Thanks' Story
Thanks is 18 years old. In her film, she narrates her experience of losing her mother, testing HIV positive and being sent far from home to live with relatives, all within the same few months at the age of 15. She tells the story of living with relatives who did not want her there and who refused to allow her to take ARVs, even if that meant she would die. Thanks then explains that this changed when the Zvandiri Mentor began supporting her and counselling her aunt. She was also linked to the Case Care Worker from the Department of Social Services who started visiting Thanks at home, together with the CATS and Zvandiri Mentor. Thanks explains how she started to adhere to her treatment and tells of her joy at finally growing and starting puberty. She still had many questions, particularly around the way she came to be living with HIV and was angry and disappointed when she learned that her mother had passed away before telling her that she was HIV positive. Thanks describes how being linked to a CATS helped her to accept her status, to realise that she is not alone and that HIV does not define her.
