<\/p>\n

XDR-TB survivor Xolelwa Joni (left) chats with her elder sister Fezeka Joni (middle) and Thandekile Essien (right), Programme Officer for Lilly SA’s MDR-TB Partnership in the yard of her Duncan Village home.\u00a0Photo – Barbara Manning<\/em><\/p>\n

Soon the world will hear the incredible story of former Donald Woods Foundation peer-educator and XDR-TB survivor, Xolelwa Joni, who hails from Duncan Village in East London.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year Xolelwa shared her story on her two-year struggle to beat extensively resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) with the Lilly South Africa team in Johannesburg. As if the onerous treatment was not enough, Xolelwa also had to contend with family tragedies during her treatment as she battled to cope with the loss of her twin sister who succumbed to XDR-TB and her mother\u2019s death due to cancer.<\/p>\n

Lilly colleagues were so moved by Xolelwa\u2019s story that Lilly has commissioned a new film based on extensive interviews with Xolelwa at her Duncan Village home. During the filming of the interview in early May, the crew learnt of additional family tragedies in that out of five siblings, Xolelwa and her 36-year old sister Fezeka Joni have lost three siblings \u2013 Xolelwa\u2019s twin sister, a brother to illness and two brothers were murdered in crime-related incidents in the area.<\/p>\n

The film is in the final stages of editing and is nearing completion.<\/p>\n

Xolelwa is currently studying nursing at Butterworth Hopsital, a vocation she yearned to undertake following her struggle with XDR-TB and her work as a DWF peer educator with the DWF MDR-TB programme in East London.<\/p>\n

Xolelwa said she was keen to address the stigma attached to TB:<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople judge those infected with TB and the disease\u00a0breaks the bonds of family and friends. This is a big issue that sufferers have to deal with and I hope to help people with TB as I can speak from experience.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

DWF has partnered with Eli Lilly in the Lilly MDR-TB Partnership since 2014 screening for TB and providing follow-up support as part of the Health in Every Hut programme in rural areas together with numerous TB hot-spots in the greater East London metropolitan area such as prisons, taxi ranks, schools and Nkqubela TB Hospital in Mdantsane.<\/p>\n

Links for the final film will be posted in due course.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

XDR-TB survivor Xolelwa Joni (left) chats with her elder sister Fezeka Joni (middle) and Thandekile […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4199,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[113,128,104,140,130],"tags":[157,121,139,123,119,138,146,158],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/xolelwa_lilly-film-2-1-e1463657187191.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7DEjh-15q","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4558,"url":"https:\/\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/an-inspiring-story\/","url_meta":{"origin":4180,"position":0},"title":"An inspiring story","date":"July 18, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Meet Xolelwa Joni, a survivor of extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) from Duncan Village in East London, South Africa \u2013 a city with a very high TB burden. Following her two-year battle with XDR-TB, Xolelwa joined the Donald Woods Foundation as peer educator in the Foundation\u2019s MDR-TB programme in East London.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Donald Woods Foundation"","img":{"alt_text":"joni film thumbnail","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/joni-film-thumbnail.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4294,"url":"https:\/\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/meet-xolelwa-joni-who-beat-xdr-tb\/","url_meta":{"origin":4180,"position":1},"title":"Meet Xolelwa Joni who beat XDR-TB","date":"November 2, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"2 November 2015 My name is Xolelwa Joni and I have survived extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB). I am now a Donald Woods Foundation Peer Educator and ambassador in the fight against TB. I was born on the 8th of August 1983 in East London. 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This feature article in the Daily Dispatch profiles the Donald Woods Foundation\u2019s MDR-TB programme in and around East London together with some encouraging words from Xolelwa Joni on sticking to the treatment\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Donald Woods Foundation"","img":{"alt_text":"Joni_DD TB feature","src":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Joni_DD-TB-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4308,"url":"https:\/\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/dwf-mdr-tb-partnership-providing-vital-support-in-fight-against-mdr-tb\/","url_meta":{"origin":4180,"position":3},"title":"DWF MDR-TB partnership providing vital support in fight against MDR-TB","date":"December 2, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"2 December 2015 The benefits of health education programmes for the youth, peer education in overcrowded prisons and the fact that access to available treatment was not always easy for the poor in remote areas were some of the messages received during a tour of DWF multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB)\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Donald Woods Foundation"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4302,"url":"https:\/\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/dwf-hosting-mdr-tb-exposure-visit-in-bcm\/","url_meta":{"origin":4180,"position":4},"title":"DWF hosting MDR-TB exposure visit in BCM","date":"November 29, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"29 November 2015 The Donald Woods Foundation is hosting delegates on a one-day tour of Tuberculosis programme activities in Buffalo City on 30 November 2015. 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