Denial in face of death

Everyone in 70-year-old Lina Ngomane's family is HIV-positive - herself, her husband and her two little grandsons. So was her late daughter-in-law.

But her son refuses to undergo an HIV test, even though his wife died as a result of the virus earlier this year.

Ngomane, who lives in the village of Mganduzweni, 10km from the Mpumalanga town of White River, is on ARVs from a clinic outside the nearby hamlet of Peebles, run by non-governmental organisation Acts.

The clinic's director, Dr Margie Hardman, said that while the number of people who came to test for HIV had increased in the last year, "there are still people who are afraid or in denial".

Women usually came to be tested and their men "follow them later".

Acts provides ARVs to 3821 people in the Ehlanzeni district, where 33.8% of the residents are infected with the virus.

Ngomane was the first of her family to be tested, prompted by the fact that too many people in her impoverished village were dying of "amagama amathathu- the "three-letter word" - the local reference to HIV.

Even when she tested positive and started ARV treatment, Ngomane's husband refused to be tested - until he fell ill. Then he, too, started taking ARVs and "now he's fine".

Her daughter-in-law, the boys' mother, at first took ARVs, but continued to deny she was HIV-positive. Then she stopped taking the drugs and passed away.

Ngomane pointed out a wall blackened when her impish grandsons accidentally set fire to it while smoking pretend newspaper cigarettes with friends.

But the boys, she says, are "the least of my worries". Since they were tested earlier this year they have been on ARVs and take them diligently.

They have learned to read the clock and run to her at 7pm each evening, yelling: "Granny! It's time for medicine!"

Ngomane's only worry is that the boys' father, her son, will not get tested before it is too late.