Credit: Teresa Bedzigui
Happy World AIDS day! I’m grateful to have been a longtime advocate for such a cause and to have started my organizing within the cause. As a sub-Saharan African immigrant, I know firsthand what it is like to see family members die of this disease and want nothing more than to see it eradicated from the world but especially my homeland.
I decided to study and master economics to have the theoretical background to tell my people’s stories (but within the capitalistic guidelines that inform our world and governments) and will further my education in global public health policy/health economics to be able to implement practices that will work in conjunction with work already being done at home. One of these days, you’ll hear about me starting up health centers in my village for women and children—just stay on the lookout!
Credit-CAAP (Community AIDS Awareness Project)
I’ve lost too many to count but it’s their strength that keeps me fighting. I seldom express my full intentions or reasons for what I do but I will never be silent about the effect this disease has had on me and my family. But also that I have found my purpose and life goals in the fight against it. At the end of the day, I’m just a kid from Cameroon who is sick of burying my people. I plan on spending the rest of my life fighting for the voices many on this side of the Atlantic will never hear.
All love to those doing the work along with me ❤
-T
To get involved with the Community AIDS Awareness Project’s annual conference in February and other projects and initiatives at Guilford College, email them at [email protected].