Johnson hopes there will be many more. Nkosi's name in Zulu it means Lord, or King of Kings will live on. I live in Melville, Johannesburg, South Africa. I was born HIV-positive. My mommy was obviously also infected and could not afford to keep me because she was very scared that the community she lived in would find out that we were both infected and chase us away. I know she loved me very much and would visit me when she could. And then the care center had to close down because they didn't have any funds.
So my foster mother, Gail Johnson, who was a director of the care center and had taken me home for weekends, said at a board meeting she would take me home. She took me home with her and I have been living with her for eight years now. She has taught me all about being infected and how I must be careful with my blood. If I fall and cut myself and bleed, then I must make sure that I cover my own wound and go to an adult to help me clean it and put a plaster on it.
I know that my blood is only dangerous to other people if they also have an open wound and my blood goes into it. That is the only time people need to be careful when touching me. In , Mommy Gail went to the school, Melpark Primary, and she had to fill in a form for my admission. It said, "Does your child suffer from anything?
And then my Mommy Gail was waiting to hear if I was admitted to school. She phoned the school [officials], who said we will call you and then they had a meeting about me. Of the parents and the teachers at the meeting, 50 percent said yes and 50 percent said no. And then on the day of my big brother's wedding, the media found out that there was a problem about me going to school.
No one seemed to know what to do with me because I am infected. I am very proud to say that there is now a policy for all HIV-infected children to be allowed to go into schools and not be discriminated against.
In the same year, just before I started school, my Mommy Daphne died. She went on holiday to Newcastle and she died in her sleep.
Mommy Gail got a phone call and I answered. Nkosi was born Xolani Nkosi on 4 February in a township east of Johannesburg.
He became a statistic: one of more than 70 children born HIV-positive in South Africa every year. Xolani was a fighter. He survived beyond his second birthday, unusual in HIV- infected babies. As the disease began to take its toll on Daphne, she and Nkosi were admitted to an Aids care centre in Johannesburg. It was there that Gail Johnson, a volunteer worker, first saw the baby boy and his ailing mother. And there was Nkosi. All I had to do was to reach out to him. Sompop Jantraka Sompop Jantraka grew up in poverty and started working at the age of six.
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At the time he died in Nkosi was the longest-surviving child born with HIV. On Tuesday, which would have been Nkosi's 31st birthday, Google is paying tribute to him by having him as their homepage doodle. Nkosi's mum was also HIV positive and became too ill to look after him, so he was adopted by a public relations officer from an Aids care centre. HIV stands for human immunodeficiency virus and it targets the immune system. It can stop your body from being able to fight infections and disease if treatment isn't started soon enough.
In , when Nkosi was just eight years old, his name became known when a local primary school near where he lived refused to take him as a pupil. It was because of his infection. It caused huge political issues for South Africa, which forced changes to the law there. New anti-discrimination policies were put in place and that stopped children being banned from schools based on their health.
After the law changed the school allowed Nkosi in and he started to campaign for other children with Aids.
His step mother also helped him set up Nkosi's Haven. It's a non-government organisation helping to support mothers and children whose lives have been impacted by HIV and Aids.
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