Thomas Buttenschøn Talk on HIV/AIDS Awareness :
“COMMUNITIES MAKE THE DIFFERENCE”
27 November, 10.00 in Room 101 at Nordic Center, Fudan University, Shanghai | English | Free entry
Introduction :
Today, the medical treatment for HIV is so effective that HIV-infected people live just as long as everyone else. Yet, many still fear HIV and become anxious when meeting people living with the disease. Their notion of a life with HIV and HIV-infected people is bound to old images and ideas, which lead to the discrimination and stigma of people living with the disease. People with HIV are now facing the fear of society’s reaction to the sentence”I have HIV”, and do not dare to talk openly with others about the disease.
Thomas Buttenschøn has taken a leading step in raising awareness about HIV through the power of music. His organisation, Muchimba Music Foundation is dedicated to creating positive change within society with his songs. Thomas’ songwriting has taken him around the world from his home country of Denmark to his motherlands of Zambia. It is within these journeys that Thomas has seen, first-hand, just how the power of music can change the hearts and minds of entire communities. Music is a powerful tool. The Muchimba Music Foundation harnesses that power and uses music to enlighten, to empower and to draw people together.
Thomas was born in Zambia in 1985, to a Zambian mother and Danish father. Thomas and his parents were diagnosed with HIV shortly after his birth. Unfortunately, both of his parents lost their battles to AIDS in 1994 when Thomas was only 9 years old. Thomas, too, was not expected to survive, but he has.
Orphaned in Denmark, Thomas turned to music as a therapeutic salve in dealing with the harsh realities that HIV impressed upon him at an early age. Now a leading voice in Danish pop and beyond, Thomas is driven and determined to use his platform to help spread his messages of positivity and social awareness. This is why the Muchimba Music Foundation was formed. To raise awareness through music.