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Dec 9, 2006

"Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear." --Ambrose Redmoon

A 19 Year Old's AIDS Diary

Thembi Ngubane was 19 when she first met radio producer Joe Richman in Khayelitsha, outside Cape Town. She was among a group of South African teenagers living with AIDS who he had interviewed in 2004. Richman gave her a tape recorder, and for a year, Ngubane recorded an audio diary that brings listeners into her home, among her family, to witness her daily struggles and triumphs. Throughout the diary, she expresses the desire she has to stop hiding her disease -- and to help others stop hiding, too. About 5 million people are HIV-positive in South Africa, and young women aged 16-25 make up 75 percent of all new infections. Ngubane's audio diary uses personal details from her daily life to craft a larger picture that reveals the story of the disease and its impact. This link has more, including some of her powerful audio entries.