May 7th is World AIDS Orphans Day, a grassroots campaign initiated by FXB International in 2002 to draw attention to and advocate on behalf of the more than 15 million children orphaned by AIDS. In commemoration of this day, we bring to you an inspirational story from a 16-year-old girl enrolled in an FXB Village Network program in the Muhanga district of Rwanda funded by USAID.
My name is Marie. I am 16 years old and I am HIV positive. My parents died when I was 2 years old. As a result, I was placed in an orphanage. During my time there, I kept on being ill. The nuns thus decided to take me to the doctor, who informed me that I was HIV positive. Given my CD4 count was at 150, he immediately put me under ARV treatment. The nuns made sure that I took my medicine on time and stayed healthy. Although I had some difficulties coping with HIV, I mainly suffered from being alone/not having a family. But, when I turned 9, I was adopted by a very nice lady. She gave me a lot of love and took really good care of me.
Unfortunately, three years later, she passed away. Janet – her daughter – and I suddenly had to fend for ourselves. We experienced a lot of difficulties in generating an income. I had to drop out of school, despite the fact that I had successfully passed secondary school entrance exams. The worst for me, however, was our inability to find food, which led for my health to deteriorate very quickly. Absence of food made ARV treatment very difficult to bear.
It is in this very complicated situation that we met FXB International. They immediately gave us food, which helped me regain my strength and increase my CD4 count to 350. FXB also enabled me to go to school again, providing me with school materials and paying school fees. At first, things were very challenging; we could not really concentrate on our studies as well as develop an IGA. Janet and I were afraid to disappoint FXB and lose their support. Our fears were unfounded. FXB was wonderful. They discussed options at length with us. As we both desperately wanted to continue studying, they proposed to integrate us in new families.
Now I have a new mom. She is really nice and supportive of my studies. So much so that I have been able to study very hard and, as a result, received a distinction. I intend to continue performing well and become an important person. I want to help others and help them fulfill their dreams, as FXB helped me fulfill mine.
