Georgina’s Story: HIV never stopped her volunteering as a sewing teacher in Africa

Georgina Whitchurch has been living with HIV for seven years. Her story begins in Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), in southern Africa.

After a career in hospital management in Australia, Georgina followed her passion for sewing and joined the Australian Volunteers Program. As a 64-year-old retiree, she took on the role of teaching sustainable sewing skills to women at an Eswatini village, but the charms of a local man, soon changed her life forever. Effective HIV treatments gave her back her health, and Georgina did not end her commitment to volunteering. She soon returned to Africa as a volunteer independently and for two years continued teaching sewing skills to rural women. After returning to Australia, Georgina put her management skills to good use and recently took on the role of chair of Positive Women Victoria.

Podcast – Our Stories: Ending HIV Stigma

Episode 5: Georgina Whitchurch Story

Transcript (begins below AVP response)

For people living with HIV who are interested in volunteering with the Australian Volunteers Program, the following response was received on 4/09/2020

People diagnosed with HIV are able to volunteer on the Australian Volunteers Program, provided that they are medically cleared, and deemed fit for a particular assignment in a particular country.

Our current medical clearances and thresholds are issued by International SOS, our specialist medical screening and emergency assistance service provider. International SOS have been working with the Australian Volunteers Program since 2017, and prior to that date other providers were used.

International SOS assesses individual medical situations in the same way, irrespective of what conditions or illnesses a prospective volunteer has. The medical decision by International SOS to approve a volunteer to go on assignment takes into consideration:

- Is the person fit to work and deploy overseas?

- Will any conditions be exacerbated by an overseas assignment?

- Can any required medications be obtained overseas?

The Australian Volunteers Program has a firm commitment to equality. This commitment is balanced with our obligation to ensure that program participants (volunteers, and their supported partners and family members) are safe and healthy, and that we do not put them in situations where they cannot be provided with the required medical facilities and support. These determinations are made on the basis of medical assessment by medical practitioners.

If a volunteer’s health situation changed while they were on assignment, the same considerations would apply, and these would be based on the advice of a medical practitioner. Whether the volunteer is still fit to remain in-country, and whether we would we be putting them at unacceptable level of risk by keeping them on the program, would be considered.

I hope this provides clarification and is helpful for your listeners.

Patrick Gallus Publicist

T +61 3 9279 1733

Australian Volunteers Program - Melbourne office

160 Johnston St, (P.O. Box 350), Fitzroy, Victoria, 3065, Australia

www.australianvolunteers.com

Episode 5: Georgina Whitchurch Story

Transcript

Heather Ellis

Hi, I'm Heather Ellis, your host on Our Stories Ending HIV Stigma, a podcast by women living with HIV, where we share our stories of our adverse lives and challenge the myths and stereotypes that feed HIV stigma. Our Stories is part of the Women and HIV Tell The Story project made possible by Gilead Sciences and produced by Positive Women Victoria in Australia

Georgina Whitchurch has been living with HIV for seven years. Her story begins in Eswatini, formerly Swaziland in southern Africa. After a career in hospital management, Georgina followed her passion for sewing and joined the Australian Volunteers Program. As a 64 year old retiree. She took on the role of teaching sewing to women at a village, but the charms of a local man soon changed her life forever. While effective HIV treatments gave her back her health, she did not end her commitment to volunteering. Georgina soon returned to Africa as a volunteer independently and for two years continued teaching sewing to rural women. After returning to Australia, Georgina put her management skills to good use, and recently took on the role if Chair of Positive Women Victoria,

Welcome, Georgina to Our Stories Ending HIV Stigma.

Georgina Whitchurch

Thank you, Heather.

Heather Ellis

Great to have you as a guest. You’ve got such an interesting story. I just want to start by asking with volunteering in Africa. It's not the usual choice for somebody going into retirement. How did this come about for you?

Georgina Whitchurch

I guess it was something that was in the back of my mind. For a long time, I enjoyed reading people's stories about volunteering overseas. And one night just out of the blue as things happen, I was on the computer. And I decided to open up Australian Volunteers International and just have a look and see what was there. And I had to scroll through 50 pages that were, you know, it was absolutely loaded with assignments that were coming up until I got to the S area. And there was sewing skills trainer and my little heart jumped because I love sewing and I've always wanted to impart my skills and my knowledge of sewing. And then I read where it was. And I thought, oh, oh, no, I can't go to Africa. And this little voice on my shoulder said, Yes, you can. And you're going,

Heather Ellis

Did you realize that sewing skills would help these women escape poverty?

Georgina Whitchurch

Oh, definitely. Yes. And these women living in a village where there's no electricity, there's no sanitation, there's no fresh running water that is drinkable. They have to boil everything. It was an incredible journey. And so my aim was to get them to a fantastic quality where they could ask a really good price for what they were sewing, and the organization that they sort of loosely came under. Because this sewing program was organized by an independent missionary couple that were living in Swaziland and had been there for a long time. They've actually opened a shop where all of their goods are sold. I was back there last year, actually, I was back there and saw the shop and saw what they were doing and wow other products that they're making. So they had hand operated machines initially and what they were making when I arrived there was bags. And so we continued on that theme, but with some new designs that I'd introduced and a lot of quality control. They then went on to doing cushion covers, aprons, small coin purses, stuffed animals that obviously represent Africa.

Some of the missionary tourists that were the buyers of the products. Yes, the missionary organizations there have a huge network. And so when any missionary people come into the country, they linked up with the missionary organizations that exist there and they're taken to all these places to see what is being done. And so a lot of those visitors to the country buy heaps and heaps and heaps of things from them, but also now you know, they do have this little shop in a tourist location. So they are selling quite well there. Towards the end of my stay those women were earning in the vicinity of 1000 Rand a month which is $100 in Australian terms, but that thousand Rand a month they had never seen money like that. Never.

Heather Ellis

What was it like living in a Swaziland village. Were living in the village where you were teaching?

Georgina Whitchurch

I lived in a different compound. Where there were about eight houses, there was only three white people living there, everyone else was native to the country. And me, of course, I was the sewing lady because, when I had a reasonable dwelling that we could get to fairly easily, I bought three electric sewing machines. And I used to pick the ladies up three at a time and bring them to the house, and they would sew for a day on these electric machines. Fantastic.

Heather Ellis

So I just wanted to talk to you a little bit now about having an HIV test in Africa and how that kind about.

Georgina Whitchurch

I became quite unwell. And it was even after, you know, there had been a person from AVI headquarters in Melbourne had visited us and I just happened to have a lesion on my face, which, I took no notice of. It wasn't anything. And she said, I think you'd better get that checked out. And I didn't because I knew that it was nothing but unfortunately I ended up with a lesion in my mouth in the side of my cheek and I started feeling quite unwell. So I went to the doctor then and after a day of being on medication, I actually collapsed at home lost consciousness hit the floor, which really woke me up well and truly, and went back to that doctor and I was put to hospital. And while I was there, they were doing lots and lots and lots of tests. And eventually, they tested for HIV.

Heather Ellis

Even though the doctors in Africa, particularly Southern Africa would be very familiar with HIV, they wouldn't have thought to test a 64 year old white woman from Australia for HIV. I mean, it'd be like here in Australia, it'd be the last thing they would test you would be probably on your deathbed before they would test for HIV. So why did they decide to do that? Was it just because you were in Africa, and they are familiar with the symptomsa?

Georgina Whitchurch

The doctor that was looking after me, they all have so much experience with HIV because it is very, very prevalent in their particular country in Africa. I think they have the highest rate. He obviously thought, well, this is the only thing we can do now is do this HIV test. And so he did and that was it. And so you know, we became arch enemies after the diagnosis, because I didn't behave very well at all. I was a very bad patient.

Heather Ellis

What do you mean by that, like, didn’t you accept the diagnosis?

Georgina Whitchurch

I accepted it, but I didn't really want to be where I was, and still in hospital and being cared for. I just wanted to go away and hide and find a cave and just yeah, be unseen.

Heather Ellis

So this was in 2014 and effective HIV medications had been around then for 17 years. And people with HIV were more than surviving, they were thriving, and going about and living really healthy, productive lives. But did you know about these medications? Did you know anything about HIV prior to your diagnosis?

Georgina Whitchurch

No, no, because, all I knew was years ago with the Grim Reaper, that was the first thing that probably came to my mind was, that's it. I'm out. I'm out of this planet in a few years time.

Heather Ellis

The doctor would have reassured you about the treatments, I imagine because they would have been well aware of them. And these medications are available in Africa as a generic brand. So were you reassured about the medications? And did that make you feel better about the future?

Georgina Whitchurch

While I was still in Swaziland? Yes. That doctor was absolutely amazing. And, you know, even though we had a really bad start, while I was in hospital, when I was out and seeing him as an outpatient, our relationship changed. And I certainly, take my hat off to him and the way he then treated me and talked to me and tried to look after me as best he could. And then of course, I was, I was started on HIV medication instantly, even though my CD4 count was very high. But of course, the viral load was also extremely high. And so he started me on medication, even though their rule of thumb was your CD4 count had to be below 300 before they would start you on HIV medication. And mine was over 500. So he started me and I started to feel pretty normal almost instantly. And it was incredible how quickly that medication changed me.

Heather Ellis

When you had the lesion on your face and inside your mouth. Was that a seroconversion illness or had you had the virus for some time?

Georgina Whitchurch

I can't say that I'd had it for some time, but it wasn't really explored. And I suppose because of being in, in Africa, they didn't really have a lot of the testing equipment to go really deep into that. But if it was before, it was well over 10 years prior to that anything could have happened. But of course, there was this interlude with the charming African men.

Heather Ellis

So was HIV talked about in the village where you're working, and were any of the women in your sewing classes living with or affected by HIV?

Georgina Whitchurch

I was aware that the majority of them were and I was aware of them getting HIV medication on a regular basis. And because of the organization that I had sort of loosely attached myself to while I was there, and it was mostly through the sewing program, because I was just the teacher, it wasn't my program at all. They ran a service in that country to test and treat, they started off testing and treating children probably about eight years prior to me going there. And then they expanded that service, as they got more money available, to testing all people in that rural location. They had a huge presence out there. And so I knew from them, even though, you know, confidentiality was never ever ever breached. I just knew from them that a lot of the women that I was working with had HIV, but it was never broken about, they did not talk about it.

Heather Ellis

Was there a support group in the village that you could connect with to get that peer support?

Georgina Whitchurch

When I returned to Africa? Yes. And I had spoken to this particular missionary organization wanting to do something like that. And they indicated that their staff were already doing that. So you know, it wasn't something that I could do. However, in the village where I lived in the compound, the other white people living there, they had a maid who became sick, and was tested and she was HIV positive. And so they asked me to come and talk to her feeling that you know, somebody of my age and my status, etc, etc, etc, talking to her would make her sit up and take note because she didn't want to go on HIV medication.

Heather Ellis

And then by you talking to her and giving her that peer support, she would understand

HIV is something that can happen to everybody and going on and it's completely okay. It's something that happens, you can take treatments, and you'll live a healthy long life.

Georgina Whitchurch

Yes. So they were very thankful and so was she, especially after she started taking the medication and felt very different to what she was before.

Heather Ellis

From your diagnosis, you were telling me that you then had to leave and return to Australia. But that didn't stop you did it, it didn't stop your volunteering, your passion for volunteering.

Georgina Whitchurch

I think my passion was just to get back to those women because I had fallen in love with Swaziland and I had fallen in love with those women and what we were doing and what we could achieve and what they could get from it. But while I'm looking at what they can get, I realized how much I got from that particular program. It was amazing, working with those women who they don't have what we have, they don't live in houses with painted walls, etc, etc. And, and you know, everything that we've got, that they are so happy and they just so full of love.

Heather Ellis

When you returned to Australia, did you have the support of your family? And did you reach out to the HIV support groups like Positive Women Victoria when you returned to Australia?

Georgina Whitchurch

I first returned to Western Australia, which is my state of origin and my son was still living there. And so I stayed with him because I'd packed everything up because I was going to be gone for over two years. And so I eventually discovered or managed to get in touch with Western Australian AIDS Council. And so through them and meeting other people, other women living with HIV. It was actually an interesting journey for me, because Western Australia in comparison to Victoria the situation of HIV with women in those days anyway, was very, very small. They only had a very small group of women that were actually registered with the agency. But when we did meet it was really nice to just share stories with other people then out of the blue, I think I've only been with them for a very short time and I was asked, Would I be available to look after somebody similar in age to me who was just diagnosed? And I said, Yes, not a problem, not a problem, any help I can give. And so having done that, and then that sort of crept into a little group of about six women with similar age, and we just started our own little support group because we all got on well together. We used to meet every month or two months, and go to different places and it was a fantastic group. Then I went back to Swaziland. And when I returned, I came to Victoria because my son and my daughter in law had moved to Melbourne. And so I didn't want to go back to Western Australia, because he's my only family.

Heather Ellis

I also want to ask you about stigma, because this podcast is about ending HIV stigma. And many of us have experienced some form of stigma, whether it's internalized, or externalized, or by association. So what has your experience of stigma been?

Georgina Whitchurch

I think in the very beginning, the treatment that I received from the volunteer agency was very, very, very hard, I was virtually treated as a prisoner, I was not allowed to have any contact with any of the women, I was not allowed to leave my house, except for, it was like, COVID, I could only leave the house if I needed to go shopping or something. And then they were trying to get certain information out of the doctor who was treating me and he refused to give them information because of confidentiality. And looking after my interest, he wouldn't give that information to them. So they then sent me to Johannesburg in South Africa. And again, I was virtually imprisoned, I wasn't allowed to go to many places, unless I told them where I was. They then sent me to a specialist. And when I went there, I had to sign a form to say that he could talk to other people about his findings. And so he then supplied them with the information that they wanted.

Heather Ellis

But as a complete breach of confidentiality,

Georgina Whitchurch

Yes. Let me just, you know, sit there and rot virtually my son was on the verge of getting on the plane and coming over to rescue me, when they decided that they would let me go back to Swaziland pack up and leave the country.

Heather Ellis

Were you able to say goodbye to the women that you were teaching? They would have been very confused as to why you were suddenly leaving when you didn't want to leave.

Georgina Whitchurch

Yes, I did say goodbye.

They knew that I was ill, but I don't know that they knew what it was. But you know, they're not silly, they would have known. We arranged a picnic in the park, which we had done prior to that. I often used to take them to this particular place, and we'd buy a cooked chook and a few other bits and pieces, and we'd go and sit and have a picnic. And so we arranged this picnic. And it was, a very, very, very emotional experience. I don't think there was a dry eye out of the whole group, you know, we were all crying. It was very, very hard to leave them and, and then when I went back to Swaziland, it was the opposite. They were absolutely over the moon, they were dancing. They were singing as you know how they are, you know, they dance, they sing to everything. And they just would not leave me alone. You know, they, they were all over me like a rash. And I did not complain at all. It just felt as though I'd gone home.

Heather Ellis

And you stayed in for another two years as a volunteer independently and helping these women. And they want you back. Right. So hopefully after COVID you will be able to return to Africa.

Georgina Whitchurch

Yes, I think I do what I can here to keep myself buoyant and inspired and interested. But I think my heart still over there.

Heather Ellis

When you went back did you tell them that you were living with HIV?

Georgina Whitchurch

They had guessed. But yes, I had told a couple of them. And because I was wanting to share that story with them. Because I knew of them. You know, I knew that. So I wanted them to not see me as, as anything different. We are the same. Exactly.

Heather Ellis

And did that bring you closer together as from a peer support point of view? Like, did they see you differently? As more connected?

Georgina Whitchurch

Some more than others? You know, because there were some who didn't want to disclose themselves to me, but they knew about me, I made sure they knew about me. But there was probably Yeah, there would have been four out of the 10, who we became very, very, very close.

Heather Ellis

And that shows how important when there's HIV Related development projects and how important it is to have people living with HIV working in those projects to bring a whole new level of support and compassion to that project and also because of GIPA principles which is the Greater Involvement of People living with HIV working on HIV related projects. When you returned to Africa for two years, how did you manage? This is a practical question for people living with HIV who may want to volunteer in developing countries? How did you manage your treatment like taking medications with you, and having, regular blood tests to ensure that viral load is undetectable and CD4 count remain high?

Georgina Whitchurch

Initially I was put on to medication in Swaziland. When I went back, I took six months supply with me from Australia, that obviously we get free, which is wonderful. When I ran out of that, I could buy my own exactly the same and after a while they allowed me to get the cheaper version of the medication that I was taking. So I didn't have any problems with that at all.

Heather Ellis

So how much was the HIV medication costing you per month? And when you were purchasing it in Africa?

Georgina Whitchurch

I think I was paying about 4000 Rand, which is $400 per month. And when I got the cheaper version, it was 20 rand. I can't ever remember that was it 20 Rand or $20?

Heather Ellis

Oh, that's a big difference, because like $400 a month is completely out of line and impossible for somebody living and working in Africa. But $20 a month is manageable. I mean, that's less than $1 a day.

Georgina Whitchurch

It's a generic brand. And I do believe that Nelson Mandela had a lot of sway in getting that happening.

Heather Ellis

Because with the medications, people don't die, people live long, healthy, productive lives. Children don't end up being orphans. Parents can provide an income for their families that and people aren't going to transmit the virus. This is what is now called U=U undetectable, equals untransmittable, which is backed by 20 years of scientific evidence, and it was great to hear you comment before about that government is wanting people so many people, more people to be tested for HIV, because once they tested and they go on treatment, then the virus can't be transmitted. And at the end of the day, that's how HIV can be completely eradicated.

Georgina Whitchurch

I would like to see what the steps are in in Swaziland now. Because there has been, you know, a huge change. Even while I was there, there was a big change with people being tested and treated. So if that continues their numbers going to reduce.

Heather Ellis

What's your advice to people, particularly people living with HIV who are wanting to volunteer in a developing country?

Georgina Whitchurch

Do it just do it?

Heather Ellis

You actually independently funded your volunteering after your first trip to Africa with AVI, and many of these developing countries it is quite reasonable to live there as the cost of living is so much cheaper than say living in Australia.

Georgina Whitchurch

It was amazing. Amazing. Absolutely amazing. And I had everything I needed. And that's all we need to live, but I come back to Australia and you've got all this stuff. And you think, what on earth am I got all this stuff for?

Heather Ellis

Yeah, yeah, we’ve got to spend so much money on phone bills, internet bill, power bill, gas bill. This is never ending. Like when you add all that up.

I just want to also ask you a bit about your new role as chair of Positive Women Victoria. This is a new role that came about this year, I just wanted to know, how do you see Positive

Women Victoria developing as an organization and how the future of providing support and advocacy for women living with HIV? So your ideas like your big ideas.

Georgina Whitchurch

How do I answer this. Going into the chair position after only being a board member for two months, or four months, or whatever it was, was a bit of a shock. But since then, you know, I think my brain has gone back to the good old days of managing things and getting involved. And the first thing I really wanted to do was to get the board to be a really close knit cohesive group of women working together as an amazing team. And that is really starting to happen. And so from that, you know, within looking towards the future to what we want to do, we don't have any major plans at the moment. Of course, there is what you're doing, you know, with the stigma,

Heather Ellis

I feel this is the time to really take on HIV stigma, because we've got U=U and that HIV medications to me, are like as good as a cure. Now we're not infectious, you know, and then but the stigma is still left-over from like you're saying before that the days of the Grim Reaper, we're still dealing with that. Definitely. The pandemic has been going now for 40 years and we're still dealing with stigma and there's got to be a time when it all ends.

Georgina Whitchurch

Our peer support team and services, I think there's going to be some major change next year in that, because we're just going through a process of complete review a very indepth review of support services. And I'm fairly certain that a lot of change is going to come out of that. So, you know, watch this space, I think it's going to be a very interesting journey ahead in terms of how people are contacted, where we take that, and then linking that in with the project that you're running with obliterating stigma would be wonderful. So with Positive

Women Victoria, we want to keep this organization alive and well and looking to the future with whatever changes we need to make in order to accommodate the people who are members.

Heather Ellis

One of the initiatives that you are driving is an Over 50s Peer Support Group. Yes. And that makes complete sense. Because now in Australia, of the 30,000 people living with HIV, nearly 50% of them are over 50. So these are such a big group of people. And we're all going into you know, our later years. And there are so many issues with HIV , particularly in the aged care sector and getting the peer support from each other as we age.

Georgina Whitchurch

Most definitely. And like many years ago, I don't know if any of your listeners would have read Conversations with God from Neale Donald Walsch. But I was a bit of a devotee of things like that for some years. And one of the things that he wrote about was, if there's something lacking in your life, be the source and do it. And what is lacking in my life is that connection with women of a similar age, to me living with HIV, that's what I'm missing. That's why I decided to not even as the chair, but just a woman of this age, living with HIV, I want to get a group, a social group happening, like similar age group that we can, we can bounce things off each other, we can talk about old age, we can talk about young age, we can talk about all sorts of things. And in that age bracket, I think it's really different than having a mix of say 20s 30s 40s, and then the over 50s. So that's the reason for that.

Heather Ellis

Yeah. And that’s wonderful in supporting each other to achieve our dreams, because we've got another 30 or 40 years of life, it's like a new chapter of our life. So as we begin this new chapter, it would be fantastic to have that, that peer support to encourage each other and our ideas and dreams and, and even go volunteering in a developing country. So you've got all this knowledge. So as the next chapter begins, we never run out of things that we can do.

Georgina you are a real inspiration for women living with HIV to get out there and follow their dreams and turn those dreams into reality. But finally, I just wanted to ask, why do you feel it's so important for women living with HIV to share their stories.

Georgina Whitchurch

Women have always supported each other and talked to each other. And I think we need to get this out there so that we can be seen as normal women and you know, have our story there and not feel embarrassed about it and not feel as though we're ugly, or we're dirty, or we’re sub-human because we carry this thing for life. But you know, women have always supported women. And yeah, I just admire all of my women friends who have supported me, as I have supported them. It's very important. Yeah. And I think we have to keep Positive Women Victoria alive and well. And it is a unique organisation. I believe it's the only one of its kind, most other HIV organizations are mixed gender.

Heather Ellis

And we also need to remember that of the 38 million people globally living with HIV more than half of them are women. And, that's something we always need to keep at the back of our mind that we are not alone, and we are really a very, very powerful force to be reckoned with.

Georgina Whitchurch

Yeah, it's always concerned me the number of women who are falling victim to HIV because of heterosexual relationships, and not necessarily heterosexual relationships with their partner. I think that's what's happened to many, many of the women I know.

Heather Ellis

Yeah, particularly the older women where they've been married for many years, and there's a secret their husband is out there having with other men. There is now PrEP, pre exposure prophylaxis where people can take this medication and it will protect them from contracting HIV that's freely available in Australia.

Georgina Whitchurch

If you're in a long, long ongoing relationship with one man, you're not going to take PrEP. Why would you? People do need to protect themselves. And it's interesting that we were talking about this in the time of COVID, because, you know, a lot of people have done exactly what they have to do in COVID. But a lot of people don't do exactly what they have to do to protect themselves with some sexual activities.

Heather Ellis

So yes. It's like COVID we've proven people will wear masks people who use hand sanitizer. We just need to get them using condoms. Definitely. Okay, Georgina, I thank you so much for sharing your story today on Our Stories Ending HIV Stigma.

It's been fantastic speaking with you and you’re such an inspiration. Thank you.

Georgina Whitchurch

Thank you, Heather. And I hope that this podcast works and people do listen to these stories and take notes. Take notes, and protect yourself.

Heather Ellis

If you've enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe so you can listen when future episodes are posted. Please rate and review this podcast and share it. Our Stories is part of the Women and HIV Tell The Story project made possible by Gilead Sciences through the Gilead Together Grant program and produced by Positive Women Victoria, a community based support an advocacy organisation for women living with HIV in Australia. I'm Heather Ellis. Thanks so much for listening. Isn't it time we ended HIV stigma once and for all.

For more information about this episode, visit www.positivewomen.org.au