artivism – HIV stigmafighter

United through art: Celebrating Gihanga’s 6th talent show

30 November 2025hivstigmafighter

My lovely people, how are you? It has been a while, but I have not forgotten any of you. Many of you remember where I spent World AIDS Day last year and the excitement I felt watching the young talents of Gihanga during the 5th edition of the Gihanga Talent Show. This year, for the 6th edition, I rejoiced in being back in Burundi and joining Inyambo Stars to organise this event. It took place on Saturday, 29 November, during the same week as my 49th birthday.

In celebration of World AIDS Day 2025 in the Gihanga community, we continue our mission of reducing stigma. We organised the 6th edition of the Gihanga Talent Show under the theme “Let’s stand together against HIV stigma.” This event remains one of the best opportunities to educate young people and raise awareness about HIV and AIDS.

As always, at Inyambo Stars and HIV Stigmafighter, we give space to any young talent who wants to share their arts to help break stigma. We have such a diversity of young people from all communities in Gihanga, including youth from the Batwa (pygmee) community and people with albinism. It is a positive step that encourages the community to recognise their talents and embrace them fully. We stand together against stigma.

Mr. Shaddy, also known as Shadrack Nahumuremyi, opened the competition with a beautiful reggae‑style song. The local authorities were represented by the Communal Counseller of Gihanga Zone. They delivered a powerful speech encouraging the young talents of Gihanga to continue their amazing work by raising HIV awareness and educating both youth and adults through their artistic expressions.

This year’s show included singing, traditional and modern dance, comedy/sketches, and catwalk. I am proud to see so many young talents in Gihanga. The winners made me proud. As a member of the jury, it was difficult to choose the first place in each category because so many participants delivered beautiful and powerful messages.

I hope that in the next edition we will receive more support so we can offer prizes for second and third place instead of first prize only. I had dreamed of including an HIV testing team at the event, but I learned that in Burundi testing is no longer done at events as people must go to designated testing locations.

Still, I am very proud of the progress in our community. Every year, I see a change in attitudes toward people living with HIV in Gihanga. Since the beginning of this event in 2020, the goal has been to normalise HIV. Seeing a young person confidently wearing a T‑shirt that says “People living with HIV are like us, don’t stigmatize them” or watching a sketch explaining that “Women who take HIV medication during pregnancy are protecting their unborn babies” shows how impactful the Gihanga Talent Show has become.

I had the opportunity to share my story and remind people living with HIV that taking medication and staying healthy is essential. Looking after ourselves, accepting our diagnosis, and living beyond it is what matters. I reminded everyone why we must end HIV stigma, because stigma is now the biggest killer. It is the reason people fear testing, the reason some believe HIV is gone. Silence keeps stigma alive. If we do not speak out, fight back, and educate others, we will spend another 40 years facing the same challenges we faced 40 years ago. We have the tools, and the Gihanga Talent Show is one of them. Let us continue, we are moving in the right direction!

We would like to thank our local authorities for supporting us and allowing this event to continue for the past six years. We thank all jury members – Enos Pro, Pisco, Landy, and Eliane – for your hard work.

Congratulations to the winners:

Singing: Stide
Modern Dance: Gwezo – Team A
Modern Dance: Inyambo Stars Abasangwabutaka
Sketch: Cabiza TV
Catwalk: Kenthia

Here you can enjoy a few more pictures of the talent show:

We thank all participants who shared their talent. Your contribution to combating HIV stigma is valuable to the Gihanga community, to Burundi, and to the world. As the Burundian proverb says, “Haburana babiri hagatsinda umwe”- in a competition, only one can win. Keep sharing your talents to fight HIV stigma, maybe next time you will be the one.

Thank you to our amazing MC Machad de la Capital, to Irene Kundubumwe from Inyambo Stars, to Remegie and Yves Don Darcy for coordinating logistics, and to BAWA for providing a person living with HIV to share their testimony.

To all the amazing young artists of Gihanga: you are an inspiration. Let us continue this great work with positive energy and hope to end HIV. This is how we transform the HIV response.

Peace,

Eliane

Mandela Day, Adriana’s Way – art for change

18 July 202518 July 2025hivstigmafighter

Nelson Mandela once said “Live life as though nobody is watching, and express yourself as though everyone is listening.” This is the heartbeat of Stories of Hope, an initiative launched in 2021 and dedicated to all courageous Heroes of Hope sharing their talent to break HIV stigma and discrimination.

In a world where silence fuels stigma, many Heroes of Hope choose art as their megaphone. They step into the spotlight not for fame, but to give a voice to those muted by shame and discrimination. Through dance, photography, poetry, painting, and performance, they transform their lived experience into expressions that resonate, agitate, and heal.

It is therefore with great honor that today, on Mandely Day 2025, we proudly share the portrait of a great friend and talent Adriana Bertini, a Brazilian artist and activist renowned for her decades long HIV activism through provocative art. Through her art she is able to build experiences and capture what matters in our HIV community, showing her commitment to fight HIV stigma. Read Adriana’s story here.

In many places in the world, where people living with HIV face stigma and discrimination, Heroes of Hope use their creativity to humanize the realities of people living with HIV. Art such as Adriana’s couture art contributes to creating safe spaces in our HIV community where dignity is restored and fear of stigma is replaced with connection.

So today, let’s express ourselves as if everyone is listening! Let’s admire the provocative works of Adriana, whose art has long defied HIV stigma, and honour a vision where expression becomes activism and art becomes hope. This is Mandela Day, Adriana’s way.

Happy Mandela Day! Peace,

Eliane

Connected communities

27 September 202410 February 2025hivstigmafighter

As many of you know, I always like to show my passion of fighting HIV stigma through many different talents. On the 13^th of september it was time for me to express myself as a HIV artivist as I was invited to join a very special celebration of ‘Projekt Afrikaherz’ based in Berlin, Germany.

Already for 25 (!) years Afrikaherz (‘African Heart’) is fighting to improve access to health services for African migrants, with a focus on HIV/AIDS as overall there is limited access to health care, especially for migrants without formal residence status.

I was excited to meet other people from the African community living in vibrant Berlin and to share my passion for African music making, playing my indonongo instrument, singing and dancing with them. Helping to make sure they have an unforgettable experience so they can recharge in their fight against HIV stigma in their local HIV communities.

There were so many HIV-related issues to cover during this marvelous event. History has shown that when we are fighting for our right, we should not give up so easily, no matter how hard things are. I learned that especially in the beginning Afrikaherz went through a hard time with a lot of rejections and disinterest by the health system in Berlin. However, they persevered and through their hard work and insistence, gradually they were able to create a solid name in health & HIV response, also making sure to address the stigma surrounding those living with or affected by HIV and AIDS.

Listening to testimonies of fellow members of the African community in Europe, I realised that eventually they managed to navigate their journey through the German HIV and healthcare system, even if it took them 25 years to make that journey easier for people with an African background in Berlin. They did not give up! This is a truly great achievement worthy of celebration.

After these speeches I was invited to share my personal experience of living 21 years with HIV. I call this urugendo which means life journey. Those of you that know me longer may have already seen me perform urugendo, it is a fun way for me to share my ups and downs and highlight the work I am doing to improve access to health & HIV care and fighting HIV stigma. By the way, if you don’t know urugendo, contact me, I am happy to perform it for you one day 🙂

Immediately after my performance I joined the stage for a panel discussion with fellow HIV activist from Germany Lilian Petry from Deutsche Aidshilfe, Elizabeth Beloe from Federal Association of Migrant Organizations and Susanna Kahlefeld from the Green Party. For me a question that intrigued me was the one about the future of Afrikaherz in 10 years from now. My wish for them is to be able to connect even more with other local HIV organisations and health services in other states in Germany, and even reaching out to organisations in surrounding countries such as those in the Netherlands. Because we all know that the African migrant community is very well connected throughout the whole of Europe and the rest of the World. Organisations such as Afrikaherz are essential to bring positive messages to the African community about access to health & HIV care and fighting HIV stigma. And their message will be so much more powerful if it is amplified to people with a migrant background in the other 15 states of Germany, the Netherlands and other countries. Connected we are stronger!

During the course of the event I realised that there is something we still lack a lot both in Germany and the Netherlands and we must address urgently; When we talk about HIV prevention, PrEP awareness and access must also be actively promoted in migrant communities! While here in the Netherlands great work is done by organisations such as PrEPnu, with a particular focus on Men who have Sex with Men (MSM), and while Afrikaherz does promote the use of condoms, African migrant communities are still left behind when it comes to PrEP. The harsh reality is that there are way too few organisations in our HIV community that are actively promoting PrEP access. So, how can African migrant communities know about PrEP? I cannot repeat often enough how important it is that we take more co-ordinated action to ensure PrEP access for key and high-priority populations.

We will not end HIV and AIDS when we continue ignoring African migrant populations in countries such as the Netherlands and Germany. They have equal rights to good healthcare and HIV prevention services while tailored to their specific needs. Please learn from the example that Rosaline M’Bayo and Stephen Amoa from Afrikaherz are setting and make sure they receive the support needed to do their health & HIV outreach for the African migrant community in Germany!

Back to sharing urugendo and some tunes on my indonongo, I got a lot of positive compliments. People told me that my HIV journey and music inspired them, and that I am a powerwoman. Who doesn’t like receiving such beautiful compliments at times? For me the biggest reward was to connect with people from the migrant community and their HIV allies. I am so proud to listen to their inspiring stories to fight HIV stigma.

Through every connection we realise and cherish, we will make our HIV community stronger. Together we will win our fight against HIV and AIDS!

Peace,

Eliane

Lead the noise

3 August 202410 February 2025hivstigmafighter

My lovely people, I promised to share my learning from AIDS 2024 in Munich with you. The two days I spent at the Global Village were quite fruitful as an activist. I decided to go where the noise is this time as it keeps me alive, being together with HIV activists and sharing the concerns of the global HIV community. It has been a fight for 40 years now and HIV activists have been always at the front.

Before making noise, let’s start with the AIDS 2024 theme “Put People First”. I asked myself many times who decides which people to put first? During AIDS 2022 in Montreal and now also at AIDS 2024 in Munich, I literally experienced a barrier between the accessible to all Global Village, thriving with activists and grassroots organisations, and the paid-for conference space full of big Pharma, scientist and policy-makers. In all, there is very limited interaction as most of us cannot enter the conference space and ‘they’ show little interest in meaningful engagement at the Global Village. How can “Put people first” as a slogan work if we already have two faces to AIDS 2024?

Now let’s make some noise!

The global North-South divide

In her speech, UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima highlighted the importance of community involvement, especially women and girls, in ending HIV and AIDS. She also regretted the missed opportunities to bring in HIV communities from all over the World, especially since many people representing the Global South continue to face dicrimination by being denied visa to join AIDS 2024. It seems that IAS did not learn from the Montreal debacle and is unwilling to bring about change by making sure conferences are organised in places where representatives from the Global South will not face visa issues.

Can I ask why IAS and UNAIDS are not taking serious action? How long will the HIV communities in the Global South continue to suffer? Do they realise the mental stress and pain they give to participants when they receive the bad news of visa denial? Are they taking contributions of the Global South on fighting HIV and AIDS in their communities seriously?

Coming back to the theme “Put people First”, in my experience, first and foremost, these organisations are putting themselves and their sponsors first. So, let’s be honest and just say “Put ourselves first”, the Global South comes second. So next time, let HIV communities from the Global south decide where the conference should be held, because remember, big pharma, scientists and policy-makers will not be able to shine without us, the HIV community. They should let us lead! This is why I like the World AIDS day 2023 theme “Let communities lead” so much better.

Women warriors

In the end, there are always many booths in the Global villages, some where very sleepy and not engaging at all, and then there were the noisy ones! Take International Community of Women for example. They were really on fire, demanding that women movements are supported, fighting for gender equality and human rights, recognising that women bear the brunt of HIV stigma and discrimination. We chanted repeatedly “we are ready”! For what? For being empowered in discussions and decision-making, for sharing power, for funding women-led HIV programming! Our existence matters and we need to be included as we cannot win the fight to end HIV and AIDS without women empowerment.

The other inspiring noise was with the Red Umbrella Fund, a sex worker-led participatory fund. As our support to sex-workers in Burundi also highlights, HIV response is incomplete without support to sex-workers. At AIDS 2024, sex-workers and their HIV allies demanded long-term financial support to excercise their work in dignity. So we chanted “Sex work is work”, “Decriminalize sex work NOW!” Yes, we should put sex-worker communities first, they are the ones who deserve our attention the most! De-criminalizing their work and supporting them with access to HIV awareness and services will make a huge impact on our challenge to end the HIV and AIDS pandemic.

Greedy Pharma

On the other side of the huge AIDS 2024 space, shielded from the Global Village by guards who check if you have an exclusive conference badge, it seems that at every AIDS conference big Pharma devises a reason to celebrate so-called “ground-breaking news”. This time the buzz was around a miracle prevention tool called lenacapavir, a twice-yearly injectable for HIV prevention. Sounds like a perfect PrEP tool, right?

Then why is this not celebrated at the Global Village as ground-breaking news? Is it because we all have powerful stories to remind us that there are still people dying of AIDS every day? Or because we know that there are still millions people living with HIV who cannot afford HIV treatment? Or because we are concerned that there are still over one million new HIV infections each year?

Yes, and… It hurts to know that for many years we already have effective HIV treatment and that we now have PrEP as an effective way to prevent new HIV infections from happening, but we also know that big Pharma is still interested in making as much money of the HIV community as possible. Who can afford 40,000 euros (!) each year for lenacapavir? While it only costs less than 40 euros to make? No wonder we have to stand up, break the conference barrier, and shout “Shame, shame. Access for all!”

When entering AIDS 2024 you are welcomed by colourful big Pharma banners with sentences like “We won’t stop until we end HIV and AIDS”. Do you really want to end it? Then remember this; the HIV virus is not going to sleep and more people get infected and will die unnecessarily while you continue making money. AIDS 2024 is a place where you come to shine, not to pretend you care about the HIV community while you forget that without us you won’t shine at all. Don’t forget that you owe us big time, start reducing the damn price and let everyone have access to HIV treatment and prevention!

We will continue making noise until you will finally hear our cry! Please, do not let the HIV community down and take action now!

Peace,

Eliane