I love public radio and over this break I had the time to nuruture this passion and found out about an awesome youth oriented public radio called Generation PRX hosted by PRX the public radio exchange. This is where I found this amazing peice of Radio Called Thembi's AIDS Diary. When I had first listened to it, I thought wow I can not wait to post this on Amplify and I wanted to share it with as many people as possible. Then as I did a quick search on google I realized that Thembi's story was not just a quick public radio peice but it had actually started a national and international movement! I posted a quick excerpt here from a transcript posted by NPR:

Okay, I'm going to tell you how I was infected. I had this boyfriend and then we broke up. I went my own way, he went his way. A year later, I heard that he had died. When I went to his house, his family was gathered there. I said, what happened? Was he shot or was he stabbed? So his sister told me no, he was sick. I said what? She said he was really thin and he couldn't talk. Then, all of a sudden, he just lost a lot of weight. Then I asked her, what if he had AIDS? She said, I don't know. That's when I started to get very worried.

So I decide, okay, I'm going to go for a test. I went to the clinic. They bring all the equipment in front of me and just pricked me on my finger. Then 10 minutes passes by. The counselor came back. They say, we need to have another one. He started to do another one and another one. They did all my five fingers and I started to worry. Because I thought, hey why is he testing me like five times?

Then he said, okay, now is time for your report. He said, you know, when your blood looks like this, it means you have the virus. You are HIV positive. And you've been HIV positive for many years. I just stared at him. I said okay.

It is powerful when you read it but it is even more powerful when you listen to her say the words and hearing it from her own voice.  I was incredibly moved because I felt as though I was coming back and being reminded about my reasons for activism around reproductive health, sexual health, family planning and international women's health and empowerment. I know that it is so easy for us as activists to get discouraged by lack of progress or even feel alienated at times from those things that we are fighting so hard to achieve. It is really nice then to be able to sit and listen to something like this and remember why we are doing all of this.

I am also sad to say that Thembi , the creator of this diary has passed away. What she did really made in impact on me and other people in the world. Thembi, you have left a wonderful legacy, thank you for sharing your life with us.

FIND OUT MORE:
Check out this very informative website about Thembi and her life
Also please check out the blog that Thembi had when she was still alive.