Maybe his name doesn’t ring a bell, but I think you’ve heard of him. He was the very brave little boy that delivered a speech at the 13th International AIDS Convention in Durban, South Africa, last year. A speech of hope. Tolerance. And a speech begging the governments of the world to supply AIDS victims and the HIV infected with the necessary drugs to help make their life easier.
Nkosi received a minutes long standing ovation.
On the very same day, and at the very same conference, South African President Mbeki delivered his now infamous speech in which he claimed that the connection between HIV and AIDS has not been proved yet.
Mbeki did not receive a standing ovation, to say the least.
Nkosi died early this Friday morning, in his foster mothers Johannesburg home.
ABC’s Nightline profiled Nkosi tonight. I must admit I was rather ignorant of him before this thread, so I made a point to watch the show. I had tears in my eyes the whole time. What a wonderful, intelligent, articulate child. The world misses him, even if not everyone knew who he was.
President Mbeki was the speaker who introduced Nkosi at that conference. I hope his conscience is heavy.
I was sad when I heard the news. When I saw Nkosi address the conference I was very impressed with the kid. In the interviews afterwards he was equally as eloquent and thoughtful as he had been on stage.
He was a great kid. A very sad loss for people everywhere.
Thanks for letting us know about this Coldie. I haven’t been around here for a long time and I haven’t been reading the papers either for the same reason (exams) so I wouldn’t have known about Nkosi if it weren’t for you.
He was an impressive person and his death is a loss to the world.
I was thinking about him today while driving somewhere. How many kids that live so short can claim to have had such a profound influence on the world?
Sure, Anne Frank tops the list, probably. Well, she was the first one to pop into my head. But Nkosi’s right up there.
Not to reduce Nkosi’s importance in any way, but Ryan White was a very similar “innocent” and young face for AIDS in the late 1980s, at least here in the USA.
I hope that Nkosi, wherever he is, can now find that childhood that was so tragically denied to him. But my guess is that he would say about his life “I wouldn’t have changed a thing”. His strength, wisdom and determination to educate others will be missed by many.
