Mobile. Fresh clothes. Make up. Agatha’s could be any other 19- year-old in any western city. But there are some differences too. Like the way she’s taken on her youth group.
‘I am the chairperson of the church youth club in Fombe,’ she explains. ‘It runs on Mondays and Fridays every week and we do drama and other activities. We look at HIV and AIDS and our culture, how it is caught and how to prevent it. The young people really understand about HIV now.’
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One of the world’s poorest countries, Malawi is struggling to cope with the AIDS crisis. According to its own government the AIDS related illness is the leading cause of death among adults, responsible for ten deaths every hour. Out of a total population of a little over 12 million, almost one million Malawians were living with HIV and AIDS in 2005. If we had that rate of infection here in the UK it would be like the entire population of Scotland testing positive for HIV.
Agatha knows the personal cost of HIV and AIDS. Both her parents have died, two more victims of the AIDS virus. It is up to Agatha now to care for her two younger sisters. As she says, ‘it is difficult living alone.’