“When I found out that I was pregnant, I wasn’t too happy because I had three children but they passed away and it was very painful,“ says Nomasonto, 27, who lives in a small rural village in South Africa, near the border with Swaziland. In Septem

A young woman relaxes in the doorway of her bedroom. This is the same room where she accommodates her clients, as well as lives with her baby, sleeps and eats. In downtown Dar Esalaam, Tanzania, community health workers offer free HIV testing in brothel

“My biggest fear is the thought of disclosing my status to my future husband. I am frightened that he may not accept me,” says Halima, 16, from Tanzania. When Halima was in third grade, the other children would tease her because of a skin rash she

“Option B+ is helping me take my medication at the right time. Time keeping is much easier. I only take one tablet in the evening now and I don’t miss it. I take it at the right time,” says Martha, 19, seen here with her 8-month old son Rahim.Wh

“Women aren’t the problem, but the solution. The plight of girls is no more a tragedy than an opportunity.” - Nicolas Kristof and Sheryl Wundunn, authors of “Half the Sky”Two young girls play a game together as evening falls on the banks of t

“At the time when I went for testing for my child, I was very nervous because I wasn't sure if the results were going to be positive or negative. But when I found out that the results were negative, I was very happy. My child at least has a life now,”

“The training changed my life and helped me to see how it was possible to live with hope. I never believed that I would ever get a job as an HIV-positive person. Now I am able to feed my family and I am hoping to build a house with the 1500 bricks I hav

“Mbereko group has taught me to be independent, regardless of whether my husband is there or not. I feel very independent, I have been empowered,” says Emily Hine as she breastfeeds her baby by the fire in her home in Mutare, Zimbabwe. Mama Joy visi

“Our dream is that many more women would enroll in this process, so that no babies are born with HIV any longer” – Nelly, midwife.Nelly is a midwife, working in a rural hospital in Jinja, Uganda, alongside mothers2mothers’ Mentor Mothers and Com

“When I got my baby’s results and they were negative, I completely forgot that I was positive. Whenever I look at him I have this joy in my heart. I may be positive but he is negative!” - Monica, UgandaFor many pregnant women living with HIV, trea

“My husband was an alcoholic. Last year he left me and my children. Now, I am trying to raise five children with no financial support. He doesn’t even visit his children and he lives down the road,” says Mariam from Mpumalanga, South Africa.Nearly

"My favourite subject is English. I hope to visit an English-speaking country one day. My dream is to become a doctor and to serve my community", says Abibatou who is 15 and attends secondary school in Sikasso, Mali.Worldwide, more than 700 million wom

“My life would have been so hard and I would probably be dead now if it weren’t for the support group that changed my life. Now I am able to help other women in their journeys, and my babies were both born HIV negative. My dream is to bring all women

“When I first found out I was HIV positive, it was hard for me to accept it. My greatest fear was that no one in my village would accept me because of my status. I wanted to hide away,” says Mapemphero, a mother of two, who lives outside Lilongwe in M

“My dream is that in the next five to ten years, we will not have an HIV positive baby born in Malawi” - community health worker“After capturing these moments and hearing these stories, I knew that courage was the golden thread that connected all

If one generation is educated and empowered regarding HIV, the next generation will make better life choices for themselves and for own children. A mother does her washing in the afternoon with her daughters along the banks of the Luapala River, Haute K

“I encourage other mothers to keep breastfeeding their babies, even though it’s hard. They will see their babies are healthier if they do,” says Nothando, as she plays with her baby Dumisane, at their home in Polokwane South Africa.It was a dream

In order to increase access to HIV prevention, care and treatmen

“When I found out my status, I was devastated. I even thought of aborting the baby. I was living with my husband but I was afraid of telling him. It is easier for a woman to live with a man who is positive. But for a negative man to live with a positive

“When I was pregnant and found out I was HIV positive, it was for me to make a radical decision and save his life or to keep quiet and see my boy get infected.” - Mercy, mother, UgandaMercy has five children. While pregnant she was encouraged by the

“Reality and normalcy is only a figment of our imaginations or an illusion we use to survive. So very few accomplish the privilege to live. Right now we all retreat to our own spaces and places and we hope and pray for a better tomorrow,” says Amelia,

“I wanted to help other women who were in the same shoes I wore at one time. Whether you are HIV negative or HIV positive, everybody deserves to be loved and cared for. And society needs to learn to accept all these different people for it to be complet

“Life has been very difficult since the drought. I had to take my baby girls to the hospital because they were so thin and I thought they were going to die,“ says Estere, 24, at her home in Chikwawa, Malawi. Estere is HIV positive and a single mothe

In Lusaka, Zambia, a mother carries water home. Life for women in Zambia can be challenging. They can find it hard to refuse their husbands sex, or to insist their partner use a condom. More than 30% of partnered women aged 15 to 24 in Zambia have experie

“One child, one teacher, one book, one pen can change the world.” - Malala YousafzaiShe helps her grandmother sell coal at a local market just outside Lusaka, Zambia. She does not attend school, and never has. Knowledge about HIV for adolescent girl

Across Africa

uMama Onesibindi

Umama Onesibindi – Mother of Courage is a photographic tribute to all the children and women across Africa who have chosen life and stood firm in the face of adversity. Compiled over ten years, traveling the continent on assignments with UNICEF and Mothers2Mothers, hearing and sharing the stories of women and children who have stood to face the giant of HIV.

In every home, and over every shared moment, one thing was the same regardless of road name, country, or place: courage. Every woman was courageous despite her circumstances. Whether she had made life-saving choices for her unborn child, or simply overcome disease and stigma.

Women have stood up in spite of their suffering, filled with grief, but not undone. They have recovered, rebuilt, and remained warm, tender, and able to support themselves, their children, and one another under unimaginable circumstances.

“Women who have stood on the front lines of battlefields

Yielded their present for the future of others,

Mothers of inspiration, civil rights movements,

Preachers, prophetesses, goddesses, and nothing less than bravery..”

– Excerpt from Woman by Koleka Putuma