A YOUNG nurse living with HIV has shared how her boyfriend dumped her immediately after the US government announced the halting of HIV funding to Africa through USAID early this year.
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30 year old Catherine Lyempe who discovered she was living with the virus in 2018 when she only knew her then lover shared with Kalemba how traumatising it was to discover at the age of 24 that she was HIV positive.
This is someone who was born negative but to her shock, her status changed after months of being with a man she truly loved and trusted.
“I was in shock. I was young, in love and I thought I was safe. But that’s the thing with HIV, you can get it from someone you trust. Some people are just carriers, they don’t even show symptoms and others pass it on in the window period,” she said.
Catherine had hoped she had found lasting love again. But when the news broke earlier this year that USAID, a major supplier of HIV drugs across the continent would be halting its support, her partner suddenly vanished.
“He said he couldn’t do it anymore. He was scared we wouldn’t survive without the medication. So he left because he was negative,” she shared.
But let’s talk about Catherine’s journey as a nurse. Well, to say that she did nursing because of her status would be misleading, as she never wanted to be a nurse so she revealed.
Her childhood dream was to become a lawyer, but financial constraints pushed her in another direction.
“My sponsors couldn’t afford law school. So they told me to settle for nursing even though I was terrified of blood,” she narrated.
“But while working at a clinic during her training, something unexpected happened. I found myself stepping up to help patients. They told me I made them feel cared for. That’s when I realised that maybe this was my calling after all.”
She enrolled at Kaoma College of Nursing and Midwifery in 2021 and graduated in 2024.
But even there, the HIV stigma followed her.
In her first year of college, Catherine decided to open up about her HIV status, hoping that being in a health institution would mean acceptance but she was wrong.
“Friends started avoiding me. Some refused to sit next to me or study with me. It was painful, but I used the rejection as motivation. I focused on my books. I wanted to prove that my diagnosis didn’t make me less human,” she said.
Catherine emerged among the top students in her class but the discrimination didn’t stop at school.
Earlier this year, when the US government announced it would halt HIV funding to Africa through USAID as a major supplier of antiretroviral drugs, Catherine’s boyfriend walked out on her.
The breakup shattered her. But instead of retreating into silence, Catherine decided to speak louder.
“I see babies born with HIV. Teenagers who don’t understand what’s happening to them. Mothers who feel hopeless. That’s why I share my story, to educate, to comfort, to show them they are not alone,” she stated.
She’s also had to deal with rejection from job opportunities, often sensing that her openness about her status makes employers uncomfortable.
“I have been turned down by employers who think hiring me will damage their image. Some of my own relatives say I embarrass them by speaking publicly. But I won’t stop,” she reiterated.
Her decision to go public was inspired by the young mothers and children she met at the hospital.
“Some babies were born with HIV. I would look at them and ask, ‘Why didn’t someone educate their mothers?’ I knew I had to be that someone,” Catherine shared and she leaves a life to treat and spread awareness about HIV.
By Catherine Pule
Kalemba, May 22, 2025
