It's great to be here. I been thinking there is so much to share. Instead today I want to share what I have been chasing. And what I have been chasing is we all have the tools in us all as Positive Girls.
I have been chasing a dream to become an international motivational speaker. A speaker who will make a difference in others’ lives. A few months ago I joined Toastmaster in my area. The best thing I ever did. On my first day to speak, namely an “icebreaker speech,” I spoke about living with HIV in a room full of people I never knew prior to this. I have no idea if they had ever met anyone who is actually HIV positive. The room was quiet, so quiet I could feel the somberness the speech was creating. Some people were clearly holding tears back.
At the end of the speech, I thought I did very well. Of course I did but I was aware that I had gone over the recommended time. If that was a competition I could have been disqualified. However my mentor told me that my speech was amazing at tea break. BUT there are a thousand speeches in that one story I told, he added. Puzzling as it was, I got to go home and think twice about my speech and what it meant. Instead I found myself realizing how long this epidemic has been. And how ancient significant it is for me, having lived with the virus for so long.
"A thousand speeches inside a person who live with HIV," I thought. As people who share a common cause I believe we all have a speech to share. As long as this VIRUS lives in us, we shall never run out of speeches to share. And I believe together we have the tools on how and when our story will have an end...
