BY SIPHOSETHU MABUZA
MANZINI – For South African author and HIV activist Nozibele Qamngana-Mayaba, Let Me Tell You Something is more than a collection of personal reflections. At the Eswatini launch of the book on Saturday, she told an audience at Metropolitan Evangelical Church that she sees the devotional as a way through which God speaks to His people.
Explaining the meaning behind the title, Mayaba said the words “let me tell you something” are not simply an invitation from her as an author to readers, but point to what she believes God is communicating through her experiences. She challenged those gathered to consider what God might be saying to them in their current season, rather than approaching the book only as a retelling of her own life.
That message is closely connected to the openness that has characterised Mayaba’s public journey. She became widely known for speaking publicly about living with HIV, using her experience to challenge stigma and encourage conversations around disclosure, identity and life beyond a diagnosis. Her own biography describes her as an author, speaker, HIV activist,
Mayaba said opening up about her HIV story initially required her to confront shame. However, seeing how other people responded to her honesty gradually changed how she viewed her own experience. She reflected that some people found the courage to pick themselves up after hearing her story, while others found hope in knowing that their circumstances did not have to define the rest of their lives.
That response, she said, eventually helped her understand that her story was not something she needed to hide. Her earlier memoir, Positively Me: Daring to Live and Love Beyond HIV, dealt directly with her experience of living openly with HIV and confronting the stigma surrounding it. Her public disclosure in 2013 became an important turning point in her
Let Me Tell You Something, however, moves into a different space. The 344-page devotional is structured around daily reflections rooted in Scripture and personal experiences, with themes including forgiveness, healing, discipline, courage and openness. Mayaba described the book as a space where her experiences, Scripture and the reader meet. Her intention is not simply to tell readers what she has lived through, but to encourage them to examine their own lives and listen for what God may be saying to them.
For someone whose most painful chapter once felt like a story that had to remain hidden, Mayaba’s journey has consequently developed into one of public testimony. Her own account says that sharing her HIV status opened doors for people who felt seen, encouraged and less alone. At the launch, that journey came full circle: a story once associated with fear and shame was being shared openly, now alongside a message of faith, healing and purpose.Mayaba left the audience with an invitation that goes beyond reading her words to look at their own seasons, their own stories and ask what God might be telling them through it all.
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