Pathetic: How a movie star contracted HIV in the church
Her story runs like a novel, yet it is no fiction. It underscores the saying ‘misfortunes bring out the best in a person.”
For Ghanaian actress cum singer, Joyce Dzidzor Nartey, the
unfortunate turn of events in her life marked the ultimate beginning of a
new dawn.
Joyce Dzidzor Narte
The 27 year-old mother of two battled growing up. Her humble
background challenged her and she pulled many strings to escape
poverty. She was determined to part with poverty. And she felt her skill
in dancing could expose her to the entertainment world and possibly to
stardom. The fund to pursue university education was not there but she
believed in her skills.
Although she became vulnerable, exposed to rape and many vices the
irony was that she ran to a church where salvation ought to beckon on
her but doom followed.
A church member who was expected to preach salvation to her played A
Patrick Sawyer to her. Just like the American Liberian who knew he was
infected by the Ebora virus but who, full of evil, deliberately arrived
Nigeria to spread it, the church member was infected by HIV virus and he
decided to spread among members of the church.
And so Ghana’s Dzidzor Nartey contacted HIV in her church but today
she is a star in many ways and the virus in her has been contained to
the extent that she is living a normal life. She is HIV/AIDS Awareness
Ambassador who has travelled to many parts of the world to create
awareness on the virus and preach against stigmatisation. She is married
and a happy mother.
Joyce is also a backup singer and has backed top Ghanaian musicians in her quest to make a profession.
Last year, she delved into movie production to intensify education
and to complement the government’s effort to sensitize the public of
the dangers of the disease. It is also to strengthen education on
pre-marital sex and the dangers involved.
The movie titled, ‘My Cross Roads’ featured herself, and top Ghanaian
film stars like Ekow Smith Asante, John Dumelo and Vicky Zugah. She
also has a new movie in the market titled, “Jewel of the Waters”which
she is using to further propagate her campaign against the spread of the
HIV virus.
Interestingly, for the past seven years, Joyce has been living with
the disease and on anti-retroviral therapy. She tells her story on
DSTV’s AfricaMagic channel.
Living with HIV virus
I have lived with HIV/AIDS virus for seven years now. I contacted the
disease in 2007. But I’m just a normal person. When people meet me and
tend to find out how I’m feeling, I always tell them I’m a normal
person.
As a matter of fact, I visited a school to educate the students.
After talking to them they were keen to test for HIV. I also joined the
queue and got tested but it was negative. It means one must stay with
one’s medication forever. Regular medication can make it read that way.
It doesn’t mean such a person is no longer a career.
How she contacted the disease
I contacted the disease in 2007, through a member of my church. I was
to spend a night with him in his house. When he removed his clothes, I
saw some kind of rashes all over his body. I was terrified, as I
innocently asked him why he was like that
. He covered up, saying it was a minor skin infection and that it
was nothing serious. But when he wanted to make love to me, I insisted
that he must used condom. He told me that he didn’t like using condom.
However, when I insisted, he agreed but he never used it. He removed
it while entering into me. We did it several times that night. After
few weeks, I became pregnant for him. When I told him, I was pregnant,
he advised me to abort the baby. But I refused, insisting on keeping the
baby.
He later warned me that if insisted, I would have myself to blame in
future. I never knew what he meant until I was diagnosed HIV positive.
He also infected other ladies in the church before he died.
Growing up
Growing up was in a very poor background. I discovered my love for
music and dance. I was very ambitious, passionate about my dance skills.
All efforts to get help to go to school failed. I was vulnerable, most
times raped. I had to attend all kinds of events in my neighbourhood to
exhibit my skills in dancing. In my case, there was no one to confide
in. I hawked all kinds of things to make ends meet’.
Why she became HIV/AIDS Awareness advocate
I was driven by the need to help other carriers of the HIV/AIDS
virus. This is because most AIDS patients are brought to the hospital
when they are almost dead. Victims find it difficult to undergo medical
test to determine their HIV/AIDS status.
I realised when people get to know about their HIV status at the
early stages and they are put on medication, they wouldn’t die. They
would live their normal lives. So, I decided to use myself as an
example. That was what motivated me to begin the campaign against
HIV/AIDS virus.
Platform and the benefits
I started sensitising the people on the streets. I went to a business
district in Accra, and my purpose of going to the area was to share my
story, as well as sell some copies of my music which I had on CD to
enable me realise some money to feed myself.
The first person I approached when I got there shouted, and never
allowed me to utter a word. The moment I mentioned I was HIV positive,
he shouted at me, and warned me to leave the place immediately. But I
wasn’t discouraged.
Later, I went to Dacuma, another area. At the place, whenever there
was traffic congestion, I would start to tell my story, “I’m HIV
positive, you have to be very careful with your life,” I would start.
In addition, I had copies of my CD, but nobody was buying them from
me. Some people thought I was lying, and that was when I met a certain
pastor in the a traffic. I was moving from one vehicle to another,
sharing my story with who cared to listen. When this pastor heard me,
he parked and was ready to listen to me.
Then, he was running a TV programme in Amsterdam. At that moment, he
took my contact, and later, he sent me some money to process my
International Passport. He told me that he had a TV station as well as a
radio station in Amsterdam, and he would want me to come over there and
share my story the way I did in the traffic. Without hesitation, I
applied for visa and travelled to Amsterdam in 2010. That was how my
story changed.
Sharing her story on TV
A Ghanaian TV host, popularly known as KSA invited me to his
programme, “Future Leaders” to share my story on air. I rejected the
idea, insisting that I could only speak in schools and churches.
I told him that appearing on his show would be a very difficult one
for me. But he insisted, advising that I should be bold about it. When I
finally agreed to go on air, I requested that my face be covered as
well as my voice distorted. He agreed to my condition, and I went on air
to share my story. But then, I was still afraid to unveil my face to
the world because of the stigma that is associated with the disease.
That was how I went on air for the first time in Ghana to share my
story. It went on like that, until I suddenly made up my mind to come
out. The reason being that I needed to educate the general public, and
in addition,I realised that if you have a talent and you don’t have
money, it would be very difficult for one to make head way in life.
So, I pondered over it and resolved within myself to come out. It was
my belief that it would draw attention to me and by so doing, I could
start singing, or acting for people to reckon with my talent. So, I saw
two opportunities at the same time; educating people as well as getting
exposure for my musical career. That’s why I became popular.
When she returned from Amsterdam
I returned from Amsterdam to continue what I started in Ghana. I was
invited by different organisations. Later, I travelled again to speak on
the topic “30 years of HIV, the way forward.”In 2012, I went for the
AIDS conference in America.
Recently, I was in the UK, where I premiered my movie, “My Cross
Roads” which captures my story. The movie was first premiered at the
National Theatre in Ghana and it recorded a huge turn out of
dignitaries. The storyline of the movie is basically about me. It’s a
true life story of Joyce Dzidzor Nartey but currently, I have a new
movie in the market titled, “Jewel of the water.”
HIV Husband and wife
Before we got married, my husband was educated about the deadly
disease. But he is also a carrier of the disease. At the moment,
medically both of us are negative to HIV virus. This is because we have
been put on medication for long.
But that does not mean, we should stop taking our medication. Even
though we test negative now, we keep taking our medication. We had one
child together who did not test positive to HIV because of the
medication.
Life after contacting HIV/AIDS virus
That’s not the end of the world for any carrier of the HIV/AIDS
virus. There is life after contacting the deadly disease. The HIV virus
can be found in the semen in the man, and not in the sperm because the
sperm is what goes to form a baby. It doesn’t carry the HIV virus, but
the semen is what contains the HIV virus.
So, HIV positive man who is on medication can share sexual activity
with an HIV negative woman, and they both can produce an HIV negative
baby. You can see that there is life after contacting the HIV virus.
HIV positive man can marry an HIV negative woman, and they can still
make babies without him infecting the wife or the baby, just as an HIV
positive woman can also marry an HIV negative man. There are a lot of
couple today who wouldn’t come out to share their stories, but who are
living with HIV/AIDS virus. They are keeping the secret to themselves.
Marriage life
Marriage for me was normal but they say, in every marriage there are
challenges. Things have happened in the past which I wouldn’t want to
talk about here. Talking about the stigma, there was one day, my
seven-year old son came from school and told me to stop that HIV thing
that I am doing. According to him, his friends said, they wouldn’t play
with him because his mum is HIV positive. There are challenges but life
must go on.
According to him: “I
became the father of a love-child. DNA testing determined with maximum
proof that I indeed was the father of my daughter, delivered by a
head-butting casual lover, Miss Sophia Momodu. I met Sophia when I was
barely 21 years old. She was many years older than me and was able to
manipulate and exploit my youth, naivety and generosity. Sophia is the
mother of my daughter, and no more! She never would be my wife and she
was never qualified for that status. Her background is very dissimilar
from mine, and she has very paltry education and equally diminished
physical attributes. Cunningly, she moved into my house because she
claimed she has no place to stay in Lagos and that her father is late
and her mother is resident in Abuja. I have accepted what providence
brought my way including my own personal indiscretions. But I also have
been burdened by the lapses in the character of Sophia and have thus
suffered for my daughter who I love as much as my late mother, Imade. As
for the person of Sophia, I paid a two year rent for her apartment at
Lekki and she receives a monthly allowance of 300,000 naira from me ever
since Imade was born. This December, Sophia received 500,000 naira as
her Allowance and Christmas bonus. On a routine hospital check, my
daughter was found to be infested with massive dosage of poisonous
cannabis that she contracted from the breast feeding regime of her
mother’s breast. We still don’t know how much Imade was damaged by this
toxic feeding and medical tests and procedures continue to rise and
bemuse me and my family members. Already, Imade has special needs and
has been treated at the American Hospital,Dubai with all medical costs
and travel expenses drawn off my personal purse ever since she was born.
On December 29, Imade was supposed to travel, once more, to Dubai for
further medical care. A family vacation was attached to this medical
trip. But our family plan was truncated by Sophia, her uncle, Dele
Momodu in the company of his wife, and all these persons were the
significant accessory to the Lagos Airport debacle. It is this incidence
of December 29 that made implicitly necessary to bring my family matter
to the public domain. “
But hope came when the Governor Adams Oshiomhole- led administration came into office in 2008 and decided to tackle the flood problem in the state head on. There was this belief that a certain goddess, popularly known as Mammy Water, resided in Upper Siluko, down to Teachers House, and had frustrated any effort by government to solve the flood problem in the area. However, when Oshiomhole came, after studying the situation with experts, it was agreed that, no matter how much is invested in road construction in the area, it will be a waste unless a solid erosion work was done, that will channel the flood from these area to the Ogba River.
That was how government came up with the N30billion Benin Water Storm Project. Today, the impact is being felt in the area as those who abandoned their homes have returned. The signs were obvious when Oshiomhole paid an unscheduled visit to the project sites, as a mammoth crowd welcomed the governor, expressing appreciation for finding solution to the flood problem. The 1.3km, 5 meter-deep underground drainage system linking Textile Mill Road to Ogba River through Igbinaduwa Street is one of the solid erosion projects inspected by Oshiomhole last Tuesday.
The governor took time to celebrate with the over joyed residents at Igbinaduwa, where he had to break protocol to attend a wedding ceremony in one of the houses which were abandoned but the owners are now back to their homes. His appearance at the ceremony, even when he was not invited, generated thunderous cheers from the celebrants, as the guests echoed ‘Osho Baba, Osho Baba, you too much, you too much’.
The governor, visibly happy for the appreciation expressed by the crowd, invoked the “precious blood of Jesus” to destroy any attempt to disrupt the ongoing projects in the state by persons he described as enemies of progress. He vowed not to abandon any project at the expiration of his stay in Edo Govt. House in 2016.
“We will fight those we need to fight in order to do the projects we need to do. But that fight is informed by public interest and there is no going back. And as you can see what is going on around the country, all my enemies are falling one after the other and we are standing,”he said. “And by the grace of God, we will stand because God sees our heart and He covers us with the blood of Jesus, so no evil planned by man can stop the progress that we are determined to make for the benefit of the people of Edo. The verdict of the people is what matters.
You can see how people are happy with the work and that is my greatest joy. We are just coming from around the Teachers House; you have seen what is obviously, by any standard, what is passed for a miracle because people gave up, that Mammy Water had taken over that area. And you could see the feeling of people driving on the road.
You can see the depth of the drainage and, right on top of it, we are constructing a road that will connect Ogba River, Textile Mill Road and, under it, we have flood going. This is part of the Benin City Master Plan. And, from the reaction of the people who know what this place used to be, you can see their joy. That, to me, is the verdict. “
I am satisfied that, at this time when people are debating whether or not people are able to pay salaries or not, we are not only paying, we are also working. And I have made the point that we will not abandon any project. Our task as managers is to find solution to unforeseen challenges and make sure that we keep the Edo project going”.