Agatha's Pride Story

“The world around me treated me like a virus, I lost my confidence, dreams, and didn’t want to see myself as natural as I was, I wanted a new me. I moved from house to house not because I was misbehaving, but because I was a virus. Doors closed! But somehow in that silence, I found my voice.

I realised the world wasn't rejecting me, it was rejecting a version of HIV based on fear, ignorance, and shame. That version needed to be challenged and I am doing it NOW!

Being a Black migrant woman living with HIV is seen as a list of disadvantages. But I see it as my superpower. I’ve survived systems designed to break me, and I’ve turned that survival into a mission, to create spaces where no woman has to feel less than because of her status. I share my story because someone somewhere needs to hear it. Someone needs to know that HIV doesn’t mean your life is on pause. You can love. You can lead. You can raise your children. You can own your power.

This Pride Month, I stand not just for people living with HIV, but with our allies, those who love loudly, who fight stigma boldly, and who remind the world that our lives are not tragic. They are triumphant.

So, this is my story. What’s yours?”