In Chipata Township, Zambia, 18-year-old Niza has grown up in an environment where survival often takes precedence over dreams. Her father works long hours on a tobacco plantation, while her mother stays at home caring for Niza and her two siblings. Their neighbourhood, densely packed and strained by poor sanitation and high crime, has always been a challenging place to navigate childhood and adolescence.
For Niza, the challenges began at birth. She was born with HIV through mother-to-child transmission, a reality that weighed heavily on her mother. “I stopped taking my medicines because I couldn’t accept my situation,” Niza recalls. “I felt sorry for my mother who blamed herself for putting me in this situation.”
Accessing treatment was far from easy. Long hours in queues, often among much older patients, left her feeling alienated. She lacked youth-friendly spaces where information about sexual and reproductive health (SRH) could be shared in a way that adolescents understood. This gap left many girls like her vulnerable to misinformation, teenage pregnancies, and new HIV infections. Peer pressure added to the struggle. Friends encouraged relationships with boys, yet she knew she wasn’t ready.
Everything began to shift when Niza was introduced to Tiko by a mobiliser at a youth-friendly space. For the first time, she found a safe environment where her health needs were understood and respected. Through the Tiko card, she could access ART without stigma and, importantly, receive injectable family planning services.
Today, Niza speaks with a strength she once didn’t believe possible. “This is the life I know. I have accepted my situation and am able to do things that negative people do as long as I am virally suppressed,” she says with quiet confidence.
Her journey of acceptance has rippled outward into her community. Now, adolescents and young people in Chipata are more aware of sexual and reproductive health services and how to access them. For Niza, the greatest transformation is internal, she no longer hides from her reality or fears what others may think. She is determined to live fully and inspire others to take control of their health.
“Niza’s story shows us that when girls are given the right tools and a safe space, they thrive. Too many young people grow up thinking their future is already decided by circumstances beyond their control. But with support from Tiko and our partners, girls like Niza can rewrite their stories. Every investment you make is a step toward turning fear into confidence, silence into voice, and stigma into hope,” says Mwansa Njelesani , Tiko’s country director in Zambia.
Looking to the future, Niza dreams of opening her own hair salon. She envisions a life where she can be independent, creative, and a role model to other girls in her community. She knows that as long as Tiko continues to provide youth-friendly services in Zambia, countless young people will avoid the pain of misinformation and instead find empowerment, just as she did.
*This story was written by Tiko with consent from Niza.