Faith Mang’ehe

As the daughter of an EGPAF Ambassador, Faith has been a member of the fight for an AIDS-free generation from the day she was born. However, she did not fully understand her mother’s HIV-positive health status until she was 10 years old. “Telling her was difficult,” said Tatu. “Being a health worker, I tried to tell her from a young age that I am HIV-positive, although it was not until she was 10 years old when she finally asked me, ‘am I HIV positive too?’” Tatu recalled.

Faith, now 17 years old, uses her love of music and singing to encourage her peers who are living with HIV to take their antiretroviral medications and fight against their feelings of stigma that are often associated with being HIV positive. “I am proud of Faith because she is a woman who has strength, she is able to stand in front of people and use her voice to compel them to move forward,” Tatu proudly states.

Although Faith is HIV free, global advocacy for HIV has been a large part of her life, “I want people to look to my mother and me and see that you can still have a vibrant and fulfilling life helping others no matter if you are living with HIV or not,” Faith says. “Together, we represent the truth: that staying by healthy, communicating openly, and living without fear it is possible to combat stigma and end HIV once and for all.” But Faith is not just an advocate for HIV. She also loves to create spaces that address, protect, and equitably respond to human and environmental needs. As a young leader, Faith intends to fuse her inherited passion for community health and her natural artistic talents into a career in interior design. By doing so, Faith hopes to continue help lead her peers and the global health community toward the realization of both a sustainable future as well as the achievement of an AIDS-free generation.