In May 2014 I finally told my secret; I published a note called "The Hidden Truth" on facebook to inform everyone about my HIV. I had been thinking about coming out of the closet for many years and that day I was ready to share my reality and prepared to face a storm of reactions. Before coming out I told a few friends, neighbours and parents of my kid's friends. Why did I do that? I was creating my small safe haven, in case the world would turn its back on me. So I was assured that these people would hold my hand and support me! Back then I was not sure what reaction I would be getting, but...
HIVstigmafighter's blog
Hello my lovely people. It is always great to have something to keep you positively busy during these strange Covid times. So I am very excited to share a new initiative called stories of hope with you. I will be leading this for the coming 4 months. Just a little background: I was lucky to follow the STEP- UP training organised by the European AIDS Treatment Group (EATG). Together with many other HIV activists and advocates I gained a lot of extra knowledge on HIV. EATG also gave us the opportunity to pitch a project we are passionate about and I decided to share my dream of reaching out to...
Why do many of us still underestimate the value we bring, why do we struggle to embrace our unique feminine leadership strengths, and why do we remain silent and let our rights be violated?
As I shared in Rollercoaster, as a long term diabetes survivor, I have been dealing with many health challenges alongside HIV during the difficult year 2020.
My dear lovely people living with HIV, I am not sure if we all know what U=U means. If not, I am always glad to explain it once again as it is really important to know U=U and how it can help to break the HIV stigma. If you have an undetectable viral load, it means that you cannot transmit HIV sexually. I believe this information should be known widely as I have come to realize that there are still people out there that lack this information. So, to highlight the impact of U=U, I will share two stories of young couples where U=U saved their relationship. My first story happened in October last...
This year was tough for everyone, we can all agree to that! I AM glad we managed to finish it and that, no matter our difficulties, we remained positive.
It is 1 December, WORLD AIDS DAY, and this year's theme is "Global solidarity, resilient services". The world has known a rough year because of covid-19. And this has sometimes made us forget about the fight to end HIV and AIDS by 2030. I would like to take this moment to bring our fight back to the communities that need access to health services most, for example our Batwa, indigenous people in Burundi. I cherish these moments of HIV education, using music and dance to connect and make important messages very easy to remember. Let's reach out to vulnerable populations and assist them to...
I am born dark brown although many people prefer to call my colour black. OK, then I am black! Do you have a problem with that? It's shocking how ignorant people remain about racism! In a week I experienced two cases, and I will share the most bizarre example here as it happened in my neighbourhood with someone I knew for over 10 years and with whom I did share joyful moments in the past. Until recently we always smiled at each other, but a few days ago he finally removed the mask and showed his true self. My friend dropped by and parked her car along the street in a way that we see many times...
This week I 'hacked' the #hiv2020online instagram account for 24 hours. I decided to share my 18 years journey of living with HIV in 18 posts on their storyline.
Dear specialists of all my fabulous diseases, My life has been quite a rollercoaster the past weeks, so in this blog I would like to express myself and share what I have learned. The problem started 5 years ago when I developed pain in my chest and I was given anti blood clotting medication by my GP. Then, the cardiologist told me to stop it because, according to her, my heart was healthy and it was because of the stress of losing my brother. I stopped and a week later on my way to London for holidays I got a heart attack at Antwerp station on 3 August 2015. In the Hospital in Antwerp they did...