Our Story was written in 2006. This was written by Zimbabwean children living with HIV and attending Africaid's support groups in Harare. The book is the first of its kind - a book in which HIV positive children share their experiences of learning their HIV status, living with HIV, provide information about HIV and ARVs and above all, words of encouragement, advice and support for their HIV positive peers.

Maruva Trust assisted Africaid to first print 1,000 copies for distribution to HIV positive children attending clinics in Harare. We hoped and believed it would be a success but we could not have anticipated the enormous impact of this book. HIV positive children are now able to read words of encouragement and support and to have their questions answered by their HIV positive peers. It provides health workers with a tool for counselling children around HIV and treatment issues,

Thanks to Africaid has since been able to fund and distribute 10,000 copies of Our Story to HIV positive children, their caregivers and clinic staff at government, private and community clinics across Zimbabwe. The authors themselves are currently touring Zimbabwe’s paediatric HIV clinics to train positive children and their families, Doctors, Nurses and Counsellors about their experiences of living with HIV.

In November 2008 our Medical Director, Dr Margie, and support group leaders Moreni and Rita, attended the Paediatric AIDS Treatment Association’s annual conference and gave copies to health workers from every country on the African continent.  The powerful testimonies of the Zvandiri children are now reaching out to children in Uganda, Botswana, Angola, Ethiopia etc etc….

If you would like a copy of Our Story, please contact us to find out more