08 Dec 2025

Twenty-eight-year-old Mr Boago Tsietsi was raised by his loving grandmother, Ms Obabaletse Malema in Ramokgonami after the demise of his mother. 

He was one-year-old at the time. Fast forward, Mr Tsietsi is currently a guidance and counseling teacher and lives openly about his HIV-positive status. He recently took to social media platforms to disclose his health status. 

This comes at the backdrop of a prolonged battle with emotions, self-rejection, and sometimes suicidal thoughts that made it difficult to accept his HIV status. Mr Tsietsi relays that ever since going public and posting about his HIV status on Instagram, many people, especially those within the age bracket of 20 to 35 year have started reaching out to him about their HIV status. 

“The fact that some people did not believe what I narrated concerning my HIV status led me to ask my Mama to make a full reference video to cater for the doubtful,” he said. 

The video is a testimony of how Mr Tsietsi ’s life has evolved over the years. It is a rare journey that many caregivers and few individuals born with HIV have not embarked on yet, to acknowledge and live openly with their positive status for fear of victimisation. “I started my antiretroviral (ART) medication at standard six,” he said adding that he only started learning about HIV/AIDS years later during school lessons. 

According to him, the lessons were delivered in a manner that instilled fear. “Obviously when taught about something as deadly and scary as it was purported, it sticks to your mind as a kid,” he said. 

Mr Tsietsi  recalls one time he and his ‘Mama’ visited the doctor in one of the regular checkups and was asked by the latter if he knew why he was taking HIV treatment. 

HIV was news to him, let alone his HIV status. His ‘Mama’ had never mentioned anything about this condition to him. “I told the doctor that I was not aware why I took the medication. “Ke ne ke itse gore, Olady ga a ise a mpolelele le fa e le sepe”, he said, literally translating, I knew that my mother had never mentioned anything to me. 

After the disclosure, the young Mr Tsietsi started looking at himself differently from the rest of his fellow classmates and friends. 

He wanted to quit taking the medication so that he could die quickly and save himself from the shame of the condition. 

In fact, while doing Form One, he fell sick to a point he could not even walk because he defaulted on the medication, a secret he kept to himself. 

“I took my ART tablets from the container and threw them away,” he said. He said his health situation cost him the opportunity to undergo circumcision. 

Although the officers could not properly communicate to him the reasons he could not undergo the operation at the time, he deciphered his status to be a blockage, a situation he said worsened his condition as his stress level hit an all-time high. 

He, however, persevered with his educational journey and managed to write his Form Five examinations. 

Although he appeared weak most of the time,he says did not like being pitied. h

is loving grandmother, Ms Obabaletse Malema in Ramokgonami after the demise of his mother. 

He was one-year-old at the time. Fast forward, Mr Tsietsi is currently a guidance and counseling teacher and lives openly about his HIV-positive status. He recently took to social media platforms to disclose his health status. 

This comes at the backdrop of a prolonged battle with emotions, self-rejection, and sometimes suicidal thoughts that made it difficult to accept his HIV status. Mr Tsietsi relays that ever since going public and posting about his HIV status on Instagram, many people, especially those within the age bracket of 20 to 35 year have started reaching out to him about their HIV status. 

“The fact that some people did not believe what I narrated concerning my HIV status led me to ask my Mama to make a full reference video to cater for the doubtful,” he said. 

The video is a testimony of how Mr Tsietsi ’s life has evolved over the years. It is a rare journey that many caregivers and few individuals born with HIV have not embarked on yet, to acknowledge and live openly with their positive status for fear of victimisation. “I started my antiretroviral (ART) medication at standard six,” he said adding that he only started learning about HIV/AIDS years later during school lessons. 

According to him, the lessons were delivered in a manner that instilled fear. “Obviously when taught about something as deadly and scary as it was purported, it sticks to your mind as a kid,” he said. 

Mr Tsietsi  recalls one time he and his ‘Mama’ visited the doctor in one of the regular checkups and was asked by the latter if he knew why he was taking HIV treatment. 

HIV was news to him, let alone his HIV status. His ‘Mama’ had never mentioned anything about this condition to him. “I told the doctor that I was not aware why I took the medication. “Ke ne ke itse gore, Olady ga a ise a mpolelele le fa e le sepe”, he said, literally translating, I knew that my mother had never mentioned anything to me. 

After the disclosure, the young Mr Tsietsi started looking at himself differently from the rest of his fellow classmates and friends. 

He wanted to quit taking the medication so that he could die quickly and save himself from the shame of the condition. 

In fact, while doing Form One, he fell sick to a point he could not even walk because he defaulted on the medication, a secret he kept to himself. 

“I took my ART tablets from the container and threw them away,” he said. He said his health situation cost him the opportunity to undergo circumcision. 

Although the officers could not properly communicate to him the reasons he could not undergo the operation at the time, he deciphered his status to be a blockage, a situation he said worsened his condition as his stress level hit an all-time high. 

He, however, persevered with his educational journey and managed to write his Form Five examinations. 

Although he appeared weak most of the time,he says did not like being pitied. Mr Tsietsi  feels strongly that children born with HIV should be told and taught about their health status from an early age and that secrecy has to be done away with for progress’s sake. 

Ms Malema is now breathing a sigh of relief to learn that her grandson has turned over a new leaf and is now an HIV/AIDS activist, giving others hope where there was despair. 

His message to those facing similar predicament like him is simple and crisp: take the medication prescribed by the doctors religiously and with passion to lead healthy and robust lives. ENDS