Exhibition of work by HIV positive children in Zimbabwe
There were 81 of them
representing over 152 thousand children and adolescents in Zimbabwe
living with HIV
more than a third of them are orphans
They had been brought together to commemorate World AIDS Day
and asked what they wanted to tell the world about their lives
Along the walls are full size body portraits they have drawn of themselves
symbols of their hopes for the future
They were given cameras take photos-fractals of their lives
beautiful cameos which speak of being the same as everyone else
of the need for love and acceptance and education
and for a future with the audacity to hope
Central to the display
they dance with huge, exuberant joy
around a tree they have made and covered with hundreds of flowers
created out of Antiretroviral bottles
Their ‘Tree of Life’
for these new children would not be here today
without access to ARVs
children who have held hands in their own circle
who have been seen and heard in their dignity
who are learning they have a right to a future
and a love of life
and who closed the evening singing
‘Something Inside so Strong’