GLORIA NAWANYAGA

I AM

I studied very hard for my degree as a lawyer. I am blessed to put my skills to use and work with underpriviliged Ugandan youth on social transformation, helping them to make informed decisions and life choices.

My passion is to advocate against stigma and discrimination of young people living with HIV. I do so through social media and mass media advocacy on different platforms.

OPEN

I was born with HIV through the Mother-to-Child transmission route. I learned about about my HIV status when l was 11 years old. At the time, l didn’t know what it actually meant to live with HIV and the stigma and discrimination associated with it.

Growing up with HIV was a roller coaster for me. Once I knew my HIV status I started to hate myself, got suicidal thoughts and while studying even decided to quit taking medication to the point where HIV weakened my immune system such that I had AIDS. Luckily, I was put on ARVs, fighting for my life and my health improved again.

One day in 2017, studying hard again, l asked myself “How long will l keep running away from this problem? This is me and my HIV status is not going to change”. I told myself that bold people don’t run away but face their problems. So that day l decided to show the world that whatever an HIV negative person can do, an HIV positive person can do it as well!

Since sharing my HIV status, I am pretty much living a public life. I participated (and won) in beauty pageants, attended international HIV conferences, became a peer education, a motivational speaker, and founded the Young Positives Foundation to empower young people living with HIV in rural and slum areas.

And here I am today… I have grown from a young girl who thought she had no future and would not make it through school because of her HIV status, to a woman who made her dreams come true and is now a professional lawyer living her passion!