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Tapiwa Mutizamhepo Features Writer

While others her age were busy with schoolwork and enjoying their guardians and parents’ love, it was not so for Tanya (not her real name).

At the tender age of 17, she was already a single mother. That she was diagnosed with HIV made the situation no easier.

She said she was a victim of a plethora of challenges, chief among them poverty, peer pressure and sexual abuse.

“I stopped going to school in 2013 while I was in Form Two, because my mother had failed to raise school fees for me. So, I thought of venturing into fruit selling in Mutare to pay my school fees,” she said.

She said while she was selling fruit, she met a man, who at first appeared to be a Good Samaritan, but eventually turned her life into hell.

Tanya said they started dating and in no time they were indulging in unprotected sex, despite her being a minor, resulting in her getting pregnant. She was infected with the HIV virus around that time.

“The man dumped me and migrated to Beitbridge. My mother chased me away from home, and left me with no option. I was under immense pressure to fend for myself and the child, so I started sex work,” she said.

Tanya said she had to bear the brunt and risks of the sex trade, which include physical, emotional and sexual violence for two years until help came. Her story has taken a remarkable turn.

She is one of the many beneficiaries of a Determined Resilient Empowered Aids Free Mentored and Safe (DREAMS) project that seeks to empower orphaned and vulnerable children through various strategies with the broader goal of minimising their exposure to HIV infection, while affording them an opportunity to continue with their formal education or enrol for an occupational course.

Tanya and her peers are benefiting from the education component of the DREAMS initiative, and has since enrolled at a local school under the part-time continued education lessons.

The project is being implemented by the Family Aids Caring Trust (FACT) in partnership with the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare with funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). The project is running in Chipinge, Mutare and Buhera districts.

FACT health programmes manager Mr Moses Nyamasoka said the initiative had so far benefited 5 000 young adults in Mutare district alone.

“The goal of the project is to militate against the impact of HIV and AIDS by enhancing the sustainable of care and support among Zimbabwean orphaned and vulnerable children and also to reduce HIV infections among girls,” said Mr Nyamasoka.

Education officer for Mutare District Mrs Fiona Karumbidza said FACT was also working with the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education to ensure that the young mothers are accorded flexible timetables so that they can strike a balance between the demands of motherhood and attending school.

“This is because their circumstances are different as some would be breastfeeding or they would be doing some other work. They need a flexible timetable where they are able to attend school at times convenient to them,” said Mrs Karumbidza.

Mrs Karumbidza said the girls were also receiving comprehensive sexual health education lessons to equip them with enough knowledge on how they can remain safe and Aids free.

“Even for those that are already infected we aim to have their viral load suppressed by giving them access to health education and services such as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PREP) and the correct and consistent use of other contraceptives such as condoms,” she added.

The interventions by FACT come at a time the country is seized with implementation of various strategies aimed at ending AIDS by the year 2030. Over the years the country has made great strides in fighting the epidemic amid concerns of a high prevalence rate among teenagers and adolescents.