Courtney’s SPEAK OUT Speech

Hello, my name is Courtney and I’m from Chicago, IL. I would like to tell you a little bit about myself. I am 11 years old and I’m in the 6th grade. I like to hang out with my friends and play video games. I love to sleep for hours and play football. My favorite subject is math, and when I grow up I want to be a doctor because I like to help people. HIV/AIDS first came into my life in March of 1997. When I was born, my mom had HIV but it did not pass on to me. Instead when my brother was born in 1999 it passed on to him. My mom told me that her and my brother have HIV in 2004.

HIV/AIDS has changed my life because I have to hide things from my friends. I have to make sure no one sees medicine when my friends come over. HIV/AIDS has given me the chance to go to a great camp. I met people who are in my situation. I made friends who I don’t have to hide things from because they’re just like me.

The role Project Kindle plays in my life is, support and a chance to ‘get-away’. The ‘support’ role because they showed me care and support at camp. They showed me that there are people who are like me that they care about me. It also play the ‘get-away’ role because it gives me a chance to get away from all the secret keeping to a week of freedom.

I like SPEAK OUT because it gives me a chance to explain how I feel about HIV/AIDS. I get to do what I like to do, which is help people. SPEAK OUT gives me a chance to teach people about HIV/AIDS through my story. I’m helping people understand more about HIV/AIDS. It makes me feel good when I talk about HIV/AIDS because it gives me a chance to express my feelings about it.

Thank you for listening to my story. Once last thing I would like you to remember is I wish people would know that people with HIV/AIDS are still human.

“HELP”

Help my family get out the
Everlasting pain that
Lives within their
Powerful bodies