Nabimanya Humphrey

I am Humphrey Nabimanya, 23 years old, pursuing a Bachelors degree in Community

psychology at Makerere University in 3

In the first years of my life, from birth till 13 I was raised by my sister. By then she had just lost

her first husband to HIV. My mother died before I was nine month old due to cancer.

I have been raised and looked after by my sister and her partner who are both HIV positive

that at the time they took a difficult step to disclose their status to the public and they started

sensitizing people about HIV/ AIDS.

I was also strongly affected by the status of my caregivers. I was also discriminated like them

by my peers and their parents.

I started sensitizing my peers about HIV/AIDS when I was 13 years old, at one time I was even

suspended from school for openly advocating for safe sex and abstinence in primary school.

In 2004 when I was 15 years old. I joined secondary education in Kiira College Butiki. My first

year at the school I joined as many clubs of my interest until I landed on the World Start With

Me program (WSWM) an HIV/AIDS awareness and sexuality education program funded by

Rutgers World Population Foundation and implemented by School Net Uganda.. I was identified

as a peer educator and I started attending WSWM training of teachers and peer educators.

Through “the World Starts with Me” project I visited over 150 secondary schools across the

country sharing my experience with other young people and advocating for safe reproductive

health choices.

Through that I saw myself contributing to the development of our nation and being on the

front. So many young people approached me with different questions. It really inspired me to

work a little harder; therefore I created a youth television program on NBS television.

Since 2007, I host a Youth Talk Show on NBS that addresses positive messages to young

people, teachers, stake holders and parents on issues of HIV/AIDS, sexuality, entrepreneurship

and life skills. This TV show over the years has grown and it now has the highest viewership

in Uganda and in the diaspora due to its uniqueness in the society compared to other youth

television programs.

In 2010 I started up a youth empowerment and sensitization organization called Reach a Hand