Women Leading the
Way
Addressing the AIDS Pandemic in
South Africa and Around the World
by Jennifer Butler
 At
a workshop for women during the World Conference Against Racism,
held last year in Durban, South Africa, a teenager named Grace
told the story of how she contracted HIV. Two women stood behind
her as she spoke-one rubbing Grace's shoulders, the other providing
water and tissues. At sixteen, Grace had been thrown out of her
home by an abusive stepfather and left to fend for herself on
the streets of Johannesburg. One night, she was gang-raped and
contracted HIV. Her story would have ended there, perhaps never
been told publically, except Grace discovered a women's group
named Ilitha Labantu or "Light to the People." This
group enabled Grace to find support and helped her mother confront
her violent husband. Grace is now at home, reconciled with her
mother and finding strength to battle the virus within her by
working as an AIDS activist.
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