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Outlook: 'I look good - so they don't believe I have HIV'

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'I look good - so they don't believe I have HIV'

10/03/2020 GMT

BBC World Service - Outlook, 'I look good - so they don't believe I have HIV'

BBC Inspirations 2018 winner Livey Van Wyk fights the stigma of HIV in Namibia

BBC Inspirations 2018 winner Livey Van Wyk continues to fight the stigma of HIV in Namibia - particularly among children who face the ostracism she knew as a teenager

The BBC Inspirations Awards is back, and we need your help to find the world’s unsung heroes! Do you know someone who's shown remarkable courage or resilience, and above all, proven an inspiration to those around them? It could be someone like Livey Van Wyk - one of the winners of BBC Inspirations 2018. At the age of 26, Livey became the youngest person ever to be elected as mayor in Namibia. It was an achievement made all the more remarkable given her journey to that point. When she was 17 years old and still at school, Livey discovered she was pregnant. Soon after, she was diagnosed as HIV positive – something she and her family considered, mistakenly, to be a death sentence. She was stigmatised for her condition and was even physically attacked by her townspeople. But as Livey learned more about the disease, she became determined to end the stigma around it. She set out to educate her community, and was eventually elected mayor. Jo Fidgen revisits Livey’s story, and finds out about her travels around rural Namibia where she’s working with families living with HIV and Aids – in particular children who are facing the same ostracism she faced as a teenager.

Carrie Goldberg is an American lawyer who has represented two of the accusers of  former Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, who is due to be sentenced this week after being found guilty of rape in the third degree and a criminal sexual act. Back in 2017, Carrie spoke to Outlook about her pioneering work in cases involving ‘revenge porn’ or non-consensual pornography - she takes these attacks on peoples’ privacy very personally – because it happened to her.

And remember, to submit your nomination for the BBC Inspirations Awards 2020, visit: bbcworldservice.com/inspirations. Be sure to check out the terms and privacy notice. Nominations close at 12 GMT on 9 April, 2020.

Picture: Livey Van Wyk 
Credit: UNICEF / Torgovnik Verbatim Photo Agency

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