A nagging cough sent her to the doctor. "It's TB" the doctor pronounces. A diagnosis that would pave the way for further tests, which would lead to what no one wants to hear. For the then 19-year-old Tender Mavundla, being proclaimed HIV positive, let alone having the virus, was not something that existed in her world.
"It didn't make sense to me. I didn't understand how I could get sick so young. I had just started having sex the previous year. How could this happen to me? I didn't know what they were talking about. This was something that affected people overseas, not South Africans, not me," explains.
Today, 29-year-old Mavundla, who is one of South Africa's most successful recording artists, lives and speaks openly about her HIV status.
In 2009, there was an estimated 2.6 million people who became newly infected with HIV according to the UNAIDS Global report on the Aids epidemic 2010. This is nearly one fifth (19 percent) fewer than the 3.1 million newly infected in 1999 and more than one fifth (21 percent) fewer than the estimated 3.2 million in 1997. With an estimated 5.6 million people living with HIV in 2009, South Africa's epidemic remains the largest in the world.
She revealed her status publicly in 2007 when she was a contestant on South African Idols, a move that shocked many but also gained her many fans across the country.
At 19, Mavundla was like any other teenager; going out and having fun with her friends, trying to understand boys and love.
"When I found out that I was positive I didn't get scared; I wasn't terrified. It just didn't dawn on me and it took me years to accept it until I started getting sick," she explains.
"When I was on Idols I was stronger; I understood exactly what was going on and I wanted to share it with the world. God has blessed me with a beautiful voice and a beautiful face and I took the mic and shouted it out loud," she says.
For many years, Mavundla was in denial about her status. Her family had embraced her illness, but she says it took her years to be at peace with her illness, which she eventually nicknamed mzala (cousin).
"People would come to my house and pray for God to let me be at peace. I would sit there and wonder why they were praying for God to take me," she says. "When I was sick I used to sleep in the same bed as my mother and every morning I would feel for her on the other side of the bed. Feeling her next to me let me know that I was still alive," she says.
At that time, she says, she did not even recognise herself. She had lost weight and wore clothes designed for 10-year-old girls.
"My goal was not to look like a walking virus," she says. "I had skin problems and developed shingles on my arms, back and neck. A year later, I developed breathing problems. I was still in denial. If I wasn't in denial, I would not have gone through those things. I was partying hard and my body was screaming for attention, but I was destroying it and I didn't know. I was dying and I had to wake up," she recalls.
In 2004 she began antiretroviral treatment. That was the final straw that kicked her back into reality, she says. South African music icon, Ray Phiri, advised her to start talking to her virus in an effort to embrace it.
"I took off the dress of denial and started talking to my virus. I said to it: 'You have accommodation in my body, behave yourself. I'm a beautiful young woman, I have dreams to fulfill."
Mavundla says she could not have been open about her status if it was not for her family, especially her siblings.
She says she is proud of who she is and what she has accomplished in her life so far. In her bustling seaside town of Port Shepstone, she has become somewhat of an icon.
"People talk to me about their experiences and I share my experiences; I've become somewhat of a doctor," she chuckles.
Although many strides have been made in combating the disease and many affected and infected families are open about the virus, stigmatisation is still a major problem.
"We have the highest HIV infections in the world, but the stigmatisation in this country is bad."
Earlier this year, the country launched the HIV, Counseling and Testing (HCT) campaign. The campaign forms part of government's new and up-scaled HIV and AIDS prevention and treatment plan which was announced by President Jacob Zuma last December on World Aids Day. Government aims to reach a target of testing 15 million people for HIV and AIDS by June 2011.
To date, 4.9 million people have reported for counseling in the country's health facilities of which half a million are from Gauteng.
Mavundla commended this initiative, adding that more people need to know their status and that more people need to protect themselves.
"Government has achieved so much; even a child in pre-school knows and understands the virus. But it's up to you as an individual to protect yourself. Put on that condom. Get tested and check your status before you get sick," she urges.
Being a musician has also helped her spread the message. She says music has helped her get people's attention and it's through her music that she speaks about the affects of the disease, especially to young people, who the disease affects the most.
"Even though I seem invincible there are days where I wake up and ask 'why me?". But you need to love yourself. If you don't, no-one else will. This disease has stolen mothers and fathers. We have orphans because of it.
"But love yourself. There are people who will put you down, but focus on those who love you. I'm proud of myself, I talk about it and I want people to see that I'm living it. Don't hide it, you're wasting time if you do," she adds.
