about

My motto for life is: “If life gives you a hundred reasons to cry, you give it a thousand reasons to laugh.”

After I was sent away as a volunteer in a hospital because I was HIV positive, the hiv vereining supported me in a lawsuit, and the rules in the hospital were changed. Despite the stigma and risk of social isolation, I decided to be open about HIV in order to break the taboo and to inform people not only in the Netherlands but also in Burundi as in Africa there is still a large taboo surrounding HIV and AIDS.

Since 2014 I started providing HIV education at schools and for the “HIV uit de kast” campaign of the Hiv Vereniging and the Hello Gorgeous Foundation. I am committed, among other things, to treating HIV among pregnant women in Burundi, and to bring HIV and AIDS to the attention of the pygmy people, the Twa (also known as Batwa). I write about this on my blog Indonongo. According to Journal Burundi Eco, I am the first black woman in Burundi who dared to speak out openly about being HIV positive.

In 2016 I was named winner of the Voice Achievers Award, organized by African Voice Magazine, as an African inspiration Award in the Diaspora. For the occasion of World Aids Day 2016, I featured as a model for life size posters on billboards in the four biggest cities in the Netherlands with the text ‘Ik heb Hiv en God houdt van mij’ (I am HIV positive and God loves me). I also starred in the tv-show “No socks no shoe” van GAM TV.

Want to know more? Check out my wikipedia page
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