In 2007 George decided to travel back to his home town of Bukavu to seek medical care after developing diarrhoea, a chronic cough and a swollen leg.

His condition was terrible, some thought he had died en route.

Fortunately these were unfounded and he arrived at Panzi hospital in the city of Bukavu, where he was diagnosed with both HIV and TB.

Although he was in a bad way, he was given hope by the people he saw living with HIV who were healthy.
George stayed in hospital for a month, during this time his family, a wife and eight children, abandoned him after hearing of his illness. They even burnt his chair for fear it was contaminated.

He was taken in by the charity “SOS SIDA” which cares for abandoned and marginalised people living with HIV.

As he improved, he began to take an active part in the charity, helping the sick people who arrived in need of support.

This led to a job at Panzi hospital, where he was initially diagnosed. He started cleaning the wards and then later was given the responsibility to find patients that had been lost to follow up.

He then moved to Baraka and performs the same activities in the MSF supported hospital here.

George has a new wife, who is also HIV positive and two children who, thanks to preventative treatment, are both negative.

The family are a prime example that living with HIV means being able to have the same aspirations as anyone else.

He still sees his old family on occasion but is not really accepted, it upsets him that his ex-wife thoroughly washes her hands after shaking his.

I asked George why he wants to share his story:

“To show that people living with HIV can be in good health and don’t have to just die in one month. They can work any job and have a good life.”

Tackling stigma and misunderstanding in this community will be a slow process but it is thanks to the bravery of people like George that we can make significant steps.

Steps that will encourage more people to be tested, and reduce the number of patients presenting too late to hospital in a critical condition - something we see all too often here.