Keren Dunaway was 5 when her parents used drawings to explain to her that they both had the HIV virus and so did she.


Now the 12-year-old is one of the most prominent AIDS activists in Latin America and a rarity in a region where few children are willing to break the silence and tell their classmates they have HIV for fear of rejection.


She edits a children's magazine on the virus.


"The boys and girls who live with HIV are here and we are growing up with many goals," Keren said yesterday at the opening of an international AIDS conference where she shared the stage with Mexican President Felipe Calderon and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

 
"We want to be artists, teachers, doctors even get married and have kids.... But achieving these goals will only be possible when we receive the attention we need, when we are guaranteed the medicines that we need, when we are accepted in schools," said Keren. 


Keren's star speech at the conference's inauguration drew repeated applause and whistles from the audience and a standing ovation that lasted well after she left the stage.


Reminiscing the explanations of the virus given by her parents, she says, "It's like a little ball that has little dots, and is inside me, sort of swimming inside me."


Keren's openness about her HIV status comes, as the virus's victims grow increasingly younger.