everyone from the head of the local secretariat for the 19th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2012) to the event director at the convention cen- ter to the show’s general contractor, to exhibitors and delegates and other participants — and they would all tell you about the threads of activism and passion and simple human emotion woven throughout the most famous quilt in the world. But nothing could prepare you for the moment
Y 52 PCMA CONVENE SEPTEMBER 2012
during AIDS 2012’s opening session when a woman and her daughter took the stage at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. The mother’s name was Flor- ence Uche Ignatius. She was 34 years old and from Nigeria, and had been HIV-positive for the last 14 years. Her daughter, Ebube Francais Taylor, was 13 and HIV-free. They were both at AIDS 2012 for the same reason: to say thank you, in person, to the people of the United States. In that they were not alone. Florence and
Ebube were introduced by Michel Sidibé, execu- tive director of UNAIDS, who praised the United States for its “compassion, generosity, and soli- darity” in battling AIDS around the world. When it was Florence’s turn to speak, she said: “I am alive today and on treatment because of you, the American people. You have helped so much. … But believe me, millions are still out there, waiting for treatment. That is why we are here: to ask you not to stop.” Ebube followed her mother. “Because of
[Florence’s] love, because of the support of the American people, I was born HIV-free,” said Ebube, poised and beautiful, her mother smiling proudly just behind her. “So I say thank you, Mom, and thank you, American people, for your sup- port. … [But] I want all children, all children, to be