Last night Idols hopeful Tender Mavundla was voted out of the Top 4 in the countdown to the Finale coming up on 9 December.
When I visited the
Idols house recently I caught up with her to chat about her being HIV positive and find out how speaking about it during the show's impacted on her. Here's what she had to say:
*Idols music natch*
Tashi: You’ve chatted to a lot of press about being HIV positive during your Idols experience. What’s it been like talking about it?
Tender: Speaking about it’s a process of healing for me but I mean I’ve never done it with the press before. I’ve always done it with strangers - on the taxi, at the work - anybody that I come across I talk to - I talk about it all the time.
Tashi: For those who don't know - can you run us through when you discovered you had it.
Tender: Well I found out I was HIV positive in 2001 and ever since then I’ve just tried to make things as comfortable for myself and my family because there’s a stigma - there
was a stigma - ‘cos now I don’t think there’s a stigma anymore because - and I say this a lot - every household in South Africa’s affected or infected by it. There’s no ways you’re gonna laugh at your neighbour, tomorrow it’s you. So the stigma part’s gone, forgotten really - as far as I’m concerned people need to get used to it ‘cos it’s not gonna change anytime soon.
Tashi: 2001’s a long time ago.
Tender: Ja - back in 2001 I was ignorant, I was in denial, I didn’t want to know about it, I didn’t want believe it was in me. I did bizarre things just to forget they told me that. I learned a lot from then, I had to learn the hard way, I had to get sick a couple of times - I was smoking, partying and things like that - it doesn’t help, it doesn’t let you forget, it doesn’t make it easier and it doesn’t take it away. You need to understand what’s inside your body so you can treat it right.
Tashi: When you found out? Where you feeling sick? What made you go for the test?
Tender: I had a very tight chest - I thought I was asthmatic or something - so when I went to the doctor he told me I had TB so when I was treated for it and he said, “Look it’s only safe to do the test.” I didn’t care what the test was - I didn’t know what he was talking about so I was like, “Go ahead, take the blood,” and when it came back it really hit me hard. I thought HIV was far away from us, I mean I heard about it on the news but I didn’t know anything about it.
Tashi: What's the physical impact been?
Tender: I used to model back in the day - I had a beautiful body but then I got shingles and scars that will never go away. Starting the medication I had side effects and most of them are like - your skin changes and becomes very problematic and your body’s full of liquids you get from the medication. Even if I get a mosquito bite it becomes a huge deal - those are the things you have to deal with.
Tashi: What does the future hold for you physically? What do the doctors say?
Tender: It’s a tough one for me right now because I’m in the last regiments of the pill - should something happen right now, like right now, this month I get sick, and they say I’m reacting to the pills that I’m on - there would be nothing else for me 'cos there's nothing else in South Africa but I never think about it like that because I’m very well - actually there’s been a debate going on in hospital about my blood.
I had a baby in May and they took my blood in June/July - in one month my viral load had gone from sky high to absolutely not there - it was like, it disappeared in my body, they can’t find it - so that’s a good thing.
Tashi: What does that mean?
Tender: That means that I’m fine - that I’m perfectly as fine as somebody who doesn’t have it at all.
Tashi: But you still have it obviously.
Tender: I do have it.
Tashi: And your baby?
Tender: My baby died nine days after birth - she was premature and she also started bleeding in the head and they couldn’t do anything for her.
Tashi: I'm sorry. Was she also?
Tender: No, I took Nevirapine.
Tashi: Do you think telling your story's going to impact on your chances in the competition in any way?
Tender: The only reason I came out with it is because I thought music isn’t the only thing I want to do now that I’ve lived this life. I want to be that voice for people - people don’t talk about these things, I do. I want those who don’t understand to try to understand what I’ve gone through and try to do the same things so they don’t make the same mistakes I made. So my coming out is a job - I’d love to just motivate people about it.
Tashi: Why did you enter the show?
Tender: I love music - it’s always been my life. I started singing professionally when I was 16 - I started singing in the church before that - I came to Jo’burg for the first time when I was 16 and I thought: "You know, this is my life.” I dropped out of school, I left everything for music. Music has always been my dream - I know I can do this - I just haven’t been given the chance to try. I’ve tried entering other competitions but they’ve never been for me - they’ve never been as big as Idols - so I thought “Let me try Idols, I might just win.”
Ends