I go by many names: which one do you prefer?

Asunta Wagura take to bed her identical twin babies Baraka (left) and Gabriel in her house on April 29,2013. PHOTO| DENISH OCHIENG

What you need to know:

  • Well, I do not mind being called Asunta wa Aids. I know people do not use this label to stigmatise or demean me.

  • That is what they know. However, it is time to reinvent myself. I am christening myself new synonyms. Check them out …

My first name is synonymous with Aids. To differentiate me with a namesake, it is not unusual to hear someone say, “Are you talking about Asunta wa Aids?” It comes with the territory.

I understand. People know me by what I do. But apparently, not everyone does. We were once in a meeting and this new sister on the HIV block could not tell me from the door knob. Everyone was surprised that there are people in the HIV community who do not know “Asunta wa Aids”.

Well, I do not mind being called Asunta wa Aids. I know people do not use this label to stigmatise or demean me.

That is what they know. However, it is time to reinvent myself. I am christening myself new synonyms. Check them out …

Asunta wa advocacy

I would want to replace the Aids with something that I actually do and is close to the moniker Aids. That is why I have settled on advocacy. It is what I have done for a long time. Initially, I did not know I was an advocate. I thought this tag only belonged to people who had been to law school. What I knew was that I was merely talking for people living with HIV (PLWHs). 

Asunta wa blessings

I am blessed. And then some. God has been so good to me that if I start counting my blessings, I will run out of breath.

I also believe that, through my work with, and for PLWHs, and through this column, I have been a blessing. Readers write to me, telling me how they, or a loved one, had a turning point because of what I wrote. That blesses me.

Asunta wa favour

I have been able do what I do because of God’s favour. Many of my peers, who were more qualified to do this, have passed away. I did not know God was ordaining my footsteps for something bigger than me.

If someone had told me in October 1987 that I would be where I am today, I would have told them to give me a sleeping pill and wake me up today. I am a fighter, yet favour has won me more victories, many of which I did not have to do anything but believe.

Asunta wa watoto

The title above loosely translates to Asunta of the babies. You all know that I am the mother of five boys. Nothing makes me prouder than to hear my children call me mama. My children mean the world to me. 

Asunta wa watoto also befits me because, after I had children, other sisters, HIV-positive and negative, asked for this agony aunt’s advice. Many more still write to me. I am happy to help. So? I am Asunta wa watoto, not just because of my children, but because I am a surrogate mother of sorts. 

Asunta wa Richard

I do not mind carrying and flaunting my partner’s name. Sure, I am my own woman, but there is also a part of me that belongs to someone.

Richard and I not only share the love of our beautiful children, we also share the myriad attendant HIV issues. 

Asunta survivor

The above handle fits me like my bra cups. Definitions of survivor: “Somebody who stays alive despite being exposed to life-threatening danger.” “Somebody who shows a great will to live or a great determination to overcome difficulties and carry on.”

A little clarification will suffice. If I am a survivor, it is not because of my mettle or meds. It is favour, people. God’s favour.

Asunta wa dreams

When I tested HIV-positive, I knew my dreams were dead and buried. Twenty-seven years later, I tell people who have just tested HIV-positive, who swear that there is nothing to live for, that their lives have just begun. 

I was expelled from college; I am now in university. I was almost homeless; I am now a homeowner. I was a pariah; I have been feted around the world. I was a living dead; I am alive and kicking. I was carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders; I have carried the Olympic Torch in London.

Asunta wa repair

This title evokes thoughts of me spinning away on a Singer sewing machine. But nope, I am not a tailor. One of our mottos is, “We Repair Broken Hearts”. When people come to us, their hearts and lives are broken. And not just by HIV-infection, but by a partner who infected them and, in many scenarios, cut and run. I would like to believe that I have repaired many hearts, families, and relationships. 

Those are eight new synonyms. Choose one.