Tragedy and Inspiration: Agnes Nyamayarwo

Mar 24th, 2007 12:30 PM UTC
By Weldon Kennedy

We are very fortunate to be joined by Agnes Nyamayarwo, global AIDS activist.

Micheal, Kim, and I had a chance last night to have dinner with Agnes.  She is truly an inspiration. 

She lost her husband to AIDS in 1991, and was diagnosed herself as being HIV positive in 1992.  In those days she had no access to anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs), and struggled on praying each day to live another year.  She lost two of her sons, first her 17 year old son ran away after suffering from depression after being teased because his parents had HIV.  Then in 1995 her youngest died of AIDS when he was 6 and a half years old.

Agnes was not about to sit idly by in the face of this tragedy and joined a drumming group to educate her peers and people all over Uganda about HIV/AIDS, and encourage them to get tested, even if they are not symptomatic.

She and her fellow HIV positive volunteers had no access to ARVs.  Agnes says about her work, “Before we die we want to see that at least people are aware.  If we see that we save a few lives we can die happy people.”

After meeting with a delegation from the U.S. she was able to get on ARVs and noticed a quick turn around.  “After 2 months it was like a miracle…I was strong…my children were happy.”

Since then she has met with President Bush and urged him to help fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria in Africa.  She also toured the U.S. on the “Heart of America Tour” telling her story and encouraging people to take action.

You can read more about Agnes in Virginia’s blog post from the Denver training.

You can find out more about Agnes’s organization, TASO Uganda, on their website here.

TAGS: The ONE Blog