Sonia Bapes, a Cameroonian living in Nigeria, has spoken of the “terrible experience” of living with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) in Nigeria.
At Maitama Hospital, Sonia, who looked ill, said that she had spent five years in the country. “Things were very good for me initially. I was working for a modelling company at Gimbiya Street at Area 11 in Abuja. I was also selling women’s clothes. Things were better for me until my illness,” she said
. “I sold all my property, even my phone, to get treatment because I did not know what was wrong with me. I was stooling and vomiting all the time.
I could not eat and keep it in. It has been a terrible experience with this illness.”
Sonia, who was 23 when she immigrated to the country in 2009, said she now lives at a shelter behind Jabi Motor Park because the lady with whom she was sharing an apartment at Area 3 ejected her from the apartment because of her illness.
“I face rejection all the time. People avoid me because I look sick. It was a year ago that I found out what was wrong with me. However, I did not start taking medication then.
“My illness became worse and I decided to seek help. I have not had any drugs for HIV for a long time. That is why I have come to the hospital to get drugs. I have been waiting since Friday to get the drugs but nobody has cared to look at me. Some of the hospital’s workers have been very nice, though; they have been giving food and water since Friday.”
The interview ended abruptly when Sonia was informed to visit the hospital next Wednesday to collect her anti-retroviral drugs. Her visa has long expired, but she stays on, waiting to get the drugs before leaving the country “on a ship” through Calabar — from where she entered the country. “I am all alone struggling with the ailment; I have no siblings or relatives in Nigeria,” she said.