PRETORIA, South Africa – Pvt. Andries Nhlengethwa jumps from planes and lifts 100-pound weights. He also happens to have HIV .
The 31-year-old parachutist and bodybuilder is one of the few South African soldiers living openly with the deadly virus, presenting a new face of the pandemic on a continent where AIDS drugs are rare and infection is often a death sentence.
Nhlengethwa joined the South African National Defense Force in 1997, as the country was emerging from white racist rule. He has done more than 360 jumps and wears his parachutist wings with pride.
The news was a shock, but he found out as much as he could about the disease that has infected an estimated 23 percent of South Africa‘s armed forces. He now shares that information with everyone he can.
Nhlengethwa insists he can do anything his fellow soldiers can do, but has had to make adjustments; South Africa won‘t deploy him abroad again.
Last year, as South Africa celebrated 10 years of all-race democracy, Nhlengethwa threw his own party to mark six years of living with HIV.
He credits his continued health to careful medical attention, good food, lots of exercise — and a positive attitude.
