Nkosi Johnson

Nkosi Johnson (4 Febraury 1989 - 1 June 2001) was a South African child victim of HIV/AIDS, who made a powerful impact on public perceptions of the pandemic and its effects before his death at the age of 12.
He was the longest surviving child born with the HIV/AIDS virus in South Africa.

Nkosi, whose birth name was Xolani Nkosi, was born to Nonthlanthla Daphne Nkosi in a township east of Johannesburg. He never knew his father.
Nkosi was HIV-positive from birth, and was legally adopted by Gail Johnson, a Johannesburg Public Relations practitioner, when his own mother, debilitated by the disease, was no longer able to care for him.

The young Nkosi Johnson first came to public attention in 1997, when a primary school in the Johannesburg suburb of Melville refused to accept him as a pupil because of his HIV-positive status. The incident caused a furor at the highest political level - South Africa's Constitution forbids discrimination on the grounds of medical status - and the school later reversed its decision.
Nkosi's birth mother died of HIV/AIDS in the same year that he started school. His own condition steadily worsened over the years, although, with the help of medication and treatment, he was able to lead a fairly active life at school and at home.

Nkosi was the keynote speaker at the 13th International AIDS conference in Durban, where he encouraged AIDS victims to be open about the disease and to seek equal treatment. "Care for us and accept us," he said at the conference. "We are all human beings. We are normal. We have hands. We have feet. We can walk, we can talk, we have needs just like everyone else. Don't be afraid of us - we are all the same."
Nelson Mandela referred to Nkosi as an"icon of the struggle for life."



At the conference, he scolded South African president, Thabo Mbeki, on his government's inability to provide drugs, which resulted in the miffed president to leave during his speech. He later told the BBC:
"I feel like I am going to die quickly, like my mother did, very soon. But at least she got to be a grown-up. I hate having this disease."

Together with his foster mother Gail Johnson, Nkosi founded a refuge for HIV positive mothers and their children, Nkosi's Haven, in Johannesburg. In November 2005, Gail represented Nkosi when he posthumously received the International Children's Peace Prize from the hands of Mikhail Gorbachev. Nkosi's Haven received the US $100,000 prize money from the KidsRights Foundation.

Nkosi's mantra is something which every global citizen, not only South Africans, should follow:
"Do all you can / with what you have / in the time you have / in the place you are." - Nkosi Johnson

His death was a tragedy which left the world heartbroken and South Africa without a hero.
His death has left a void in the campaign against the HIV/AIDS disease.