A warrior that girl

Like many in South Africa, Thembi Ngubane was infected with the HIV virus at a young age. After she found out, an opportunity presented itself to her, and Thembi took it. Joe Richman of NPR asked Thembi to record a diary of her life with AIDS. All said and done, she had 50 hours of her life recorded - informing her father she was infected, applying for antiretroviral medication, dancing with her boyfriend at their home. Her stories were broadcast throughout the United States in 30-minute edited segments on NPR’s All Things Considered in 2006. She toured the U.S., speaking on HIV/AIDS to students as well as to members of Congress. She began telling her story at age 19; last week, at age 24, Thembi died of AIDS related illness.

We remember Thembi for her audacity in confronting the virus within her own body, thinking back to what she called her HIV Prayer: “Hello, HIV, you trespasser, you are in my body,” she said. “You have to obey the rules.”