The memory of what the world has lost must drive us forward

published on August 24, 2015 in Medium

Stephen Lewis, Co-director of AIDS-Free World, recalls his years as the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa from 2001–2006.

The Envoy years were revolving doors of death. I would sit down one evening in Kigali, or Lusaka, or Kampala, with several men and women from the national association of people living with AIDS, and we’d have an intense conversation about their struggle for survival, and I’d think to myself what a lovely and courageous group they were.

Then I’d return six months later for another meeting, and almost everyone was gone. I’ve never really come to terms with that awful rhythm of life and death. It haunts me still. Unlike others, of more optimistic mien, I just can’t get out of my mind the hundreds of thousands — probably millions — who died unnecessarily in the carnage of the pandemic.

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© Copyright BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS
St. Paul's Hospital 608–1081 Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6Z 1Y6
Tel: 604-806-8477 | Fax: 604-806-9044
General inquiries: info@bccfe.ca
Media inquiries: communications@bccfe.ca
(Please do not use any of these email addresses to send personal information or book an appointment. To book appointments or contact the H2H clinic, please call 604-416-1517 or fax: 604-564-4893. Do not send your or your client's personal information via email.)

Our work serves clients and communities across British Columbia on lands and waters cared for and nurtured by the many distinct First Nations across the province. The BC-CfE humbly and gratefully acknowledge the stewards of these lands, particularly the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ílwətaʔ (Tsleil-Waututh) on whose unceded, traditional and ancestral territories our offices are located.