‘I Was Exposed To HIV Through My Father When I Was Nine’: South African Artist Thembisile Q

Following revelations by Lebogang Motsumi of how she was exposed to HIV when she was 17 years old, another South African artist Thembisile Q has decided to share her story of how she got exposed to adult intimacy by her biological father.

Various women are now joining the #BeyondSilence movement, sharing their various experiences of abuse.

19-year-old Thembisile Q shares a heartbreaking story of how she got to know her father when she turned nine and how he slowly began taking advantage of her to the point of sεxually abused her.

She goes on to tell of how she could not share this with her mother as they were separated.

Moreso, she decided to date an older man who eventually slept with her and exposed her to disease and began indulging in drug abuse.

Sharing on X, here is what she said;

How I got infected with HIV

I can never be sure but
my first sexual encounter was when I was 9 years old.

My biological father had disappeared from my life since I was 1 and then resurfaced when I had just turned 8 years old and I was yearning for his love.
#BeyondSilence

How I got infected with HIV

I can never be sure but my first sεxual encounter was when I was 9 years old.

My biological father had disappeared from my life since I was 1 and then resurfaced when I had just turned 8 years old and I was yearning for his love.

This became uncomfortable because he didn’t tell me to leave instead he asked me to come in and he asked me what it was [holding his pen!s]. That became uncomfortable and I spent weeks without seeing him and I couldn’t tell my mother as she hated me seeing him

Fast forward I needed some money and went to his place when I found him in bed and I had no idea he was nαked under those blankets. He asked me if I was a virgin and I said yes but he didn’t believe me and asked me to lie down as he wanted to check me.

I complied and he proceeded to molest me. It happened a couple of times whenever i went to his place to ask for money he would molest me before giving it to me.

Then he disappeared from my life again and I apparently blocked this memory from my mind.

The following encounters I will take full responsibility for because it was all me.

I was 12 when my friends and I made a stupid pact that we will break our virginity, start smoking and drinking that year.

Vele the day of the school pageant came.

We bought booze, cigarettes and weed and went to the local hall for the pageant.

A friend of my uncle showed up and he was 21 at that time. He found us drinking and was cool about it and bought us more booze. He was also dating a lady from my street.

I became his messenger when looking for her and mna I thought it was a friendship since he used to be my uncle’s friend. One day the lady had left with a guy with a car and when he came looking for her I told him the truth about her that’s when he said I have

To replace her as she wasn’t loyal. This man made me feel good about myself as he kept telling me how beautiful I was and I felt like the most beautiful girl on earth.
I told my friends this and they were excited as I had found someone to break my virginity.

This was gonna be a perfect setup as the boyfriend who I had and was my age wasn’t even talking about sex.
He kept coming to my school bringing me takeaways and booze on weekends until one day he finally asked me to accompany him home and that’s when it started

The lady from my street called me one day and she was so sick she couldn’t even breathe properly but she tried to warn me and I didn’t listen I was the hottest thing in his life plus I was young.

When Mr 21 year old grew tired of me he started beating me up.

I saw no other way cos I thought he was my soulmate and I got into drugs. I was being passed around by old men for drugs.

I was raped multiple times and some of those times I had no recollection of. I stand here taking full responsibility for the part I played

To parents, you have to have at least a little clue of what your children get up to in your absence even if that makes you an uncool parent.

To the young girls thinking sleeping around and receiving flashy gifts from men is not the flex y’all think it is. It’s life-altering and you might even lose your life.

I lost so many friends and I don’t wanna ever hear of new HIV infections in teenagers.