I was born in Constantia in 1980. It was a six-roomed house with a big garden in which my father worked as the garden boy. They had two big Mercedes in the garage. My mother was working as a domestic worker. We lived in a small servant’s quarter with a tin roof behind the big [...]
In my left eye I have a birth mark and I just like it. It is part of me.
That scar on my head . I was 17 and I was walking in the H section. There was R350 hidden in my bra. On the way I met three guys and they told me I must [...]
I grew up in Tsolo. There is no treatment there. There were three children when I grew up but my mother told me there were ten. Seven died. In those days it was not AIDS that was killing people and children, just other diseases.
I met my boyfriend Babs in the street. He was a good [...]
When I see this picture I feel much happier just because when I look at it, I see what I can’t see when I look at myself in the mirror. But it is not all a happy story. Most of the other women have shown a baby inside them that is HIV negative and who [...]
Many people in Khayelitsha are finding out they are HIV positive. Jane has made beautiful paintings with everyone and I didn’t think I could but I have caught up to the same level. I have told you my terrible life but my painting tells my story another way. Right up to now with my child. [...]
I shaded my body in three separate sections each a different colour. A man tried to rape me. I still have a stone in the middle of my head and another in the side of my forehead. I coloured the top section of my body in a light colour indicating that I was very young [...]
I just love the picture. I didn’t know when I draw myself down I can be like this. I feel very better now. Before I just saw myself as I am, not like this, like a tree. And those streaks on my body map. That was a mistake. One day Kylie pick up my picture [...]
I feel very proud of this picture. I’m proud because it’s going to be in the book and people are going to see that people with HIV are active and they are alive. This here on the left side of my face is my bible. It’s in my mind. My symbol in my chest is [...]
I am Babalwa Cekiso. I live and work as a TAC volunteer in Khayeltisha. One day I saw this white guy hanging photos and huge body maps on the walls of the Mew Way Recreation Hall. I looked at these photos – of my doctor, Themba, of the streets of Khayelitsha, and of people taking [...]
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