I was thinking back to March and International Women’s Day today and got super excited that I do not have a penis!! And on that note what better way to celebrate us than to salute the strong beautiful women that HIV has united!!

I guess back in 1991 in London and 1992 in Amsterdam our mentors/mothers/advocates remembered the saying “good behaving women rarely makes history” and Jeannine Van Woerkun said it best “Things need to be done today. It is better to do them right now, today, than to see tomorrow what has not been possible to do…”  what those men think, we gonna do what we have to with or without them!! Ecstatic these amazing women did because here we are some 23 years later; ICW has influenced and continue to change the lives of HIV+ women throughout the world operating from 10 regions in 120 countries. Now united we are a force to be reckoned with!

This core group of women has embraced, encouraged and empower each other; I guess that may be our philosophy after all embracing those who have met up on hard times, encouraging each other to persevere and empowering us to achieve our full potential through advocacy and education.

Let us salute the women who became martyrs in their attempt to halt and reverse the spread of HIV.

Let us continue to spread the love and “Woman Power”, Beyonce said it; who run the world?? GIRLS!!

Let us join together and celebrate our collective ICW history because we are history in the making ☺

Nacia Davis