|
THE HEALER
Chikoti Mibenge, 24, Wellesley College
HER DEFINING MOMENT: The day after turning 19, Mibenge sat by her mother’s bedside, holding her
hand as the last breath left her AIDS-ravaged body. “She held on so she didn’t die on my birthday,”
says Mibenge, a native of Zambia, who also lost her father to the disease. Like most Africans, the
family couldn’t afford treatment. HER NEXT STEPS: Mibenge made it her mission to help find a cure
for AIDS, in part to save her youngest brother, who contracted it at birth. She left Zambia two
months after her mother’s death to get a better education abroad. Now studying biochemistry at
Wellesley College, she also works at the Partners AIDS Research Center near Boston. Until a vaccine
exists, she plans to fight to make sure Africans have access to lifesaving AIDS drugs the way
Americans do. DREAM JOB: AIDS doctor—and “loving wife and mother.” GUILTY PLEASURE: Cheeseburgers. “
Nasty, but I can’t help it!”
Some links to read more:
http://www.collegenews.org/x6075.xml
http://www.glamour.com/news/articles/2006/08/28/top10college06oct?currentPage=1
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/09/17/the_glamour_of_inner_strength
|
