Organization: International Organization for Migration

Thandiwe left her home in Manzini, Swaziland to seek employment in Lobombo District, where she found work at a sugar plantation. She was diagnosed with HIV in 2001. Today she lives positively with support from colleagues and the company.

Mamonyake is from Lesotho and has been married and widowed twice – both with husbands who worked as miners in South Africa. She struggled to raise her children on her own and is involved in advocacy efforts on behalf of others widowed or orphaned due to the mining industry.