My name is Josephine Nabukenya. I am 17 years old and am currently in my senior four year at Caltec Academy, in Kampala, Uganda. Although I am living with HIV, I am healthy and doing well at school. I am a child peer educator and am no longer stigmatized by people, even my fellow students who tease me about having HIV. Instead of getting upset, I actually take the time to sensitize them and tell them about pediatric HIV and AIDS.

In addition to my studies, I am the facilitator of The Young Generation Alive, a counseling and support group for children. I act as a role model in the group, counsel the children, oversee group activities, and plan the meeting times. My participation makes me happy, and I enjoy helping and giving back to the young, HIV-positive generation.

Life can always be counted on to give you the unexpected. It’s up to us, as individuals, to decide what to do with the cards we are dealt. More than anyone I know, my mom understood this. She, Susie Zeegen, and Susan DeLaurentis created the Foundation at a time when few people understood that HIV affected children differently than adults. They barely knew that it affected children at all.

But after everything that happened to my sister Ariel, my mother made people understand that research would be the ultimate key to saving other children and eventually stopping the AIDS epidemic. My mother fought against the grain not for what was acceptable, but for what was right. She wouldn't let anything stand in her way, and neither will I.

Five years ago, when I was pregnant with my son Frechou, I went to the hospital for a consultation. I received counseling and agreed to be tested for HIV. The test was positive.

When I returned home from the consultation, I spent a lot of time thinking. I felt sorry for myself and I began to think that my life was over. But then I had an idea. I decided to accept my HIV status and follow the advice of the nurse who counseled me.  

I am Alice Jossias. I am 35 years old and live in Moamba, a district in Mozambique’s Maputo Province near the South Africa border.

When I got pregnant two years ago, I went to the health center for a pre-natal visit and I was tested for HIV. The result was positive. I was surprised and full of bitterness. I still remember how I cried after finding out — I had no will or strength to live. But thanks to a counselor that did not give up, I am here today.

My name is Olivier Tuyizere. I’m 19 years old and I live in Kigali, Rwanda. I attend the Masaka Health Center, which is supported by the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation.

I never knew my father or my mother — they died long ago. A few years ago, my younger sister became very sick and had sores that wouldn’t heal. She eventually took an HIV test and discovered she was HIV-positive. But by the time we learned her status it was too late — she wasn’t able to access treatment, and she died in 2006.

After my sister died, people began stigmatizing me and telling me I had the same illness she had. I was very afraid but I finally decided to go to the clinic and get tested, to find out if what people were saying was true. I was 16 years old.

In 2005, I started to have asthma symptoms and a loss of appetite. Since I am an ironworker, I thought that my health problems were due to my profession. I went to a traditional healer and took natural remedies for three months, without any improvement in my health. I lost a lot of weight, had fevers, and pimples on my skin. My wife and I did not know what was happening to me.

Zanele and Mfanzile Dlamini live at the top of a hill, on a winding dirt road outside Manzini, Swaziland. They share a tiny house with their one-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Phiwayinkhosi, whom they call Phiwa. Zanele is 24 years old and Mfanzile is 28. Life has not been easy for either of them.

As a teenager, Zanele went during school holidays to live with her sister in another town. She met Mfanzile and he started asking her out. She ignored him at first, but Mfanzile won her over when he gave her a pair of shoes and money for a new school shirt. Her father passed away that year, but Zanele was able to continue her studies with Mfanzile’s support.

I have been living with HIV for five years now, so it makes me feel happy to help children who are also living with the virus to cope with the challenges,” says 28-year-old Sam Nyirenda. Sam is a child mentor for the HIV child support club at Africa Directions, a Foundation-supported organization in Lusaka, Zambia.

“Initially when I came here to join, I didn’t understand what would be involved in dealing in kids who are HIV-positive,” Sam says. “I thought it would just be playing with kids and singing songs.

On February 2, 2010, Tanya Torres passed away after a four-month battle with pneumonia and other medical issues. She was 26.

Tanya, a single mother to her son Damien, had been part of the Foundation family since the very beginning. She represented the Foundation as a Family Ambassador, and was a mentor to other children and young adults living with HIV. Even through her own struggles, Tanya always wanted to get involved, speak out, and do whatever she could to help achieve the Foundation's mission. She was completely unafraid to share her personal story, had a perfect sense of humor, and always gave it to you straight. We love her and we’ll miss her.

Ten-year-old Maggie Nakasindde lives just outside of Kampala, Uganda, with her mother and three siblings. Maggie’s father left the family when her mother, Rebecca, was pregnant with Maggie. After her husband left, Rebecca discovered she was HIV-positive while attending the antenatal clinic at Mulago Hospital. Rebecca and her baby both took medication to help prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV; unfortunately, Maggie still contracted HIV.

At age six, Maggie began falling sick with respiratory infections, and she started taking antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) provided by Makerere University/Johns Hopkins University (MUJHU).