This World AIDS Day I was invited to the 46664 concert in Johannesburg. 46664 was Nelson Mandela's prison number--466 was the number and 64 was the year that he went to jail. The Nelson Mandela Foundation uses that number to remind us of his struggle when we think about HIV/AIDS.
46664 is a campaign that raises awareness about HIV/AIDS and works to fight the spread of the disease. Every year on Nelson Mandela's birthday(July 18), there is a huge concert. The biggest in Africa! This year they decided to do it on December 1st, World AIDS Day. Very famous artists from all over the world go every year, from Bono to Oprah. This year the artists were Peter Gabriel, Annie Lenox, Ludacris and many South African artists like Jozi, Malaika and Jamali. Like forty artists that played in one night.
The motto was, "It is in our hands," meaning that we are not victims of HIV/AIDS and if we want to change things, it is in our power to change them.
Before the concert, the 46664 did a campaign that I participated in. Like a road show with a theater group that visits townships across South Africa. We would do a play about disclosing and knowing your status and then
the community would ask questions and talk about the issues that affect them.
The concert was a lot of fun, we were in the VIP section and I felt important and beautiful. I bought a new wig for the occasion, wore heels and a new dress. Some artists even asked me what time I was on, thinking I was also a singer too.
There were very exciting moments during the show. But I did feel something strange. In between acts, they played clips and famous leaders would come out and speak about AIDS. I felt like those images on those big screens with infected people had nothing to do with me. It reminded me of high school. When they would show pictures of thin, poor orphans that look like they are dying, and try to scare you out of having sex. But it never works because young, South African, at-risk kids do not see themselves in those images. They cannot imagine that it can happen to them.
It also made me think of all the people that I know who are infected that look healthy, and I wonder how this hip and happening concert, with so much money can still use words and images that teenagers cannot relate to.
Although at moments it was very disorganized, it was still a great experience. I learned once more that what is killing South Africans is not HIV/AIDS but stigma. If people would change their attitudes about the disease, then that would be a cure. Even if you know your status, what is the use of knowing it, if people are not going to get help, go to the clinic or disclose because of fear.
Thanks to my work with Unicef, I was given the opportunity to visit communities in India to talk about my story.
And, in India my story was welcomed with open arms. People there were waiting for me. I have never been amazed like that in my whole life.I have never been amazed like that in my whole life.
It has really changed the way I look at things.
India, is a very complicated country. They have the highest rate of HIV in Asia, a lot of kids are living in the street, there is lack of employment and it has been hit hard by gender problems. So, I didn't think that women would be active in the way they are--especially because of the gender problems.
But when I got there, there were girls that had run away from their homes--their villages-to come to town to work on HIV/AIDS. They are HIV/AIDS activists. Some of them are positive and are teaching people to speak out about AIDS. The part that amazed me the most was that I have never heard of a project that is teaching people to speak out about AIDS.
I have never heard of it!
And it was a wonderful thing to see that these women go door to door and encourage people to speak out. Those young women really inspired me. Their passion for life, even if they are infected with HIV.
The most important thing that I learned is that I pitied myself that I lived in a poor community, but I see that even if I lived inaa shack, I still had a bed to sleep on and food to eat. In India, life for infected people is much harder. You will see an entire family--mother, father children, living on the street. When a person is down like that, it is very difficult to bring them up.
When I think that my story was acknowledged and helped people in those situations...Well, it is something that I can't even explain. Some people even made different choices after hearing my story. Some of the women have had abortions more than two times because of their status, but once I went there they actually gave it a chance to have a baby that would be negative.
Another important thing I learned from the people in these communities, especially the women, is to never let a situation put you down. It made me realize that you don't need money to do certain things. If you have your hands, you have your mouth, you have your brain, then you can just speak.
One last thing to say is that there is a film that was made of this experience by Unicef by a great lady named Sarah who I went to everything with. Maybe I will post it later on, so that you can experience for yourself what I am talking about.
A lot has happened since you last heard from me. I was chosen to go as a Unicef HIV/AIDS junior ambassador to the J8 Summit in Germany this year.
The G8 Summit (not J8) is kind a gathering of some of the world's most important leaders from eight of the most powerful countries. Every year, people from all over get together and express to these powerful leaders the problems going on in their countries.
The J8 is similar, but with young people. There were people from all over the world -- Chinese, Russians, South Africans, Ethiopians, Tanzanians, you name it! All of us stayed together on a big boat parked in the harbor. The accommodations I did not like. To live on top of water?! It was actually a big old ship with huge windows that used to sail around the world many many years ago.
I enjoyed being in a new country, but everything at the J8 was very.... Well, some of you might understand, but you see when you come from the township or the ghetto you are not used to these conferences where you are sitting down all day in fancy rooms with people standing in front of projectors. People talking about numbers like 5.6 million this and 20 percent that and using these big words.
So, at moments I felt a bit lost. Especially because I am so used to just standing up and expressing myself from my experience. So it was very new to hear people talking about Africa and AIDS in this way. I did learn a lot about it and other stuff like climate change and poverty and unemployment. But all from charts and things like that. It can get very boring.
It also made me think that these presentations could never work or have impact in the townships. I mean I think that they can have an impact in maybe rich kids who know how to use computers, and that know those big words and can talk in percentages. But, I don't think its useful to come to a poor area and talk about "rates" of climate change. Some people in townships don't even have TV, don't even know what is climate change.
But I feel that from the experience, I have learned a lot. You know, I adapt very quickly and so I actually learned to capture what they were saying and learned many many things. It was really a great opportunity.
