My name is Sophie Mubvumbi Jayawardene. Many People call me Stigma Warrior Princess. Please feel free to call me this or Sophie Jayawardene.
I was diagnosed in 1989. At the time I was happily married, six months pregnant expecting twins, and had two children under the age of 8. There was no medicine and I was going to die. The law makers arranged for the babies to be terminated and I was left alone to figure out how I should survive.
Knowing that I had only five years to live, I forget all what other people live for and focus on my two children. These were the darkest days where silence ruled. 15 years later I woke up in hospital near death. Had lived this far suffering from living like someone else. I was invisible to the world and positive no-one could hear me.
During this time I learn a lot about human behavior when it comes to things that scare us the most. I learn about human sexual behaviors in general and the dangers stigma posed to the entire human race. As a parent I experienced difficulties in my parenting under those circumstances.
Why Sophie wants to be part of A Girl Like Me: After four years in hospital care, I came back to life and swore that I will never again live like someone else. I promise that I will do by any means to make sure no person shall live the way I lived. I wrote a personal story, Sophie's World: Journeys Of The lost Soul and I was pretty much on my way to freedom. I am now an HIV Advocate, Gender Representative, Motivational Speaker, and a Sex Educator. I live in Auckland with my HIV openly, with my two grown up children and am now a Grandmother of two beautiful boys. I enjoy writing about the well-being of a Positive Being.
