battling stigma

Estoy cansada...de la crueldad. Cansada de las mentiras. Cansada de la gente que elige no educarse cuando la verdad está aquí, frente a sus ojos.

I am tired of...the cruelty. Tired of the lies. Tired of people who choose not to educate themselves when the truth is right here.

Every time I speak my truth, I invite people into a deeper understanding of me—not just my diagnosis, but my resilience, my laughter, my wisdom, and my health.

I felt very bad. I lacked even tears to cry. I only said one thing, "Be strong, Caro." And that was when my journey started...

I would go to my clinic hiding my face and the day before visiting the clinic I didn't sleep. I kept on thinking how will I do tomorrow?? Who will I meet there?

I advocate for cure research with an open mind and open heart... Personally, I am free from the burden of needing a cure. It's a "nice-to-have", not a "need-to-have".

Sharing my stories and giving courage to others like me who can relate to some of my struggles and victories is a way I can give back to a community that has literally saved my life.

"You have HIV. HIV3 to be exact." That's what they said—HIV3. I didn't even know what that meant... No one explained it. No one softened it.

Being stigmatized with the closest friends and relatives... the people you really loved and trusted. It was really hard on me... But now I stand up straight to tell the world that I'm strong... Stigma can't kill my future.

HIV criminalization is an amalgamation of a lot of things. It is ignorance overlaid with fear and underpinned by the need to exert power over the same people who are being feared.