Who is Humphrey Nabimanya?

For starters, he is blogging for RNW's Africa Desk during the XIX International AIDS Conference, taking place from 22 to 27 July 2012 in Washington, D.C.

Humphrey is also host of Youth Voice, the most viewed TV show for young people in Uganda (NBS TV). His is the only programme in the country which openly addresses issues like sexuality and relationships.

Growing up with HIV-positive guardians, Humphrey struggled with being discriminated against at school. But he came to turn this around by deciding to educate his classmates about HIV/AIDS. And today he is the proud founder of Reach A Hand Uganda, an organization bringing together those who want to contribute to Ugandan society by providing knowledge and skills to young people.

 

Day three at the AIDS 2012 conference has come and gone. It was a tiring day, so I slept in this morning, but I haven’t forgotten about my readers and had to share the highlight.

By Humphrey Nabimanya, Washington, D.C.

A march to the White House! This was organized by different advocacy groups demanding that major funders, like Global Fund and PREFER, include youth-led organizations in their funding processes. (Below are a couple of my photos.)

As the leader of a youth-led organization, I had to be active in this march. Also participating were advocacy groups representing farmers from all over the world, women, HIV-positive people, LGBTI and so many others.

When we reached the White House, I saw that a stage had been set up. The advocates stood up, expressing their thoughts, hoping governments would hear their issues. They shouted President Obama’s name. 

We collected red ribbons, which were brought to the front of the White House. There were lots of performances from different artists. Yvonne Chaka Chaka from South Africa was particularly memorable.

The day’s activities raised an important question for me. In the past years, Uganda has befitted a lot from such funds meant to fight HIV/AIDS. Why, then, has the prevalence of HIV/AIDS gone up from 6.7 percent to 7.3 percent?

One answer may be that our leaders are quiet. When they talk, they only say that sex education shouldn't be taught in schools. They promote abstinence-only programmes rather than facing the reality. This leads me to conclude: as Ugandans, we have to march to our own state house.