Siphiwe Hlophe
Encyclopedia
Siphiwe Hlophe is the co-founder of Swaziland for Positive Living
, an NGO that provides counselling and education, and seeks to improve the living conditions of people who are affected by or infected with HIV
in the rural areas. The organisation has been described as "Swaziland
's most innovative and motivated HIV/AIDS mitigation programme".. She is also the President of Positive Women
, a UK based charity founded by Kathryn Llewellyn and Stephen Brown
In 1999 Siphiwe Hlophe was working as a manager in a hotel chain when she won a scholarship to study agricultural economics at Bradford University. A condition of the scholarship was that she took an Aids test, the result of which showed her to be HIV-positive, after which her husband left her, and she lost her scholarship. This showed the stigma
that is attached to HIV in Swaziland, and spurred Siphiwe Hlophe on to co-found SWAPOL to help others in similar situations. Siphiwe was one of the first women to publicly declare her positive HIV status. "It [SWAPOL]was forged from the suffering our the founding members. That may be why people respond to what we are doing, and we are getting so many requests to help communities where HIV is rampant. We are not an NGO that works out of a plush office. We are people who know what it means to face discrimination and rejection, but who have the will to live", says Siphiwe Hlophe.
Siphiwe Hlophe has four children, the eldest 30 years old and the youngest 19.
Swaziland for Positive Living
Swaziland for Positive Living is an Swazi NGO that was formed in 2001 by Siphiwe Hlophe and four other HIV-positive women. SWAPOL provides counselling and education, and seeks to improve the living conditions of people who are affected by or infected with HIV in the rural areas, many of whom are...
, an NGO that provides counselling and education, and seeks to improve the living conditions of people who are affected by or infected with HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
in the rural areas. The organisation has been described as "Swaziland
Swaziland
Swaziland, officially the Kingdom of Swaziland , and sometimes called Ngwane or Swatini, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa, bordered to the north, south and west by South Africa, and to the east by Mozambique...
's most innovative and motivated HIV/AIDS mitigation programme".. She is also the President of Positive Women
Positive Women
Positive Women is a registered UK international development charity working in UK and Swaziland. The charity works to improve the lives women and children affected by the HIV/Aids virus, which is particularly prevalent in Swaziland. Positive Women manages and develops a number of projects through...
, a UK based charity founded by Kathryn Llewellyn and Stephen Brown
In 1999 Siphiwe Hlophe was working as a manager in a hotel chain when she won a scholarship to study agricultural economics at Bradford University. A condition of the scholarship was that she took an Aids test, the result of which showed her to be HIV-positive, after which her husband left her, and she lost her scholarship. This showed the stigma
Social stigma
Social stigma is the severe disapproval of or discontent with a person on the grounds of characteristics that distinguish them from other members of a society.Almost all stigma is based on a person differing from social or cultural norms...
that is attached to HIV in Swaziland, and spurred Siphiwe Hlophe on to co-found SWAPOL to help others in similar situations. Siphiwe was one of the first women to publicly declare her positive HIV status. "It [SWAPOL]was forged from the suffering our the founding members. That may be why people respond to what we are doing, and we are getting so many requests to help communities where HIV is rampant. We are not an NGO that works out of a plush office. We are people who know what it means to face discrimination and rejection, but who have the will to live", says Siphiwe Hlophe.
Siphiwe Hlophe has four children, the eldest 30 years old and the youngest 19.