Their first night together was strange. Pisto didn’t know what to say to Angela or where he should sleep. Her tummy was so big he offered her the whole bed while he balanced cushions together across two chairs.  But in the night when he started coughing violently, she felt bad. 

“Come into your own bed Pisto,” she urged. “There’s enough room.”

And so they spent their first night together side by side.  But she couldn’t sleep. 

Should I tell him I’m HIV positive? What if he throws me out too, like ma?

After a few days, Uncle Billy came round. He was worried about how they were coping. He felt responsible for his niece. She had after all got pregnant during her weekend stay with him. And he could see Pisto was a sick man.

“He’s coughing a lot, wena,” he whispered to Angela when Pisto went out to boil some water. “I can hear him through the walls. It’s so loud! He’s sick. You need to take him with you next time you go to the clinic for a checkup.”  

Angela panicked.  He knows? How can he know I’m HIV positive? But then he asked:

“And how is the baby, Angela? Hey! You’re so big now!”  

Angela was so relieved! He was talking about her ANC checkups. But she promised him she would talk to someone at the clinic and get help. 

Sister Grace was very worried when Angela described Pistol’s cough.  

“It might be TB. It might be HIV. Listen, Angela. You were a virgin when you had sex with Pisto which means Pisto must have passed the virus on to you. That means he is HIV positive. He might need to go straight on to antiretrovirals. He needs to get tested for TB and HIV and have his viral load checked.”

“Sister, I’m scared…really scared to tell him I am positive.”

“Oh Angela, I can understand that and I will help you with that. But what about him? Do you think he knows his status?”

“Maybe he does deep down, I don’t know. We haven’t talked about anything like that.”

“You both need to, especially now that you are living together and bringing up a baby together.  I do couple counseling. I can help you both talk about being HIV positive, about how to have safe sex and live positively with a baby that may not be infected.” 

“Sister,” Angela sobbed, “I so want our baby to be healthy and I don’t want Pisto to die. I don’t want to bring our baby up without a father.”

“Shh. Don’t cry. Let me come round and talk to you both this evening. You know what they say? There’s nothing to fear but fear itself.”

WHAT DO YOU THINK? If you were Sister Grace, how would you talk to Pisto, what would you say?