Okoye

Malawi

My name is Okoye and I am from Kasungu in Malawi. I am a 45-year-old Christain woman with 2 brothers and 2 sisters. I am the mother of 2 children, a boy and a girl. I was diagnosed with HIV in 2007 and I started taking the antiretroviral treatment that same year. Having access to that life-saving medication freed me and gave me hope. I have faith that HIV is not the end of my life.

COVID-19 has had a big impact on my family. The children are not going to school and financially things are very difficult. Thank God nobody has contracted COVID-19 in our family because we follow the guidance of healthcare workers.

I have hope that COVID-19 will end someday and that NGOs that have come to help us protect our bodies, especially us who have HIV, asthma and other chronic diseases, will empower us so we can teach our friends in the village how to prevent COVID-19.