This is the story of one little girl who grew up and achieved her dream. It is also a new chapter in the story of HIV/AIDS in Africa.
Grace Wairimu sings of spreading her wings, of learning to fly. She is a child of Nyumbani, the place in Kenya changing the future of thousands of lives that have been impacted by HIV.
Nyumbani was started by two catholic missionaries answering the call of the pandemic of the early 90's on the continent. The operation has grown from a home for children infected to a village where 1,000 children impacted by the HIV virus live with grandparents in a community that grows its own food, sews its own clothes, and builds its own furniture. The village has a grammar, middle, high school as well as vocation training to prepare each child to have a happy and successful life. Nyumbani also reaches out to thousands more living in poverty in Nairobi offering medicine and social services.
Today, Grace is an aspiring singer, having recorded a selection of her music in a local Nairobi studio. Johnson & Johnson chose her music to be the soundtrack for its portrait of the children of Nairobi. The company has supported Nyumbani for many years offering new HIV medicines as well as funding for projects like a fresh water gathering system for the village.
When the film, "Spread My Wings," premiered at the 2016 Global Citizen Festival in NYC's Central Park, Grace was there, along with 60,000 music fans. Grace Wairimu is one example of the world moving forward one child, one life, at a time.