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The year 2001 was a big turning point in Noncedo Bulana’s life, because this is when she found out she was HIV-positive. Before that, she didn’t even talk about HIV and AIDS. Suddenly, however, she had to face up to the disease and she responded by taking on the challenge of living positively and openly with HIV.
Noncedo is a dynamic woman who has always had a strong community spirit and a great deal of energy. She decided to learn more about HIV and AIDS and in 2003 joined the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), which trained her to be a peer educator in clinics and support groups in her Khayelitsha community.
In 2004 in March she received further training as a Treatment Literacy Practitioner, and is currently working as a Community Health Worker in the poor communities of Cape Town. Always socially and politically aware, Noncedo was chairperson of a street community of the South African National Congress and an ANC member. When the leader of the Independent Democrats, Patricia de Lille, asked Noncedo to campaign with her for a seat in parliament, Noncedo took up the challenge with great vigour and won a seat in parliament.
Sadly the enthusiasm with which she addresses any challenge is so great, that this time it exhausted her, and Noncedo became ill before she could take up her parliamentary seat. She had no option but to resign for the sake of her health.
In her present job as Community Health Worker, Noncedo empowers people to disclose and accept their HIV status and tries to stop discrimination in the community. She shows people that they can live life to the full and spreads this message within her community. She also gives talks to children about the true meanings and expectations of love, relationships and sex.
An average day for Noncedo would probably include a visit to a local school where she would work children on developing lifeskills, such as finding ways to deal with life’s problems. At noon Noncedo usually does a home visit to people who are looking after HIV-positive children, where she will advise them about treatment, clinics, support groups and the importance of taking medication properly. After this she might visit an after-school care facility such as the Delegate Children and Youth Movement. Here she might work the children to put together a drama on HIV and domestic violence. And if this is not enough, every Saturday Noncedo goes to her French lesson, a language she decided to learn after talking to a doctor from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Noncedo also works with SHARP (Student HIV and AIDS Resistance Programme), based at the University of Cape Town. The organisation wanted a positive person (in more ways than one) and the organisation became interested in her story. She now conducts workshops for the organisation and is meeting students from all over the world like Canada and America. She now has her sights set on visiting these countries before too long.
The most rewarding part of Noncedo’s job, she says, is being appreciated by the people in the community, especially the children. “These children already know some of the hardest challenges of life, and sometimes they wonder how they will carry on.” But Noncedo keeps smiling and telling them that she is there to help them, for as she rightly says, “They are going to be the leaders of tomorrow.” |
