Saint-Louis — This is the story of Mabeye. He is 41 and has now moved back to St Louis, in the north of Senegal. The incident that changed Mabeye's life forever took place in another town at the sugar company, in Richard Toll, where he worked as a laboratory analyst.
That area of Senegal is well known as a crossroads and trading post. Richard Toll is where, after work one day, Mabeye met a woman selling trinkets. He bought some earrings and they got talking.
The woman was looking for somewhere to stay. Mabeye offered to put her up at his house for the week. They had unprotected sex. Later, after suffering from a lingering fever that seemed like malaria, he tested positive for HIV. At the time, Mabeye's wife had just had their third child and was living away from him in St Louis.
He said he was feeling lonely and took in the unknown woman "because her behaviour seemed impeccable, she appeared well brought up and clean." Mabeye (his first name - he did not wish to give his last) insists the jewellery seller was not a prostitute. He says she did not ask for money, but he gave her 'something' anyway.
"She came to do some business in Richard Toll - an area that promotes a lot of trade. At the end of each month, women come from all over Senegal to Richard Toll to sell their goods and people get to know each other. That's how I met the woman. She was a street trader and I'm sure that she doesn't go to nightclubs and bars," said Mabeye, who describes himself as a devout Muslim.
He said he had led a blameless life before that, and had never committed adultery till then. "I don't indulge in debauchery. I don't go to clubs and bars, I don't move around with prostitutes. I come from a religious background. I was infected by a sexual dalliance that I should not have had. Because of this one chance encounter, this one slip, perhaps I was punished by God".
Mabeye said he realized that he was not well in 1997, during the Muslim religious feast of Eid Al Adha, known as Tabaski (the feast of the lamb) in French-speaking West Africa. "I came home and, after having slaughtered the sacrificial ram for the feast, I started feeling feverish."
His symptoms, he said, were typical of malaria. He was shivering, ran a high fever and was treated for malaria for two weeks. That made no difference. Then his mother died and he fell seriously ill, with dizzy spells, vomiting and persistent diarrhoea and exhaustion. "I was losing my strength and getting weaker and weaker by the day and the diarrhoea persisted." Finally, Mabeye was admitted to hospital where he lay for two weeks, being monitored before being tested for HIV.
His test proved positive which he described as a huge shock. "I was hurt. The news really affected me. My real worry was for my wife and children. I knew I was finished and that, eventually, I was going to die, so I was especially concerned about my family and the future of my children."
Mabeye said he prayed hard. "I put myself in the hands of God and prayed to God to help me change my behaviour, because I knew that I was living on lost time and I didn't have long to live."
The forty-one year old looked gaunt and drawn and complained of constant pains in his hands and legs as he spoke to allAfrica.com and a group of Senegalese and international journalists at the main hospital in St Louis where he receives his weekly medication. His weight has see-sawed, falling to a low of 36kg at his weakest. "I tell you, I thought I was on my way out. Seriously I was close to death when I was in hospital. But I think with the power of medicine I have regained some of my weight." Mabeye now averages 55kg, compared with 70kg before his illness.
As he spoke, Mabeye looked meek and regretful that he had caused his wife and family pain, with the "chance sexual encounter" which led to his illness.
But he said he became more optimistic when his wife tested negative for HIV: "So that proves my point that I had been faithful to her all along. As soon as I fell sick and I realised I was HIV-positive, I stopped having sexual relations with my wife."
Asked why he did not protect himself and his partner, by using condoms, during his brief extra-marital affair, Mabeye's response was spontaneous and was one repeated in different parts of Senegal from men ranging from dock workers to health workers: "You know, condoms are for those guys whose sexual behaviour demands it, profligates and serial adulterers. But I'm not that sort of man. I don't frequent that sort of company. That's perhaps the reason I don't use condoms. The thought of AIDS couldn't have been further from my mind."
The United Nations and the authorities in Senegal hail the country as one of Africa's successes in the fight against HIV/AIDS. The prevalence of HIV infection among adults in Senegal stands at a comparatively low one per cent.
The central government in Dakar, with key religious institutions in a country with an predominantly Muslim population, started its HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention campaign early, in the late 1980s, when other African countries had not even begun to consider the potential impact of the disease on their populations, economies, work force and health sectors.
The Senegalese authorities say they have never been in denial about the existence of HIV/AIDS and the state runs a comprehensive AIDS' prevention programme, with a healthy budget which compares favourably with other African countries. But Mabeye said information about the disease, how it is spread and how it can be avoided, was nonetheless slow to reach him and the mainly Peul (Fulani-speaking) people among whom he lived around the sugar company in Richard Toll.
He said he had heard about HIV and AIDS long before he became infected with the virus, but concluded that the government may have failed the local community of Richard Toll. "Perhaps they could have done a little more for us living far away at the sugar factory. I lived with many people who hadn't been to school and weren't able to read and write. We didn't get much information about the serious nature of AIDS and what happens if you are infected and, of course, how to protect yourself."
Mabeye said there was a serious degree of ignorance about HIV/AIDS in Richard Toll and people were not really aware of the ways to avoid contracting the virus. "Now, with the advance of medicine, and the intensification of the government campaign, many medical staff go to the remotest areas of Senegal to do advocacy on HIV/AIDS," said Mabeye.
He has himself taken part in awareness and prevention campaigns, sharing his story with people doubtful that AIDS really existed, and highlighting his as a typical case. "I talked to them about it and told them that yes, AIDS does exist and I told them how much I am suffering and how I got infected and how they can avoid getting infected with HIV."
Mabeye said doctors had informed him that anti-retroviral treatment would soon be available in St Louis, though a minute percentage of those living with HIV/AIDS in Senegal - 130 critical cases nationwide in early 2001 - is receiving the medical cocktail which helps to suppress the effects of the virus.
Mabeye hopes that if he is offered this drug regime it might prolong his life, though he worries that he will not be able to afford to pay for "up to twenty tablets a day". But he is hopeful. "They haven't started the anti-retroviral treatment here in St Louis yet, but the doctor told me it could work very well and stabilise the virus. He also warned me that there could be side effects such as nausea and vomiting."
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He has lost his job at the sugar factory, and was initially laid off, although he did receive a redundancy package. Mabeye said trying to make ends meet and support his family is hard, because he is no longer working.
He has to pay for his subsidised medication but is having trouble finding the 600CFA (a little under one US dollar) he needs for his weekly tablet regime. His wife is not working either. "It's tough. Life is pretty tough. Sometimes relatives help. Sometimes I'm completely broke. Sometimes my in-laws help, but it's getting harder to pay for my children's school feels, so we're having a hard time making do."
His relationship with his wife has its ups and downs, but she has stood by him. "From time to time, we have sexual relations and I take precautions, I use condoms, but it's occasional.
"Emotionally, I often think about my future and the future of my children. That's what really worries me. I keep asking myself how long I'll be able to live with my children and hope that they'll be a little bigger before I go and that God will allow me to live a little longer with them." Mabeye's three boys are three, six and ten years old.
Other articles in the series:
Part 1: A Beacon of Hope in Africa's Fight Against AIDS
Part 3: Pop Stars and Youth Break Taboos to Spread AIDS Message
Part 4: Prostitution - Frontline of the War to Contain HIV
Part 5: Women - Vulnerable but Vital Campaigners Against AIDS
Part 6: 'This Is My Whole Life' - A Scientist's Dedication to Defeating AIDS
Part 7: Praise for AIDS Success - But the Struggle Continues
