Author: Mark Wandyaka
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Faith Is Not the Problem — Silence Is
A personal story about the Church, HIV, and the things we refuse to say. I grew up in church. Not casually. Not occasionally. I mean really grew up in it—the kind where Sundays were non-negotiable, where your week was structured around services, youth fellowships, choir practices, and midweek gatherings. Church wasn’t just a place you went. It was a system you lived inside. And…
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The New Face of HIV in Uganda Isn’t Who You Think
I remember the first time I realised that HIV doesn’t look the way we think it does. It wasn’t in a hospital. It wasn’t in a documentary. It wasn’t even in a “high-risk” setting. It was in a normal conversation. A friend of mine — someone educated, careful, and fully aware of HIV — told me they had tested positive. There was no “reckless story.” No obvious mistake. No moment you…
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Undetectable — But Still Untouchable
There’s a quiet contradiction that no one wants to admit. Science has already solved one of the biggest fears around HIV. But society is still behaving like it hasn’t. We now live in a world where a person living with HIV, on consistent treatment, can reach an undetectable viral load—meaning the virus is so suppressed it cannot be…
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The Lie We Tell About HIV Stigma
I used to think it was ignorance. I was wrong. For a long time, I believed what everyone else believes about HIV stigma. I thought people stigmatize because they don’t know better. I thought if we educated people enough, stigma would slowly disappear. I thought awareness was the solution. But the more I lived with HIV… The more I spoke to people… The…
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HIV Stigma Is Not About Ignorance
The Day I Realized HIV Stigma Is Not About Ignorance — It’s About Fear. There was a time I believed something that many people still believe today: that HIV stigma exists because people simply don’t know enough. It sounded logical. If people understood how HIV is transmitted… If they knew about treatment… If they realized that people living with HIV can…
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Why HIV Stigma Still Exists in 2026 — And What Leaders Are Getting Wrong
We have ARVs. We have awareness campaigns. We have global funding (e.g. PEPFAR), international conferences (e.g. IAS), and decades of research. So why does HIV stigma still feel so alive in 2026? Why are people still whispering? Why are conversations still happening in corners instead of in the open? Why do so many people living…
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I Thought Mozambique Was Dangerous — I Was Completely Wrong
I expected danger in Mozambique—but found something completely different. A personal story about perception, fear, and reality. Before I landed in Mozambique, I had already made up my mind about it. Not consciously. Not deliberately. But it had already happened. Floods. Terrorism. Instability. That’s what came up when I searched. That’s what the videos showed. That’s what the headlines pushed to the top. And…
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What It Means to Be Born With HIV
When most people think about HIV, they imagine someone becoming infected later in life. The story they picture often involves risky behavior, illness, and eventually treatment. But for thousands of people around the world, HIV is not something that arrived later in life. They were born with it. For people born with HIV, the virus is not…
