hewitt.mobi: NPR - Out of Hiding Into the World

<body><script type="text/javascript"> function setAttributeOnload(object, attribute, val) { if(window.addEventListener) { window.addEventListener('load', function(){ object[attribute] = val; }, false); } else { window.attachEvent('onload', function(){ object[attribute] = val; }); } } </script> <div id="navbar-iframe-container"></div> <script type="text/javascript" src="https://apis.google.com/js/platform.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> gapi.load("gapi.iframes:gapi.iframes.style.bubble", function() { if (gapi.iframes && gapi.iframes.getContext) { gapi.iframes.getContext().openChild({ url: 'https://www.blogger.com/navbar.g?targetBlogID\x3d14993761\x26blogName\x3dhewitt.mobi\x26publishMode\x3dPUBLISH_MODE_BLOGSPOT\x26navbarType\x3dBLACK\x26layoutType\x3dCLASSIC\x26searchRoot\x3dhttps://uk-charlie.blogspot.com/search\x26blogLocale\x3den_GB\x26v\x3d2\x26homepageUrl\x3dhttp://uk-charlie.blogspot.com/\x26vt\x3d9210959324556593006', where: document.getElementById("navbar-iframe-container"), id: "navbar-iframe" }); } }); </script>

HEWITT.MOBI

Home

About

Links

Archives

Contact Me

Monday, August 07, 2006
NPR - Out of Hiding Into the World - Thembis AIDS Diary

All Things Considered, April 19, 2006

Thembi Ngubane lives in one of South Africa's largest townships, a sprawling sea of houses and shacks made of wood planks, tar paper and sheets of tin. She has a boyfriend and a close relationship with her mother and father. She is also living with AIDS.

Ngubane was 19 when she first met radio producer Joe Richman in Khayelitsha, outside Cape Town. She was among a group of South African teenagers he interviewed about AIDS in 2004. He gave her a tape recorder, and for a year, she recorded an intimate audio diary that brings listeners into her home, among her family, to witness her daily struggles and triumphs.

Ngubane introduces listeners to her boyfriend, Melikhaya -- and recalls when she told him she was HIV-positive: "I thought, 'What if I've also infected him? Now I've ruined my life, and I've ruined everybody's life.'"

She chronicles how difficult it is to tell her father about her illness: "I've felt like I have disappointed you.... I thought that it was going to break you into pieces," she tells him.

And occasionally, Ngubane's frustrations overcome her: "My mother, she clothed me, fed me, raised me, and now, at the end of the day, she must also bury me. I was supposed to be the one who was going to look after her.... That is not right."

But throughout the diary, Ngubane expresses the desire she has to stop hiding her disease -- and to help others stop hiding, too.

About 5 million people are HIV-positive in South Africa, and young women aged 16-25 make up 75 percent of all new infections. Ngubane's audio diary collects the intimate moments and disparate episodes of her everyday life and crafts a larger story that tells the story of the disease and its impact.

Thembi recording her audio diary in Khayelitsha township.
Melikhaya Mpumelo

AIDS in South Africa

Ngubane receives anti-retroviral drugs to treat her AIDS. But others are not as lucky. Even as the South African government has improved programs to provide crucial drugs, accessibility still is patchy across the country.

Ngubane recovering from an illness at her grandmother's house.
Melikhaya Mpumelo

Hearing the Diary

* Thembi Ngubane finds out she is HIV-positive
* Her relationship with boyfriend Melikhaya
* The medicines Ngubane must take
* A tour of the township of Khayelitsha
* Ngubane on the stigma faced by people with HIV

Download
10.3MB 23Mins

Not availiable 24-7 E-Mail me for download to be put online

To download MP3 files so you can keep them on your computer for later listening:
PC: 'Right Click' on the link and select 'Save Link / Target As. . .'
MAC: ALT-Click to launch the Download Manager

hewitt.mobi Posted at 6:08 pm | 0 comments

0 Comments: