HIV positive mothers – HIV stigmafighter

When dreams come true

28 September 2025hivstigmafighter

Today I am sharing something close to my heart: the story of my son, Rio Mutoni.

When I was diagnosed with HIV, doctors told me I couldn’t have children. But I refused to accept that. So, thanks to antiretroviral treatment, I gave birth to Rio – HIV-negative, healthy, and full of life. He became my reason to fight against this virus and my proof that love and determination can overcome stigma and fear. I raised Rio with care and he grew up to become an amazing young man.

From the age of two, Rio was obsessed with trains. It started with Thomas the Tank Engine and quickly grew into a passion for real trains. He built train tracks out of domino stones and shoes, watched train movies on YouTube, and declared, “Mama, when I grow up, I will be a train driver”. Already in primary school at the age of five, when he had to mention his dream in a school book, he asked me to write down train driver. As we use public transport a lot, whenever we would use a train he would be very happy and paying a lot of attention to every move the trains would make. On his fifth birthday he wanted to visit the train museum and he could already experience a life size train simulation. His whole life he dedicated his passion for trains. His dream never wavered.

As parents we supported him in every way: train simulators, cameras for trainspotting, trips to train museums. His knowledge amazed us. At age nine, he navigated the London Underground better than most adults. And finally, at 19, after two years of vocational training, Rio graduated in July and was hired immediately by the National Railway as a professional train driver. He started driving trains on the first of September, and on the 25^th he received his formal course diploma. Of course we were there to celebrate this precious moment with him

His dream came true and we are so proud to have supported him to realise this since a young age.

To parents: learn to understand your child at an early age and support their dreams, not your expectations. Let them be who they are, not who you want them to be. Every child is born unique. Realising their happiness and dreams should be our priority.

To mothers living with HIV: never doubt your strength. You know the connection you had with your baby inside your womb, that love will continue to grow and will motivate you to support your baby. Our love is powerful. Our children are brilliant. We are proudly HIV-positive moms and we thrive.

Rio was born after my diagnosis. I am glad we have been able to do this for our son Rio, and the results certainly paid off. In return for supporting him, he helped me win my battle with HIV. And now, he’s driving trains across the Netherlands, living his dream. I couldn’t be prouder.

Rio, congratulations on realising your dream to become a train driver. You are proof that love and belief in yourself can move mountains.

Peace,

Eliane

I want the world to know

21 May 20218 March 2025hivstigmafighter

In May 2014 I finally told my secret; I published a note called ”The Hidden truth” on facebook to inform everyone about my HIV. I had been thinking about coming out of the closet for many years and that day I was ready to share my reality and prepared to face a storm of reactions.

Before coming out I told a few friends, neighbours and parents of my kid’s friends. Why did I do that? I was creating my small safe haven, in case the world would turn its back on me. So I was assured that these people would hold my hand and support me!

Back then I was not sure what reaction I would be getting, but in the end I received a lot of supportive responses. Some people called me, others wrote messages calling me a strong and courageous woman, thanking me for sharing, telling me they love me, and reassuring me I would still be the great dancer and remain who I was.

Then Hello Gorgeous, a Magazine for people living with HIV, approached me if I wanted to share my story as a HIV talent. So in the 2014 autumn edition I became a cover girl for that magazine. I decided to use the magazine cover as my facebook profile picture.

This is when the troubles at my kids’ primary school started; a parent went to tell the director of my HIV. He asked me to remove the picture, he said ”You scare the parents!”. I told him that if parents have questions, they are welcome to ask me. I added that I could change my facebook profile picture but that the truth would still be out there, in the magazine and online!

That’s when I handed him a copy of the magazine. He looked inside and saw me posing with my Indonongo and said ”You look happy and strong!” I said “That’s exactly my point! Have you ever seen me unhappy? I came to this school with HIV but I did not tell you. There are other parents with secrets as well. I am out of the closet and please don’t tell me to hide again!”

But some parents did not give up yet! A few days later a teacher told me “Mrs Becks, I am sorry to tell you that parents are very worried that your son is going to infect the whole classroom”. I was furious and asked “ Are you seriously thinking that my son is going to infect your classroom including yourself?”

To my surprise he answered that he was afraid that was going to happen. So I told him that first of all he does not have HIV and secondly even if he would have it, how is he going to transmit it to you and the other kids? Is he going to have sex with you all, is he going to breastfeed you or is he going to inject drugs and share a needle with you? By now he was begging me not to be angry, and said he needed to ask this so he could answer those parents.

I was like, well you got your answer. But since it is HIV you are trying to push me and my children down. I will NOT allow it! Tell those parents, whoever has a question, to come to me and we will talk. Shame on you as teacher, not making an effort to look for basic information on HIV. And you are hiding behind the parents while you are afraid yourself.

You all thought this would be the end of it, right? Well, things just got started… Very soon after this, teachers started reporting to us that one kid was suicidal and the other was uncontrollable and was continuously hitting other children. So all of a sudden they had mental issues? But as the school already reported this to the social care system, we were now labeled a dysfunctional family thanks to this school. This unleashed an army of social care ‘specialists’ towards us. I can tell you, there is no way to keep them out of your door and you are guilty until proven innocent!

So, we went through a very stressful period of observations by psychologists, dozens of talks with social caregivers, and hundreds of forms/ tests to fill in. All this to discover if my husband and I were evil. Guess what? They found nothing! And all we got from the school was a simple apology for the misunderstanding…

I felt really down for suddenly being treated as a bad mother, whilst I have always been so active for the school helping them out with many activities including making music. The moment I came out, all went down the drain! That period in 2014 I had to stand tall and fight tooth and nail against this bigotry. But I showed them that no matter what kind of box they tried to force me into, I did not fit!

My secret was out, and nothing was going to stop me now! Luckily my safe haven did its work. Of course, some parents were fully understanding and to date my kids are friends with many of their children.

It is not easy to fight stigma and discrimination, and when it comes to my children I will do anything to protect them. In the end the drama caused by school and the army of caregivers stopped and we walked free after our long fight!

I am glad I came out and I did not regret my decision!

Peace,

Eliane

De volgende generatie

9 September 20188 October 2018hivstigmafighter

Ik blijf me steeds beter voelen sinds ik open sta over mijn hiv voor mijn kinderen. Zaterdag was ik uitgenodigd voor HIV-positieve vrouwenactiviteiten in Sittard. Moeders mochten hun kinderen meenemen. Ik dacht dat het iets zou zijn voor heel jonge kinderen van 0 tot 8. Ik vroeg of het oke was om mijn jongste zoon van 10 te brengen. Natuurlijk is hij welkom, was het het antwoord. Dus was het mijn beurt om met mijn zoon Akira te overleggen of hij geïnteresseerd was om met mij mee te doen.

Hij had 3 keuzes:

De eerst was om met zijn grote broer Rio en zijn vader om te gaan trainen in de Lage Zwaluwe
De tweede keuze was om te gaan spelen met zijn vriend
En de derde was om zich bij mama aan te sluiten bij de hiv-activiteiten voor vrouwen.

Raad eens wat hij koos? Hij wilde met mij meegaan. Ik vroeg hem of hij zeker is om naar Sittard te gaan, 2 uur in een trein te zitten en deel te nemen aan de buikdans. Zijn antwoord was: “Mama, ik wil je ondersteunen bij veel dingen die je doet met het bestrijden van stigma. Ik schaam me niet dat ik in het openbaar om je heen ben, jij bent mijn moeder en mijn mooiste en moedigste moeder die ik ooit heb gezien in mijn hele leven “.

Nou niet dat hij heel oud is … slechts 10 jaar. Maar dit bracht tranen op mijn wangen. Toen vroeg hij: “Mam, ben je aan het huilen? Heb ik iets verdrietigs gezegd of heb ik je beledigd? “Ik zei:” nee mijn liefste, dit zijn tranen van vreugde “. Ik weet dat alle energie die ik in dit gevecht stop niet voor niets zal zijn, want zelfs als ik niet in staat zal zijn om verder te gaan, zal je oppakken wat er nog over was.

Dus gingen we met onze trein naar Sittard. We hebben geweldige mensen ontmoet, ik had een leuk gesprek. Sommige vrouwen kenden me alleen via mijn Facebook-positieve berichten. Sommigen hadden mijn verhalen gelezen op Hello gorgeous en waren zo blij om elkaar persoonlijk te ontmoeten. Dus omhelsden we elkaar en lachten we samen. Wat gebeurde er met mijn zoon Akira?

Wel, hij heeft al 3 kinderen ontmoet die hij kende tijdens het Positive Kids Family weekend. Dus ze waren samen aan het spelen, en soms kwam hij langs en gaf me dat ‘ik hou van je moeder kus’ en ik zou hem en andere kinderen horen piano spelen.

Ik was opgewonden om de buikdans te doen. Het is iets heel anders dan de Afrikaanse dans die ik als een professionele danser gewend ben te doen. Ik keek ernaar uit om het samen met positieve vrouwen te leren en contact te maken zoals ik altijd doe wanneer ik dans.

Wat een geweldige dag, ik heb genoten van elke minuut. De kinderen waren net als hun moeders gekleed in een buikdansuitrusting. Ik dacht dat Akira misschien niet mee zou doen of de outfit zou aantrekken. Het bleek dat hij er veel plezier mee had. Hij vindt het leuk om te dansen, denk ik, iets dat hij van mij heeft geërft. Hahahaha.

We hebben een leuke tijd samen gehad. Na de dans aten lekkere oosterse hapjes en toen gingen we naar huis.

Tot nu toe heb ik er geen spijt van mijn kinderen over mijn hiv-status te hebben verteld of Akira met mij in de vrouwengroep te laten doen, omdat ik geloof dat wanneer we de jonge generatie sterker maken we een kans hebben om het hiv-stigma te bestrijden en infecties te verminderen.

Eliane