Nkosi's Story

Nkosi’s biological mother was dying when Gail Johnson took the two-year old into her home. We are shown a moving portrait of a fight that is both intensely personal – as mother and son work to keep Nkosi’s ailing immune system from collapsing – and regrettably political, as they engage government policy and the ignorance of a sector of their community. Nkosi has become an international icon on issues related to HIV/AIDS and children’s rights. This book is a moving account of a fight that is intensely personal - even when it becomes political, as they engage government policy. Tensions erupt as a result of Nkosi having to straddle the disparate worlds of his white and black families. Gail is accused of using him to promote herself, yet many see her as a ministering angel. At the center of it all is a real boy, with pets to feed and homework to do, facing a premature death. What was it about his relationship with Gail that resulted in his short life becoming such a profoundly influential one? And what lay behind the controversy and grief that accompanied his lingering death at the age of twelve? Nkosi's spirit lives on. He has become an international icon of the fight against HIV/AIDS and for children's rights. He was posthumously awarded the World Children's Prize for Rights of Children - commonly referred to as 'The Children's Nobel Prize'.