Nkosi Johnson- The face of Aids

The following is the speech Nkosi Johnson, 11 years old, made for the opening ceremony of the 13th International AIDS Conference in Durban:

"Hi, My name is Nkosi Johnson. I live in Melville, Johannesburg, South Africa. I am 11 years old and I have full-blown AIDS. I was born HIV-positive.

When I was two years old, I was living in a care center for HIV / AIDS-infected people. My mommy was obviously also infected and could not afford to keep me because she was very scared that the community she lived in would find out that we were both infected and chase us away.

I know she loved me very much and would visit me when she could. And then the care center had to close down because they didn't have any funds. So my foster mother, Gail Johnson, who was a director of the care center and had taken me home for weekends, said at a board meeting she would take me home. She took me home with her and I have been living with her for eight years now.

She has taught me all about being infected and how I must be careful with my blood. If I fall and cut myself and bleed, then I must make sure that I cover my own wound and go to an adult to help me clean it and put a plaster on it.

I know that my blood is only dangerous to other people if they also have an open wound and my blood goes into it. That is the only time that people need to be careful when touching me.

In 1997 mommy Gail went to the school, Melpark Primary, and she had to fill in a form for my admission and it said does your child suffer from anything so she said yes: AIDS.

My mommy Gail and I have always been open about me having AIDS. And then my mommy Gail was waiting to hear if I was admitted to school. Then she phoned the school, who said we will call you and then they had a meeting about me.

Of the parents and the teachers at the meeting 50% said yes and 50% said no. And then on the day of my big brother's wedding, the media found out that there was a problem about me going to school. No one seemed to know what to do with me because I am infected. The AIDS workshops were done at the school for parents and teachers to teach them not to be scared of a child with AIDS. I am very proud to say that there is now a policy for all HIV-infected children to be allowed to go into schools and not be discriminated against.

And in the same year, just before I started school, my mommy Daphne died. She went on holiday to Newcastle- she died in her sleep. And mommy Gail got a phone call and I answered and my aunty said please can I speak to Gail? Mommy Gail told me almost immediately my mommy had died and I burst into tears. My mommy Gail took me to my Mommy's funeral. I saw my mommy in the coffin and I saw her eyes were closed and then I saw them lowering it into the ground and then they covered her up. My granny was very sad that her daughter had died.

Then I saw my father for the first time and I never knew I had a father. He was very upset but I thought to myself, why did he leave my mother and me? And then the other people asked mommy Gail about my sister and who would look after her and then mommy Gail said ask the father.

Ever since the funeral, I have been missing my mommy lots and I wish she was with me, but I know she is in heaven. And she is on my shoulder watching over me and in my heart.

I hate having AIDS because I get very sick and I get very sad when I think of all the other children and babies that are sick with AIDS. I just wish that the government can start giving AZT to pregnant HIV mothers to help stop the virus being passed on to their babies. Babies are dying very quickly and I know one little abandoned baby who came to stay with us and his name was Micky. He couldn't breathe, he couldn't eat and he was so sick and Mommy Gail had to phone welfare to have him admitted to a hospital and he died. But he was such a cute little baby and I think the government must start doing it because I don't want babies to die.

Because I was separated from my mother at an early age, because we were both HIV positive, my mommy Gail and I have always wanted to start a care center for HIV / AIDS mothers and their children. I am very happy and proud to say that the first Nkosi's Haven was opened last year. And we look after 10 mommies and 15 children. My mommy Gail and I want to open five Nkosi's Havens by the end of next year because I want more infected mothers to stay together with their children- they mustn't be separated from their children so they can be together and live longer with the love that they need.

When I grow up, I want to lecture to more and more people about AIDS- and if mommy Gail will let me, around the whole country. I want people to understand about AIDS- to be careful and respect AIDS- you can't get AIDS if you touch, hug, kiss, hold hands with someone who is infected.

Care for us and accept us- we are all human beings.

We are normal. We have hands. We have feet. We can walk, we can talk, we have needs just like everyone else- don't be afraid of us- we are all the same!"

---

He was born Xolani Nkosi in a township slum east of Johannesburg. He never knew his father. His mother, Nonthlanthla Daphne Nkosi, was HIV-positive and passed along the virus to her unborn baby. He became a statistic-one of more than 70,000 children born HIV-positive every year in South Africa, where an estimated one-half of the population under the age of 15 will die of AIDS-related causes over the next decade.
But Xolani was a fighter. He survived beyond his second birthday, which is unusual in HIV-infected babies. As the disease began to sap his mother's strength, he was admitted with her to a crowded AIDS care center in Johannesburg. It was there that Gail Johnson, a volunteer worker, saw the wide-eyed Zulu boy and his ailing mother. She was obviously dying, and he was living on borrowed time. "It was a very personal and mutual understanding," says Johnson. "I had had a graphic encounter with an AIDS death close to my family, and I wanted to do something more than just talk about it. And there was Nkosi. All I had to do was to reach out to him."

His mother readily agreed for Johnson to become Nkosi's foster-mother. As Nkosi Johnson he had a home in a neat Johannesburg suburb and a wide circle of friends at Nkosi's Haven, the AIDS care center Johnson founded and named after him. Nonthlanthla Nkosi died of an AIDS-related illness in 1997. In the same year, Gail and Nkosi Johnson won a different battle. When she tried to enroll him in primary school, there was opposition from some parents because of his HIV-positive status. Johnson went public with a complaint and won her case. Nkosi went to school.

That controversy made Nkosi a national figure in the campaign to destigmatize AIDS, and provincial education departments across the country were required to draw up new policies. His big moment came last July, when he addressed delegates at the international AIDS conference in Durban. A tiny figure in a shiny dark suit and sneakers, nervously holding a wireless microphone, Nkosi Johnson, all of 11 years old, held an audience of 10,000 delegates in rapt, occasionally tearful silence as he told the story of his birth and his life. "Please help people with AIDS," he said. "Support them, love them, care for them."

Later that year he took the same message to an AIDS conference in Atlanta, Georgia. "It is sad to see so many sick people," he said. "I wish everybody in the world could be well."
Though probably the longest surviving child AIDS victim in South Africa, Nkosi was clearly not well when he returned from his U.S. trip in October. He had a quiet Christmas, then he collapsed. Diagnosed with brain damage, he had several seizures and became semicomatose. Yet he hung on. "Look at him," Johnson told a local newspaper. "Half the size of bloody nothing and still fighting."
The story of Nkosi Johnson has galvanized AIDS-awareness campaigners. With at least one of every 10 South Africans HIV-positive, the country faces a public health disaster that will hit poor, populous black communities the most. Nkosi once said he wished he were a white person because he never saw a white person get sick. Dr. Zola Skweyiya, Minister for Social Development, warned that the AIDS epidemic could result in blacks becoming a minority in their country. Editorialized the national Sunday Times: "We South Africans-and all others on this continent and in the world-have to learn to acknowledge and treat with humanity those who are living with AIDS. There can be no better monument to Nkosi, the child who has made us confront our frail humanity and our own deepest fears, than this."

For all the misery that Nkosi has had to suffer, he is one of the lucky ones, says Johnson. "He was accepted, he was loved." Among those calling at the Johnson home were schoolfriends whose parents once warned them not to get close to him. The children at Nkosi's Haven are also missing the little boy who organized their cops-and-robbers game and always wanted to be the top cop. Contributions to Johnson's aids care trust have allowed for the opening of a second Nkosi's Haven in the Johannesburg townships. Johnson hopes there will be many more. Nkosi's name-in Zulu it means Lord, or King of Kings-will live on.

CCM TU

"kijana Denis akubali sera za chama cha mapinduzi nakurudi kundini kutoka kwenye chama cha chadema, kijana anasema kura yake ya urais atampatia JK na siyo tena Slaa kama alivyokuwa amepanga, karibu Kiongozi..." 

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Waziri wa Fedha na Uchumi Mustafa Mkulo( kulia) akitangaza uamuzi wa Serikali ya Uingereza wa kuchangia katika Bajeti ya Taifa(GBS) kiasi cha bilioni 240 leo mjini Zanzibar . Kushoto ni Naibu Waziri wa Idara inayoshughulikia Misaada ya Kimataifa ya Uingereza (DFID) Stephen O’Brian. ( Hizi Hela zote zinaenda wapi jamani) 

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How to get ahead in Africa?

Anyone see the channel 4 programme about rampant african corruption, makes me realise where all the money from live aid went. Ive always thought africans are not fit to govern Africa, maybe a second bout of colonialism will do the trick. Yea i imagine we have corruption in the uk but in Kenya you have to bribe everyone to do anything through every level of authority. I know people might not agree with my statements but it is a continent that has the potential to become so prosperous. But rampant corruption is stoping it, look at zimbabwe, mugabe is one of the ten richest men in the world, and look at his people.

Additional Details
some good points but my question remains - should african governments be removed and placed under a new colonial rule, i dont mean move lots of white europeans in (we dont need another south africa). But if we want to help africa we have to save them from themsleves. And i remember when i was a kid and my dad would go on about how live aid was a waste of time and how you would only be sending money for some government to buy ak47s, guess he was right.

puddy: you are in the running for the best answer. i totally agree, its up to them. We look at what we have and we (the uk) enjoy the prosperity of today because of the actions of our ancestors, over the past 500 years the uk has shaped the world through our language, the industrial revolution and countless other elements. If African counties what to be the tramps of the world relying on handouts from the rest of the world, then let them. I have a conscience but if someone dosent want to help themselves, sod them!

My Quote: The presenter Sorious Samura, did not suggest that the aid should stop. The type of aid and how it is distributed is the problem. This point was made twice; by an interviewee who said Bob Geldof got it wrong 'It should be make corruption history' and again at the end of the programme by Mr Samura himself.

Ujumbe wetu wa leo

YANAYOWEZA KUKUSAIDIA KUTIMIA NDOTO ZAKO – 2

 

Naanza kwa kumshuku Mungu kwa upendo aliouonyesha kwangu na kuniwezesha kuiona siku hii ya ya leo nikiwa mzima wa afya. Nadiriki kushukuru kwa sababu, wapo walitamani kuiona wiki hii wakiwa wazima lakini wengine waneshatangulia mbele za haki huku wengine wakiwa hoi mahospitalini na majumbani.

 

Mimi na wewe ambao tumejaaliwa uhai hadi leo, tuna kila sababu ya kumshukuru Mungu na pia kujaribu kubadilika na kujitahidi kufanya yale ambayo yatamfurahisha na kuachana na yale yatamchukiza.

 

Wiki iliyopita nilianza kuzungumzia mambo ambayo yanaweza kumsaidia mtu kutimiza ndoto zake, wiki hii nitamalizia mambo kadha yaliyobaki.

 

JIPANGE

Baada ya kuorodhesha malengo yako katika maisha. Unashauriwa kutafakari na kutafuta hayo. Hapa nazungumzia suala zima la maandalizi ambayo ytakusaidia kufikia ndoto zako kwa usahihi na kwa haraka.

Kama malengo yako yatahitaji mtaji wa kutosha basi itakulazimu kutafuta pesa kwa nguzu zote na kama itakuhitaji kuwa na elimu ya kutosha huna budi kujibadilisha katika hilo.

 

USIOGOPE KUJARIBU

Maisha siku zote wana msemo ni mapambano na kujitoa mhanga. Maisha ni kujitolea na kutoogopa kujaribu kwa kuhofia kushindwa. Kamwe usiogope kujaribu kwani hata ikitokea ukashindwa bado kwako itakuwa ni changamoto na njia ya kujifunza maisha zaidi.

TUMIA MUDA WAKO VIZURI

Wenzetu wazungu msemo wao usemao “Time is money” ni kweli, muda ni hazina na asilimalinyeti sana katika kufanikisha malengo yako ya kimaisha. Jitahidi sana kutumia muda wako vizuri badala ya kuupoteza katika mambo ambayo hayatakusaidia katika maisha.

JIFUNZE KWA WENGINE

Kuwa tayari kutoka kwa wengine ambao wamefanikiwa katika kile unachotamani kukifanya. Jaribu kudadisi na kung’amua ni kwa namna gani wameweza kufikia malengo yao  katika maisha ili na wewe uweze kujifunza kitu.

USIKATE TAMAA

Katika kujaribu kufikia malengo yako ni wazi kuwa utakutana na vikwazo vya hapa na pale na wakati mwingine kuweza kuhisi huwezi kuendelea tena.

 

Siku zote vikwazo unavyokutana navyo view ni changamoto kwako ya kujipanga upya na kuanzisha tena mapambano ya kufikia malengo yako. Kimsingi hushauriwi kukata tama kabisa kwani wataalamu wa mambao ya saikolojia wanaeleza kuwa, idadi kubwa ya watu wanaoishi maisha yasiyokuwa na nyuma wala mbele wametawaliwa na tabia ya kukata tama hata katika mambo ambayo wakiwa wavumilivu wanaweza kufanikiwa.

OMBA MSAADA, USHAURI IKIBIDI

Kujiamini ni mambo ya msini sana kwa kila mwenye uchu na maendeleo lakini ukweli unabaki pale pale kwamba, huwezi kufanya kila kitu wewe mwenyewe. Katika mbio za kufikia malengo yako, usiishi kama  kisiwa, wakati mwingine itakuhitaji kuomba msaada au hata ushauri wa kimawazo pale utakapotingwa na mambo. Usikubali kubaki na msongo wa mawazo pale unapohisi kushindwa badala yake jaribu kutafuta msaada na ushauri kwa watu unawaamini.

JIHADHARI NA ANASA

Ulevi na kuendekeza kabla ya kufikia malengo yako kimaisha ni kikwazo kikubwa cha kujitakia na ni sumu mbaya ya fedha na kupoteza muda mwingi katika mambo ya anasa kamwe hayataweza kukusaidia kutimiza ndoto zako. Daima kazi kwanza,starehe baadae, ishi kama mtumwa leo, ili utimie ndoto ya kuishi kama mfale kesho

JITATHMINI

Katika hatua nyingine ni vyema pia ukachukua muda wako kutathmini namna ambavyo umeweza kutekeleza malengo yako, hii ni pamoja na kuweza kufahamu maendeleo yako katika mpango wa kufikia malengo yako, ni kwa kiasi gani umeweza kufanikiwa pia ni kiasi gani umeshindwa na kwa nini.

Kwa kufanya hivi inaweza kukusaidia kuweza kutilia mkazo zaidi katika maeneo yalioonesha udhaifu na kurekebisha kasoro kadhaa lakini pia kujipanga kwa nguvu mpya ili kutimiza ndoto zako kwa ufanisi zaidi.

 

Nimefikia tamati, tuonane tena wiki ijayo kwa mada nyingine.