“My name is Mandesa Williams and I am HIV positive.” It took ten years for 30-year-old Mandesa Williams to say those words publicly and now that she has revealed her status to the world, the mother of two is on a mission to make the journey of HIV+ Guyanese one where they do not have to live in perpetual fear of being outed.
While she revealed her status on a Facebook live recently, ending ten years of denial, when Williams spoke with Stabroek News it was not about being positive; she revealed that being a teenager, bringing forth her rapist’s child and enduring years of domestic violence all contributed to her attempting to take her life on more than one occasion.
