A 39-YEAR-OLD man has completed a 2 000km, 76-day walk from Joburg to Cape Town to raise awareness about HIV/ Aids after it killed his three siblings.
Zimbabwe-born Hurricane Muremba, of Diepsloot, said he started planning his journey two years ago.
“I woke up one morning with tears dripping down my face, my heart felt heavy with the guilt of not telling my story to the world about what the disease can do to a family. The death of my sisters and a brother due to HIV/Aids gave me this great need to spread the word to the world.
“In 2000 I witnessed my two sisters and brother die of HIV/Aids and leave their children behind. It was a very painful experience. I saw them get so sick that their bodies gave up and left them powerless,” he said.
With a small red backpack containing three map books, a camping bed on his back and a radio clipped on his black jeans, he set off.
“Youth, be responsible. The future of Africa is in your hands. ABSTAIN,” was part of his message, later printed on a white T-shirt for him by an East London screen-printing company.
Muremba’s long and winding road to Cape Town started on October 2 and included stops in East London, Port Elizabeth and Mossel Bay.
“People thought I won’t be able to walk such a long distance. Some said I would die while walking through Gauteng and others said I would die of hunger or be eaten by lions.”
On Monday, he arrived in Cape Town out of breath but smiling.
Muremba walked every day between 5am and 9pm and survived on brown bread, peanuts, water and the “kindness of strangers” he met along the way.
Using a book called HIV & Aids by Marina Coleman, Muremba visited schools in Port Alfred, Humansdorp and Port Elizabeth to tell teenagers about the disease.
He also got tested for HIV in Bloemfontein.
“They (teenagers) are the most vulnerable ones. I see the way today’s youth don’t respect their bodies.
“They use drugs and alcohol, and get involved in reckless sexual activity.”
He said the pupils’ reaction to him was good considering that some of them “didn’t even know what HIV/Aids means and what the virus does to a person”.
Muremba’s trip wasn’t without hiccups – when he arrived in Cape Town, his camping bag and cellphone got stolen in Kuils River.
“I don’t know where I will sleep tonight; my life depended on that bed,” he said.
Muremba kept a diary of his trip and plans to write a book about his journey.
He also hopes to start a rehabilitation centre that would cater for Aids patients, cancer victims or disabled people.