to get started and the fantasy of creating our own magazine.
There were times when this fantasy seemed far away as there was a lot
to be done and we were not sure if we would be able to take our ambitiou
ideas and turn them in to reality.

None the less, we decided we were going to chase this dream
even if we did not know the way. We had two mentors, Nono and
Leonard. Nono, a seasoned journalist, gave us a crash course in
journalsm while Leonard taught us how to create a magazine starting
from the mockup all the way up to the polished glossy version.

Working on this magazine taught us a lot of lessons that we will carry
on into life. Of course, the most obvious are the ones we were taught,
that is journalism and graphic design. The lessons have impacted on the
lives of the editors so much that one of us is actually contemplating
using this knowledge to write a book. The magazine also taught us the
meaning of dedication. There were times when the chips were down and
it would have been easier to give up but we stayed true to our dreams
and we found a way around our problems. Sometimes impatience would set
in but the thing that kept us going was the desire to produce a
magazine we could be proud of. What started out as a magazine for our
HIV positive peers managed to transform into a symbol of our honour
and pride and this compelled us to fight and to keep it alive and to
make it shine as brightly as possible,

Ultimately, we are very happy with our magazine and we pray that
there can be future editions of the Zvandiri magazine. The places we
have gone, the people we have met and the experiences we had came to
create a journey we will never forget.

Look out soon for the launch of the Zvandiri magazine here on this site!

by Sam, 21 years

CASP training lifts self esteem

I am one of Africaid’s Child Adherence Supporters (CASP) and
personally for me the feeling of being part of this team has been so
awesome. It has given me great exposure which has built up my
confidence.

The day I was told I was to be a CASP member, I wondered
if Aunt Eliza knew what she was doing. I thought I was no better than
others but CASP is clearing away the low self esteem step by step.

Being fully excellent in this project is something beyond my control
but I believe I have the potential to achieve other standards and have
made some achievements. CASP has been great, I wish it long life.

by Joy, 20 years

Zvandiri’s peer counselling training a success with trainees

I was happy to be in this group because it was cooperative group. I enjoyed everything we did at this training

I am HIV Positive

Entered on behalf of Rudo,
14yrs, who died last year. She wrote this shortly before her death.

I AM HIV POSITIVE

I’m not ashamed of being HIV positive.
I’m just sorry that this virus found a home in my body.

I’m not ashamed of being sick.
I just want to fight HIV without fighting shame and discrimination.

You see with my compromised immune system,
I can only fight one enemy at a time.

Rudolph. 14yrs
2009