12 May 2015<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Despite the constant strain of financial hardship, Nofumanekile Mboxo prided herself on her positive, even jovial, outlook on life.<\/p>\n

Inherently active, she spent her days tending her home and her family, looking after children and making sure everyone was as well cared for as her meagre resources allowed.<\/p>\n

That all changed at the beginning of 2014 when Nofumanekile, 60, started experiencing acute loss of appetite, and noticed with alarm that her already slender frame was rapidly becoming thinner.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew there was something wrong,\u201d she says. \u201cI felt tired all the time, and so sick.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to her rapid weight loss, Nofumanekile also developed a persistent cough and soon found herself out of breath after even the lightest chores.<\/p>\n

When the Donald Woods Foundation\u2019s Health in Every Hut screening team visited her homestead in May of that year, the once energetic woman was lethargic and gaunt, and increasingly frightened about her failing health.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was very thin, not eating and also battling diarrhoea,\u201d says DWF Community Health Outreach Worker Luno Zonele. \u201cWe did a thorough screening and found that she was HIV-positive. We then referred her to the clinic, where the nurses started her on ARV treatment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since starting the treatment, Nofumanekile has regained her appetite and gained the weight she lost.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can work around the house and not wait for other people to do things for me anymore. I am very grateful to the Donald Woods Foundation. They come every week now to make sure I\u2019m OK. I am OK because of them.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Since being diagnosed and starting treatment, Nofumanekile has become a vocal and passionate advocate for HIV screening, and encourages everyone she encounters to be tested.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou must know your status,\u201d she says emphatically. \u201cIf you are sick, and you don\u2019t know, you can die, or you can infect others.\u201d<\/p>\n

As she has grown stronger, Nofumanekile\u2019s positive outlook has returned, and with it, a new lease on life \u2013 and on happiness.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am laughing again. I am happy to be able to do what I want, and not be sick. I am very grateful Donald Woods came to my house that day.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

12 May 2015 Despite the constant strain of financial hardship, Nofumanekile Mboxo prided herself on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[113,128,104,130],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7DEjh-16U","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2406,"url":"https:\/\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/exercise-is-medicine\/","url_meta":{"origin":4272,"position":0},"title":"Exercise is medicine","date":"January 14, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Lilly researcher and Connecting Hearts Abroad 2015 ambassador Randall Dick writes about his experience bringing the message that exercise\u00a0IS\u00a0medicine during his stay with the Donald Woods Foundation at Hobeni. Randall was one of a group of 10 Lilly volunteers who spent two weeks at Hobeni at the Donald Woods Centre\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Donald Woods Centre"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/exercise-girl.jpg?fit=800%2C534&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4789,"url":"https:\/\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/our-cumulative-milestones\/","url_meta":{"origin":4272,"position":1},"title":"Our cumulative milestones","date":"July 1, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"The Donald Woods Foundation (DWF) has achieved notable milestones in its area of operations making a significant difference to the health and well-being of thousands of people. These include: Reducing by half, admission to hospital for hypertension \/ stroke through DWF\u2019s primary healthcare intervention by means of early screening and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Citizenship and active democracy"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/website-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4302,"url":"https:\/\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/dwf-hosting-mdr-tb-exposure-visit-in-bcm\/","url_meta":{"origin":4272,"position":2},"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. The delegates representing the Lilly\/Donald Woods Foundation MDR-TB partnership in Buffalo City will visit schools in Duncan Village, the Dimbaza Community Health Centre, the newly\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Donald Woods Foundation"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4608,"url":"https:\/\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/the-long-recovery-from-mdr-tb\/","url_meta":{"origin":4272,"position":3},"title":"The long recovery from MDR-TB","date":"July 27, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"The long recovery from MDR-TB The road to recovering from drug-resistant TB is a long and gruelling journey. 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":4310,"url":"https:\/\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/building-the-donald-woods-centre-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":4272,"position":4},"title":"Building the Donald Woods Centre","date":"February 1, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"The Donald Wood Centre at Hobeni has been featured in an article in the Financial Times, London. Headlined Donald Woods Centre built in memory of South African activist, the article by Lily Le Brun relates how the\u00a0family of the famous anti-apartheid campaigner have established the headquarters of the Donald Woods\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Citizenship and active democracy"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/WP_20160201_10_29_51_Pro-e1460617539599.jpg?fit=1030%2C685&ssl=1&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":4272,"position":5},"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. I am a twin and I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Donald Woods Foundation"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4272"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4272"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4272\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}