Hiram foundation

20/04/2026

Today I found a 16-year-old boy smoking and drinking while playing bonanza. I asked him why he was drinking and smoking at his age. Hmm, the answer he gave me was something else 😔 and people started saying efyo aba alatuuka na bakulu bonse pa myabo. I felt bad, but the voice inside me said please try to talk to him. I called him, he finished his cigarette and beer, and then followed me. I prayed, then smiled, patted his back, and asked him why he drinks. His answer was my parents have failed me. I asked how, and he explained they separated and both remarried, leaving him with his grandparents. They moved on with their life while he had to do piecework to eat. He went to the gold mine and almost died, but the earth did not bury him; he escaped with a cut on his head. I started from there, okay, I counselled today until the boy became sober. He told me how he wants to just die, he almost committed su***de. God used me to save his soul. The boy said, 'Ba uncle , natotela pa shiwi mwanjeba. A lot of people tell me to change, but you have said it differently and made me see things differently.' He then asked if he can go and get his phone so he can save my number, but I said, 'Before you do that, make sure you go make peace at home.' My boy left, he came back with tears in his eyes, and said, 'Uncle, I couldn't hold myself, I cried while I asked for an apology from my grandma and uncles, and my grandma cried and blessed me.' ALLAH, thank you. He told me his name is Shadreck. Please show love to the child. If one child gets spoiled, they recruit others, making the world a dangerous place for our children. I believe change begins with you, it begins with me. Together, we can make a better world for our children. 🥰

30/11/2025

Celebrating world aids day

26/11/2025

I speak a lot about an HIV cure, even though we don’t have one yet, because it’s a topic very close to my lived experience. I was born with HIV in an era with no ARVs; in fact, I was diagnosed at 8 years old, and my parents went into a rabbit hole of concoctions because there was nothing to manage my HIV. This is a reality for many PLHIVs who were diagnosed with HIV in the 90s and early 2000s. In 2011, I had just finished high school and was only 6 years into anti-retroviral treatment; I got tired and wanted to be HIV negative, so I went down the rabbit hole for a cure. It was as if the universe was listening, because the media introduced to the world a man known as Babu wa Loliondo, based in Tanzania, who claimed to cure everything with just a cup of herbal medicine. So I convinced my mom that we should go (besides, she was the one who had the money to cater for the expenses). We traveled to Tanzania, drank the herbal medication, and came back home believing we were “cured.” We even stopped taking ARVs. I stopped for two years, and the only thing that took me back to care was herpes zoster and Pneumocystis pneumonia (P*P). Now I’m still on care; 20 years have gone by while on ARVs, and we still don’t have a cure yet. However, HIV cure research is very much ongoing; nine people have been cured of HIV so far. What that means for PLHIVs is that there is hope for a cure! And as communities of people living with HIV, we have to be involved in the research; we have to know what cure strategies currently exist, and we have to educate others on what an HIV cure means to us! PS: frame 2 is the aftermath of my treatment holiday 🤭

26/10/2025

You are not what happened to you in the past. You are now, you are this moment. What will you do with it? Who will you choose to become

26/10/2025

In life, you'll realize that there is a purpose for everyone you meet. Some will test you, some will use you, and some will teach you. But most importantly, some will bring out the best in you.

20/10/2025

12/10/2025

Hi ,Please keep me anonymous. When I was still a boy, my mother packed her bags and left home with another man. She didn’t even look back. I remember that day like it just happened yesterday, her walking out while my father stood by the doorway, silent, broken, but still trying to hold himself together for me. My father was a good man, quiet, humble, and the kind of man who believed that love and family could conquer anything. But that day, I saw something die in his eyes.

He never bad mouthed her, not once. He just carried the pain in silence and turned it into fuel. He woke up early, worked late, and did everything possible to make sure I had what I needed. He became both a father and a mother, doing laundry, cooking, helping me with schoolwork and still going out to hustle like a man with no choice but to win. I watched him struggle, sweat, and build a life brick by brick. He built small businesses, bought land, and made sure I never lacked what he never had.

Years passed, and I grew up watching his strength turn into success. But behind that success was a man quietly bleeding inside. When he got sick, I was the one sitting by his bedside every night. I held his hand when he could barely speak. And the last thing he whispered before taking his final breath was, “Take care of what I built, my son. Don’t let anyone destroy it.”

After the funeral, I stood in the house he built with his own hands, the same house my mother once abandoned. And just when I was starting to find peace, she came back. The same woman who left us when life was hard is now calling, crying, saying she wants to make things right. She says time has changed her, that she regrets everything, that she still deserves a place in my life because she’s my mother.

But where was she when my father was coughing bl0od? Where was she when I cried myself to sleep missing her? Where was she when we had to choose between school and food? She missed every moment that shaped me into the man I am?

06/10/2025

Single mother shares her experience of baby's father abandoning his responsibilities after child was diagnosed with Rett Syndrome. When Mutale Chilima first held her baby in her arms eight years ago, she envisioned laughter, tiny footsteps, and the sound of 'mama' coming from the baby's mouth two years later. However, life had a different plan. Mutale was only 19 years old, young and full of dreams, when she gave birth to a beautiful baby girl whom she named Chloe in the mining town of Chililabombwe at Lubengele Clinic. Unfortunately, the youngster's life came crashing down when her then-boyfriend and father to her baby decided to abandon his fatherly responsibilities after the baby was diagnosed with a rare condition called Rett Syndrome. Now 27, the single mother lives with her special child in Kabwe, caring for her alone and sometimes with the help of her young sister. 'When Chloe turned two, she couldn’t talk, she couldn’t walk again. When the doctors told me what it was, I felt like the ground had opened beneath me,' she recalls. Her then-boyfriend, Shadreck Mumba, was a young man with a promising future, once a UNZASU president and later a parliamentary aspirant in Kitwe. For a while, the couple was happy, but after their baby's diagnosis, everything changed. 'He went into denial. He said there’s nothing like that in his family. He blamed my mother, saying that she didn’t take care of the baby properly. He accused my mother of not doing the right thing when the baby was born, saying she didn’t take care of the baby well. He then told me he wanted to punish me for bringing such a child into the world,' shared Mutale in an interview. Soon after, the father to the baby stopped providing support, and Mutale was prompted to report the matter to social welfare, but she says little came of it. 'He told me he couldn’t help because he wasn’t working. But this is someone who used to support us before my baby was diagnosed, and one day he even said he wanted me to go and beg him for child support,' she explained. Eight years on, she has raised Chloe with the help of her parents. However, her mother, who once cared for the child, is now battling arthritis and can no longer walk. 'My mum can no longer take care of Chloe because she also can’t walk anymore. I’m now living with the baby alone while I go for work to look for money. My young sister helps with the baby when I’m not home,' she said. Mutale works for a private company, but her income barely covers Chloe’s therapy and schooling. Despite the weight of her responsibilities, in 2023, the young mother graduated from Evelyn Hone College with a Diploma in Science Laboratory Technology. This month, as the world marks Rett Syndrome Awareness Month, the single mother has found a way to turn her pain into purpose. She is producing and selling T-shirts and tote bags to raise funds for Chloe’s education at the Caleb Centre for Children with Autism in Kabwe, while also spreading awareness about the condition. 'I want people to understand what Rett Syndrome is. As we sell the T-shirts, we will be sharing knowledge about the syndrome. I have a doctor I’m working with, who will help unpack what the syndrome is all about because it’s a rare condition, and most people only come to find out when it’s too late. I don’t want other mothers to be blamed the way I was,' she told Kalemba. What is Rett Syndrome? Rett Syndrome is a rare genetic disorder that affects brain development, mostly in girls. It leads to severe physical and intellectual disability, including difficulties with movement, coordination, and communication. Children with Rett Syndrome may lose the ability to speak or walk and require lifelong care and specialized support. The condition affects roughly 1 in 10,000 to 15,000 girls. 💖🌸💐