New Life; an inspiring community run initiative supporting people with HIV/AIDS in Mutare, Zimbabwe.

The Faces of New Life

Tebbie Nyaruwa (core programme nurse) - I have worked for NEW LIFE since 1992. I visit people with HIV/AIDS in their homes. If they need medicine I prescribe it for them. In the old days we used to have money to contribute towards people’s medical bills, but today, funds are low and we cannot provide this kind of support. If the people I visit at home are too ill I escort them or refer them to the hospital. We also used to have a few home-care volunteers to help people in their homes but as we were unable to pay them anything, they left us. Things are so tough in Zimbabwe at the moment that people are just trying to make ends meet from day-to-day.
In 2005 I started working in the Voluntary Testing and Counseling Centre for NEW LIFE. Here I am responsible for testing people for HIV/AIDS and counseling them based on the outcome. The service is free of charge and we try and make it as available as we can to the general public. We offer this service from our NEW LIFE support centre in Mutare and visit local companies where they can pay for our petrol to get there and food for the volunteers.
If there is one thing that we could do for NEW LIFE this year, in my opinion, it would be to resurrect the health clinic. We used to run it from Sakubva, Dangamvura and our NEW LIFE support center in Mutare, but due to a hike in licencing fees we had to close it.
This is a huge loss to our community.

Ramsome Muhlauko (support group coordinator) - I joined NEW LIFE in 2001 after I tested positive for HIV in 2000. As support group coordinator my responsibility is to create opportunities for people to participate in group activities in three districts of Zimbabwe. I am responsible for the day-to-day running of NEW LIFE including clinic administration, budgeting and results reporting. I have dedicated my life to promoting understanding and acceptance in my community of HIV/ AIDS and would like to see NEW LIFE, currently a struggling community initiative, become a well-resourced organization that works to significantly improve the lives of people living with HIV/ AIDS.
NEW LIFE has the potential to have a huge impact on people in Zimbabwe living with HIV/ AIDS.

IncentivatedThis site is being hosted and maintained by Incentivated Ltd, supporting New Life; an inspiring community run
initiative supporting people with HIV/AIDS in Mutare, Zimbabwe.