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‘I’m Reaping What I Sow’ HIV Positive Man
NOMSA NKANA, Lusaka
“I WAS careless and I am now reaping what I sowed,says ” London Chuma who is now living positively with HIV.
Born in 1961, Chuma, formerly a truck driver lost his first wife and three children in the 90’s unaware of whether the deaths could have been HIV -related.
In those years, there was not much information on HIV/AIDS so he did not think of going for testing, he says.
He became a truck driver in 1998 and remarried in 2009 with two children.
Even before he started trucking, Mr Chuma was well aware of the challenges truckers go through on the road which sometimes require them to be away from their spouses for long periods.
On some of his trips, he would travel with a friend who usually engaged in sexual relations with prostitutes in his truck.
“My truck was made in such a way that it had an upper deck which could be used for sleeping so this is where my friend would have his rendezvous with his women. At the time, I took it as a normal occurrence,” he says with contempt.
Being away from home for weeks on end, loneliness on the road sets in, Mr Chuma says, making long distant truck drivers a prime target for sex workers who market their services aggressively.
One fateful day in 2004, en route to South Africa using Chirundu border which is notorious for prostitution, Mr Chuma parked his truck waiting for clearance.
Thinking this was her lucky day, a prostitute walked over to his truck coercing Mr Chuma to travel with her and to also have sex with him.
Like Samson in the Bible who gave in to Delilah’s lure, Mr Chuma fell for the bait and booked a room but used a condom. This would be his ‘initiation’ into a life of careless living which he would later pay for at a high price.
But being new at that lifestyle, he thought he would be safe if he had a permanent, faithful girlfriend, a decision he would come to realise in the future to be a fallacy as a prostitute can never be faithful.
Each time he took a trip through Chirundu, he would have sex with the prostitutes and this became his habit even at other borders. He had girlfriends wherever he could have one.
After a few times of using condoms, his lovers began demanding for sex without condoms.
One prostitute told him, “Why condoms, don’t you trust me,” and that was the day he threw caution to the wind by stopping to use condoms, a fatal decision which would cost him his health.
But in 2010, something began to happen to him which caught his attention. He was losing weight, sometimes having continuous diarrhoea, and also loss of appetite.
Realising something was wrong, he went to the hospital where he was advised to have an HIV test.
And after counselling, he took the test which came out positive for HIV. The world stood still but he had to go on and face his ‘demons.’
Still in a state of shock and unbelief, he went for another test the following day which still came out positive for HIV after which he was put on antiretroviral therapy (ART). His wife and children also tested positive.
For a week Mr Chuma failed to eat as he tried to absorb the news. His health began to fluctuate sometimes getting better and at other times going downhill.
For nine months he failed to eat anything apart from drinking water forcing his health to deteriorate to alarming levels.
Despite being on treatment, Mr Chuma saw no change in his health and so did his family who suggested he visits a witchdoctor as the drugs he was taking did not seem to have any effect on him.
And as if the egyptian had befallen him, Mr Chuma says he could no longer walk or do anything for himself, his wife ran away from him and he subsequently lost his job.
Taking all that in his stride, he went back to the hospital where he was told to take a viral load test. (viral load testing is the standard in antiretroviral therapy (ART) monitoring as it measures the amount of HIV in the blood and indicates if a treatment regimen is working or not).
After taking the test, the results indicated he needed to have a change of medication.
Voila! The new regimen he was given is now working wonders for him, he says with glee.
His health has drastically improved, he has regained his weight and is now able to walk on his own.
Mr Chuma has now become an advocate for routine viral load testing and monitoring because it has saved his life despite his status still remaining positive for HIV.
He was recently giving his testimony at the launch of “Be Healthy, Know Your Viral Load,” campaign in Lusaka.
To his fellow truckers, Mr Chuma says, they should consider their families by behaving responsibly on the road.
“My children are now sick because of my reckless behaviour. There is no permanent girlfriend among prostitutes but permanent destroyers. I can’t even tell you to use condoms but to only abstain because it is possible. I am jobless today because I fell sick and could not work.”
To married men Mr Chuma says, “Please check the mode of transport that some of your wives are using when going on their cross borders businesses. Some women ask truck drivers to help take their goods across the border and the men would do it in exchange for sex.
When trucks are parked, truckers sleep on their trucks and what do you think happens in the night if they are with someone else’s wife? Remember, these truckers have been away from their wives for a prolonged period. Sincere business women use public transport because they are ready to pay for their goods borders. As a former trucker, I know what I am talking about.”
Posted by Staffreporter
on November 9, 2015. Filed under LATEST NEWS.
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UPND-NDOLA
November 9, 2015 at 8:35 am
PF POLICE REMOVE UPND CAMPAIGN MATERIALS, WANT TO ARREST UPND OFFICIALS
PF cadres in police uniform have ordered police officers in Lusaka town to remove all UPND flags and campaign materials because, according to Lusaka province commander Charity Katanga, they have the potential to cause breach of peace since the country is not in campaign mood.
But the whole country, including Lusaka has lots of PF flags, billboards, and other campaign materials and no one has complained about it.
In fact, there are PF flags right outside woodlands police station in Lusaka.
Ordinarily, it should have been PF cadres in civilian clothes to remove UPND materials but it had to take PF cadres in police uniform like Katanga herself to remove the UPND flags.
Speaking on ZNBC PF news monitored in Lusaka this morning, Ms. Katanga said she has since summoned UPND leadership over the placement of UPND flags in Lusaka and possibly charge them with conduct likely to cause breach of peace.
It is not clear who the complainant in the matter is other than Katanga herself as the chief PF cadre in Lusaka.
It is not clear whether now she will also remove the PF flags and campaign materials in Lusaka or whether anyone is now free to remove the offence PF flags from various parts of the country.
ka junta
November 9, 2015 at 10:40 am
iwe idiot, have u seen politicking here? what desperation is this kanshi ba schupity imwe? umunenu na lwala imwe ati ama flag, fikala fyenu mwembwamwe
Paul Phiri
November 9, 2015 at 4:59 pm
MATOLE YOBE CHINYO CHANOKO. KUTI ULESUPPORTER AMAFI
New Educated Zambia©❤√
November 9, 2015 at 2:27 pm
Thanks for the information from our UPND Ndola branch. Please carry on informing our esteemed party members and citizens
Hildah Malama
November 9, 2015 at 8:38 am
Edgar Lungu will reap what he is sowing next year.
E
He is sowing very poor leadership and suffering in many Zambians but will face consequences next year.
He is losing by a margin of over 500 000 votes next year. He will then bury hmself to Embassy Park.
Denkete
November 9, 2015 at 10:30 am
@hildah, Vivid signs of dementia. The topic is about a tax driver who became hiv positive through carelessness. You are writing about Lungu and politics.
Denkete
November 9, 2015 at 10:34 am
truckdriver
NEZ A Tonga Idiot
November 9, 2015 at 8:42 am
Ba Hildah Malama bena kuwayawayafye.
Objective Prophetic Philosopher
November 9, 2015 at 9:08 am
Sad.
Kamata
November 9, 2015 at 9:11 am
Thought the story was about the sick man?
Gaby
November 9, 2015 at 9:20 am
Ooooooooh opposition in Zambia!!!
Mathews
November 9, 2015 at 9:26 am
Help me we were coming from Chilenje with my friends on the way to Chelstone. There is a night club called the ROCK that saturday I picked this prostitute not knowing that she is HIV positive we went at her place in Kaunda Sq St 2.The following morning I was told she’s positive she used to live in Kaunda Sq Stage 1. The husband died of the same her name is Rabbeca. What should I do?Should I take her to Police for hiding that information to me?Please readers help
kwa george
November 9, 2015 at 9:43 am
YOUR OWN WORDS ARE:
“There is a night club called the ROCK that saturday I picked this prostitute”.
Now you expect a prostitute to be HIV negative -worst case scenario then you go in live.
You are wasting our time.
your job is continue testing and see if first and foremost from such behaviour you could be HIV positive and infected the “prostitute” or vice versa.
You want to show as if its because of a prostitute yet
you were already infected.
The answer is in your blood.
Ganja Man
November 9, 2015 at 10:34 am
It’s time to face your own demons!!! But what you can do for now is go on PPE
Shaka Zulu
November 9, 2015 at 9:32 am
Mathews you are an idiot. My advice is ‘Go and hang yourself.’ That will solve your problem. You definitely knew the consequences of picking up a prostitute, you fool.
Kamata
November 9, 2015 at 9:54 am
People. Sex & regrets
CHICCO
November 9, 2015 at 9:58 am
What an ordeal! but a very good lesson to us Truck Drivers and Mobile or Transit Business Ladies and Men inclusively. To you Miners or the working class men who sends or allows your wives to do their businesses from far flung areas such as Nakonde or K/lesa, you’re all equally at risk because your wives ‘re all so our Girlfriends and Mistresses for life..we assist each-other a lot.
Kamata
November 9, 2015 at 10:20 am
@chicco this simply means we’ll never be free from this pandermic?
Denkete
November 9, 2015 at 10:26 am
Explicit narration, naumfwa nobwamba bwa shrinker. It is not only the sex workers who are lethal, even the working class are extremely dangerous when it comes changing us like shirts.
Israeli
November 9, 2015 at 10:44 am
Mathews go and hang its easy and quicker
Gode
November 9, 2015 at 11:19 am
mathews just climb a signal mast at baulen and jump to your death.you are a danger to yourself and the community.
New Educated Zambia©❤√
November 9, 2015 at 11:51 am
Good morning Zambians. Another beautiful day before us. This disease if nit infected then we are affected one way. Lack of information on this disease has continued even under pf. Ignorance is rife such that defilement cases have continued rising and also spreading the disease. We ask you to vote upnd to ensure programs to reduce the spread of this disease
Boko
November 9, 2015 at 3:27 pm
I admire your persistance
New Educated Zambia©❤√
November 9, 2015 at 3:41 pm
I will do whatever it takes to ensure you and fellow zambians have a respectable standard of life.
kakolwe
November 9, 2015 at 6:57 pm
Though still hopeless.
Denkete
November 9, 2015 at 7:51 pm
NEZ, I admired your consistence in stupidity.
New Educated Zambia©❤√
November 9, 2015 at 7:53 pm
denkete you have never given a constructive comment. It seems you live to comment personally about me. You seem so obsessed that it hinges on stalking. Mune can you please let us know what your party is doing about the ever so falling kwacha.
Denkete
November 9, 2015 at 8:11 pm
When you start commenting relevantly to the topic, I will be objective in my comments. I know you are learned just like me. But when you throw etiquettes through the window, I stoop low as well. Let us comment according to the topic then you will see my wits.
Kamata
November 9, 2015 at 12:16 pm
Useless!
Umupandapwiti
November 9, 2015 at 12:46 pm
Tulamyeba ati avoid dry s.e.x and also go for MC. Nama hule mulenashako, you are married but you want to live like a teenager awemwandini malibo yaku ilombela aya. Always condomise!!!
Kelly Zee
November 9, 2015 at 12:53 pm
Nez,u’re An Idiot U Politicise Evrythng,u’ll B Greatly Ashamed Nxt Year Wen Ur Uncle HH Drops Lyk A Bag Of Wheat.
New Educated Zambia©❤√
November 9, 2015 at 12:55 pm
You sound very upset fellow citizen and I for one cannot blame you because I know for sure that things are bad under pf. The country is upset after being lied to. Please do not make the same dull mistake of voting pf in 2016
Ghetto
November 9, 2015 at 1:13 pm
He is spreading Hiv to innocent people now. Ukutemwa ukutomba tomba different people. Those sick people are so bitter too they want every one to get sick in the world becareful everyone. They have a devil sickness shame on them.
Nalubemba
November 9, 2015 at 1:57 pm
Kwa George you are man, you have hit the nail onthe head. This stupid people shud not waste our time. Honestly Ba guy do you get oranges from a guava tree?.
evans junior
November 9, 2015 at 2:32 pm
how do politics come into this issue of a sick person?
time for everything and this is not the time for politics.
very sad man if we confess our sins is faithful and just to forgive our sins.
chimo.
November 9, 2015 at 3:06 pm
Life is unbearable nowadays.
lady packer
November 9, 2015 at 3:47 pm
experience is the best teacher.this is the lesson to learnt by everyone involved in casual sex
Chee
November 9, 2015 at 4:28 pm
HIV/AIDS is like any other disease. It is Prion disease whose virus cannot be killed by freezing or heating. Some people respond to medication, some do not depending what drug they are using. AIDS drugs in Africa are now working, as the virus mutates and is not responding to old drugs.
Government needs to call or announce an amnesty epidemic on diseases like typhoid, cholera, HIV/Aids to enable them get cheaper drugs.
Malaria is still the number one killer in Africa let us not forget that. It takes years for HIV/AIDS to kill a victim, but Malaria it takes days to kill its victim.
I know your are going to say, but malaria is not sexually transmitted – but the same truck driver could have spent nights sleeping outdoors and would have contracted cholera, malaria or typhoid..! Even Ebola
stress
November 9, 2015 at 4:31 pm
no matter how much all of you twist your mouths, you are destined for six feet deep. Some of you wont even be there in your famous 2016. So please reduce on your mouth diarrhoea.
New Educated Zambia©❤√
November 9, 2015 at 5:05 pm
kiki we hope to make it and witness history in the making when the peoples party upnd take charge.
gumu gumu
November 9, 2015 at 4:32 pm
It is thru sex a life is brought into this word . It is also thru sex the same life is taken out of this wolrd. Play it safe.
stress
November 9, 2015 at 4:34 pm
and ask God for wisdom and guidance.
Tekuti
November 9, 2015 at 6:36 pm
Life wali enjoyer mune. Ndomba ni pwetete.
New Educated Zambia©❤√
November 9, 2015 at 6:50 pm
let us have a heart kikiki but iyo ati pwetete yena yansekesha mune kiki
Tekuti
November 9, 2015 at 10:52 pm
Ala ukupipa tefitu. He must hire a CNA.
ZEE WORLD
November 9, 2015 at 6:50 pm
Imwe umunenu mulekeni he is enjoying his benefits.
Kelvin
November 9, 2015 at 7:49 pm
Zambians let us be mature in de way we articulate issues,y do we mix politics and someone `s health? Hiv z real use condoms or abstain pls we stil luv U all coz we we’re all created by God. Mind yo sexual movements guys.
New Educated Zambia©❤√
November 9, 2015 at 7:52 pm
vote upnd to ensure effective programs aimed at reducing the infection rate. We trust you will do the right thing
Denkete
November 9, 2015 at 8:15 pm
hmmmmmmm. mune Nez When you start commenting relevantly to the topic, I will be objective in my comments. I know you are learned just like me. But when you throw etiquettes through the window, I stoop low as well. Let us comment according to the topic then you will see my wits.
DEMUSONI
November 9, 2015 at 8:07 pm
IMFO. IS ALL OVA ABOUT H.I.V. NOW, NANGU NI MUDODODO SURELY CAN YOU BE THAT CARELESS? SHANSHA MY FRIEND LIMBANADZO.THE TRUCK DRIVER IS BRAVE THOUGH IN REGRETS BUT THANX FOR THE IMFORMATION.
zawake
November 9, 2015 at 8:49 pm
Ooohh hmmm!soorry fellow truck drvr.your h,ve met fate via your unsafe act.the bible says:the wages of sin z Death but the doers of god,s wrd z safe via old age. To all who do evil you will die,to all christ jesus followez in deeds nd act u wll leave again even though u die.thanks truck truck drvr coz u hv not blammed anybody except yrself.even if there was no God I wll still choose christ jesus way of life.not devils way of life.to all pepo know your hiv status stay safe.
Kas
November 9, 2015 at 8:52 pm
It is always important to remember God’s principles , always try to do Gods will and not ur will. Atleast he has come on open so that many of us we can learn, a wise man learn from other pipo’s mistakes but a fool learn from his own mistakes. Hope no one will be a fool coz our brother has come on open to make u aware other its consequences but unfortunately many of us as become inured.
reuberg
November 9, 2015 at 9:08 pm
you are a fool
Xilef
November 9, 2015 at 9:36 pm
It Is Only A Fool Who Can Talk Nosense Over The Status Of Our Bro Ala Hiv Affects Everyone If U Can’t Catch It Via Sex You May Via Other Proven Means.
LISTEN TO ME
November 9, 2015 at 10:39 pm
Iwe upnd u cant even feel shy apo mwambila ukupona pf came yesterday and they hav ruled and they will go through with a very big gap.
observer
November 9, 2015 at 11:09 pm
Upnd is just a club of disgruntled characters who are bend on inriching themselve,just look on some MPs who have stayed in some constituence for ever since upnd was formed.
New Educated Zambia©❤√
November 9, 2015 at 11:11 pm
kiki you seem pathetic. clearly one can see that you are struggling to find anything negative to throw at the upnd membership.
Kamata
November 10, 2015 at 6:04 am
Shallow!
ZEE WORLD
November 10, 2015 at 8:04 am
If you are not affected then you are infected.
I.K
November 10, 2015 at 8:06 am
my advise to u Man is that u go for a test now,then if u are found negative go back after at least 3 months for a re-test considering the issues of window period.its also not automatic that once u have sex(wherther )protected or unprotected with HIV + person u will get the virus no,call me on 0971925262 for more info on HIV transmission.
stress
November 10, 2015 at 9:13 am
Ba NEZ u jst want attention jst like an under five toddler learning how to walk.kikiki..
wapwa baisa
November 10, 2015 at 12:20 pm
I wonder why we always bring politics in every matter,now even in church it’s there. This bro is alerting us instead of learning a lesson from him we are embarrassing him.guys do we even have time for God sure.thanx bro just confess to God he will forgive u.b blessed
IF NOT
November 10, 2015 at 3:15 pm
If you are not infected then you are affected. So mind the way you post your comments especially with regards to one’s health. He may have been infected through been careless but there other people out there suffering because they have been infected by their unfaithful husbands/ wivies.
Godfrey phiri
November 10, 2015 at 3:25 pm
Matthews my advise to you is to go to the nearest ART center and seek HIV emergency treatment. This is the least you can do if you have to reduce your chances of infection. You were reckless and irresponsible in your decisions and behavior.
Sinx
November 10, 2015 at 6:29 pm
You people someone is giving us free advice on how to keep ourself away from prostitutes thempn you bring in politics, what kind of pipo are u ? Who ever is talking about politics abe tole NE mishino ,malemba mwaumfwa.
Brightness
November 10, 2015 at 7:08 pm
Bwafya just last month this young girl marries an old man widowed with a status well known to her and u think pipo are well informed. It’s a pity
k
November 10, 2015 at 7:31 pm
ifintu ni UPND next Govt
mike angoni
November 11, 2015 at 10:14 am
whats the cure for eczema (manyabile)
Zedworld
November 11, 2015 at 1:38 pm
Eczema is a clonic thing which is in your blood it comes and disappear at a specific time . All you need to do is go to the doctor or pharmacy and get some cream or ointment to apply to the area which is affected. If you have a dry skin it’s possible to get eczema and it itch sometimes .
Zedworld
November 11, 2015 at 1:45 pm
I meant chronic.
Zedworld
November 11, 2015 at 1:44 pm
I meant chronic.
rebecca banda
November 12, 2015 at 9:56 am
Indeed reaping what u sowed, but it has affected the innocent.