This archive report was first published on 24 October 2019.
It's been 25 years since Moses Nsubuga, a Ugandan musician, tested HIV positive. His wife abandoned him at a health facility, and his family dug a grave for him, anticipating his imminent death. But Nsubuga defied the odds and is still alive today.
Published on October 24, 2019, in Nairobi News, Nsubuga's story is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit. In 1994, his wife had warned him about his reckless behavior, but he never heeded her warnings. When he asked her to accompany him to Bawman House in Kampala for an HIV test, she confirmed her fears. Nsubuga had already contracted the virus.
He recalls that while still pondering his next move, his wife excused herself to visit the washrooms and never returned. It was the last time he saw her and their eight-year marriage ended abruptly. “The mother of my children left me at Bawman House,” Mr Nsubuga recounts.
He was not enrolled on anti-retroviral treatment until 1998, when he became severely ill. However, he did not adhere to the prescription, and after two years, he developed drug resistance. Nsubuga became critically ill, and his aunts, who lived with him in Entebbe, thought his death was imminent. They resolved to take him home in Kitalaganya, 20km from Nakasongola District.
They traveled by bus, but passengers forced them out before reaching their destination as Nsubuga was vomiting excessively. A man driving a pickup offered them a lift to Nakasongola Town, but along the way, he realized Nsubuga was very ill. He offered to take them home in Kitalaganya.
Before reaching home, Nsubuga's aunts requested the driver to stop in Nakasongola town so they could buy cement and a backcloth, materials for burial. They bought the necessary items, and the driver continued to take Nsubuga home. However, Nsubuga never died.
He was rescued by former Ntenjeru North Member of Parliament Sarah Nyombi, who organized transport and brought him to the Joint Clinical Research Centre in Kampala. This was his turning point. He has since composed songs, such as “Say No to Resistance,” in a campaign aimed at sensitizing people to adhere to antiretroviral drugs. Mr Nsubuga is living positively and hopes that when researchers finally make a breakthrough in the long search for an HIV and AIDS cure, it will find him alive.
