Social media posts by a 27-year-old woman sharing about living with the HIV virus have been going viral
– The mother of one has been commended by many on her unique bravery in coming out about a condition that often attracts stigma in many parts of the world
A 27-year-old woman is fast becoming an Internet celebrity after posts on her social media openly sharing her HIV status went viral.
Lebogang Brenda Motsumi from South Africa went public about living with the HIV virus about three years ago in her country, but has recently started gaining popularity across the continent, where people living with the condition largely still face stigma.
Lebo, as she is popularly referred to, makes it clear that even though she is living with the life-threatening virus, she choses not to be a victim, but rather has a positive outlook on life as the commander of her own life.
An inspirational message that Lebo shared on social media on Saturday July 9, 2016.
The HIV activist encourages those infected to regain control of their lives, often using her own story to help educate her audiences.
In past media interviews, she shared that she found out about her HIV status in 2009 aged 20, after an ex-boyfriend who was famous revealed that he was HIV-positive in a media interview.
She told South Africa’s DRUM magazine that the late Kwaito singer and producer Tebogo ‘Zombo’ Ndlovu infected her with the virus. Photo: DRUM
Zombo, born in 1979, passed on in February 2008, a month after revealing in the media that he was HIV-positive. Photo: Remembered.co.za
Lebo said that it took her almost two years to accept her status:
Lebo in a 2013 photo.
Today, she not only runs her own support organisation, but also sits in several AIDS awareness boards and speaks to youth in various events about living positively and also staying negative.
HIV/AIDS child activist the late Nkosi Johnson is one of her role models, who she said of:
The HIV activist in 2013.
Here are some of the photos shared on her social media platforms:
Even though she believes science will one day find a cure to HIV, she believes in another cure, as the world awaits on the scientists:
Her greatest piece of advice to the youth is the very same one that most have likely heard over and over again: abstaining or use of protection:
sources- yen.com
