This text file contains detailed information about an audio recording on PrideNZ.com. It includes the following sections: DESCRIPTION, SPEAKERS, SUMMARY, KEY CONTENT TIMESTAMPS [HH:MM:SS], TRANSCRIPT WITH TIMESTAMPS [HH:MM:SS], HUMAN VERIFIED TRANSCRIPT, KEYWORDS, REFERENCES, RELATED CONTENT AND FOOTNOTE. 

## START DESCRIPTION
The title of this recording is "International AIDS Candlelight Memorial (2026)". It is described as: Audio from the International AIDS Candlelight Memorial, held at the Tararua Tramping Club in Wellington on 17 May 2026. It was recorded in Tararua Tramping Club, 4 Moncrieff Street, Mount Victoria, Wellington on the 17th May 2026. The duration of the recording is 53 minutes, but this may not reflect the actual length of the event. The content in the recording covers the decades 1980s through to the 2020s.
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## START SPEAKERS
This is a recording of an event and features the voices of Debbie Roche, Hetty Rodenburg, Matt Sharpe, Richard Tankersley, The Glamaphones and Tīwhanawhana. These names are spelt correctly, but may appear incorrectly spelt later in the document.
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## START SUMMARY
The International AIDS Candlelight Memorial held at the Tararua Tramping Club in Mount Victoria, Wellington, on 17 May 2026, brought together community members, speakers, performers and HIV support organisations in an evening of remembrance, reflection, solidarity and aroha. The memorial honoured people who had died from HIV and AIDS, acknowledged people living with HIV today, and reaffirmed the ongoing importance of compassion, visibility, education and community care in New Zealand. The gathering opened with Richard Tankersley and Tīwhanawhana. Richard reflected that the AIDS Candlelight Memorial has been held internationally for more than four decades, recalling early memorials in the 1980s and emphasising that the primary reason for gathering was to remember those lost over many years to HIV and AIDS. MC Debbie Roche welcomed those present and introduced Dr Hetty Rodenburg, whose keynote address formed the emotional centre of the event. Hetty spoke about her long experience as a GP caring for people with HIV and AIDS during the 1980s and 1990s. She described being born in Holland before the Second World War, her father’s imprisonment by Nazi Germany, his return from Poland with advanced cancer, and the formative experience of watching him suffer without the palliative care or emotional support that would be expected today. As an eight-year-old, she made an inner promise to make a difference for people who were suffering. Hetty traced her journey through medical training, anaesthesia and general practice, explaining how earlier medical education encouraged doctors to remain detached and “stay in the head” rather than open the heart. Her work with people facing cancer, neurological illness, trauma and later HIV and AIDS challenged that model. She remembered one of her first patients, Gary McGrath, a significant figure in the needle exchange programme, who became both a patient and a teacher. Through Gary and others, Hetty learned about HIV, injecting drug use, stigma, trust, vulnerability and the importance of listening. She recalled caring for around 70 to 80 people with HIV and AIDS, including men, women and a child. Many faced not only physical illness but fear, stigma, ostracism, abandonment and a devastating lack of touch. Hetty said that in a society where ignorance created fear and fear created separation, the simple acts of holding someone, listening, offering a hug, or staying present became profoundly healing. She spoke of attending many funerals, offering eulogies, and witnessing extraordinary grief, courage and resilience. For her, the legacy of those who died included the transformation of HIV treatment in New Zealand, where HIV is now a manageable chronic condition for many people with access to medication. Hetty also reflected on early HIV treatments such as AZT, remembering the excitement around its arrival as well as the harm caused by uncertainty about dosage and side effects. She told a moving story of a patient with advanced AIDS whose small daily rituals of coffee and cigarettes had been discouraged by a doctor. Hetty recognised that these rituals gave him meaning and stability, and used the example to stress that care is not only clinical but deeply human. Her central message was that love, acceptance, compassion and community are essential forms of healing. “Fear separates, love connects” captured the essence of her address. Positive speaker Matt Sharpe then shared his own story of being diagnosed with HIV in Berlin in 2013 and deciding to return to Aotearoa to be closer to friends and family. Even with support around him, he felt isolated in his experience of being HIV positive. Contact with the Burnett Foundation Aotearoa, then known as the New Zealand AIDS Foundation, and counselling through the Ā whina Centre began his healing journey. Attending peer support groups, including gatherings linked with Body Positive gave him connection, consistency and belonging. Matt connected the memorial with the upcoming 40th anniversary of the Homosexual Law Reform Act 1986, noting how communities came together then to fight for dignity, equality and human rights. He acknowledged local figures such as Bill Logan and Fran Wilde, and spoke about the power of showing up for one another across generations. His involvement with peer support, the Candlelight Memorial, the World AIDS Day Parliamentary Breakfast and the Positive Speakers Bureau allowed him to turn personal experience into education, advocacy and connection. He encouraged everyone to repeat the phrase “Let us not forget,” making remembrance a shared act. Music was woven through the event, including waiata from Tīwhanawhana and a performance of Carry The Light by The Glamaphones. Debbie Roche led the candle-lighting section, inviting people to quietly reflect on those they carried with them. She acknowledged those lost to HIV and AIDS, people living with HIV today, families, friends, carers, volunteers, advocates and organisations including the Burnett Foundation, Body Positive and Positive Women Inc. She reminded the gathering that while medical advances have transformed HIV, stigma, unequal access to healthcare and isolation remain. The memorial closed with Richard Tankersley and Tīwhanawhana.
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## START KEY CONTENT TIMESTAMPS [HH:MM:SS]
The following timestamps note when speakers or events begin in the full transcript: [00:00:01] Richard Tankersley, Tīwhanawhana starts. [00:03:10] Waiata, Tīwhanawhana starts. [00:06:09] Richard Tankersley starts. [00:06:24] MC Debbie Roche starts. [00:07:00] Dr Hetty Rodenburg starts. [00:29:00] Debbie Roche starts. [00:29:10] Matt Sharpe, Positive Speaker starts. [00:35:14] Carry The Light Andy Beck, The Glamaphones starts. [00:39:10] Debbie Roche starts. [00:41:38] Waiata, Tīwhanawhana starts. [00:43:46] Debbie Roche starts. [00:45:17] Richard Tankersley starts. [00:50:05] Waiata, Tīwhanawhana starts.
## END KEY CONTENT TIMESTAMPS [HH:MM:SS]

## START TRANSCRIPT WITH TIMESTAMPS [HH:MM:SS]
Ahau e waerea ki tēnei tepu o Ne Tapu. Ka hura rā, ka takata tai ki roto o Takaroa ki te moana o Te Whanganui-a-Tara. Ka tū tēnei, ahau ki tēnei te pitu o Ne Tapu hei tītiro kei runga i te taumata tapu taetae o Mātairangi e tū ana e whakaruruhau mō tātou i tēnei rā. Hei whakaroko ki te tangi o te keo. E [00:00:30] kōrero mai, e pōhiri mai, e mihi mai nei ki a mātou nei hei haro mai kei raro. Ko tēnei te wāhi noho o Te Aro, kei raro i te tau marumaru o taua mauka. Te kōrepe nui, te kōrepe roa, te Waimapihi awa, te Kumutoto awa, ko tū ko roko, he pūtakari kino roko. Tūturu mai kia whakamaua, kia tīna, [00:01:00] tīna! Haumi e, hui e, tāiki e! Te honore taku ki te tū, ā, ki te taha o ēnei rakatira. I te tuatahi hei poroporoaki ki a rātou. Ō kaitua maha kua wehe ki tua o te ārai Tume nui rātou kua mate nā te mate ārai kore. Nō reira, ki a rātou, ki ēnei whakaahua o kōnei [00:01:30] a Warren, a Wā, he tohu maumahara hoki ki ngā wāhine kua mate. Nō reira, ki a rātou, hoki wairua mai, hoki wairua mai, hoki wairua mai ki roto i tēnei tō tātau whare. Tū ana mātou o Tīwhanawhana hei mihi, hei maumahara, ā, hei tautoko tēnei tikaka e whai ake nei. Nō reira, tēnā tātou, tēnā tātou, tēnā [00:02:00] tātou katoa. Kia ora and good evening. And first and foremost, uh, the reason for which we have come together is a memorial for those who have passed away due to HIV and AIDS over the many years. This annual memorial has been going for well over forty years. This might be forty-two, forty-three, forty-four. I'm getting a bit old. [00:02:30] I remember going to one in the, in the little church in Addington in Christchurch in the first year they were run. It might have been 1984. And sorry, just, um, that's the prime reason. So the greeting this evening is to those who have passed away. Greetings to the people who have organized us and called us together, and greetings to you who have joined us in this memorial. [00:03:00] And so we've acknowledged the place that we're in, the mountain that we sit under, the purpose for which we have come together. Uh, so kia ora koutou, lovely to be amongst you once again [00:06:00] Kia ora tatou. Ka pai. Thank you. So but hello, my name is Debbie Roach, and I'm here tonight to thank [00:06:30] everyone for being here for this evening for the Wellington ANZ Caden- Candlelight Memorial. Um, so next we've got, I've got up was Dr. Heti Brompton... Rotenberg. Sorry. As, uh, she's come here to speak, um, for her experience. She's been in the health and the AIDS and HIV sector for many years. So it's a very privi- privileged, Heti, to have you over, here tonight.[00:07:00] Right. I normally speak by heart, but because I get terribly excited at times, I brought a few notes to bring me back. So, tena koutou. Ngā mihi nui mo te toro korero. This is for me very special to be invited here because it brought me back to many years. You know, in the '80s and '90s, I was working as [00:07:30] a GP and had many, about 70 to 80 people, m- men and women, and even a young child, diagnosed with HIV/AIDS. And it was for me a privilege to serve them. And why I use that word, I want to talk today about a personal story, and then this word will make more sense. I was born before the [00:08:00] war, and you probably hear my accent and my name. I come from Holland. And the war was not the most pleasant, of course, experiences, and one of them does... My father, who was very high up in the Navy and he was a judge, he was arrested by the Germans and put in a camp in Poland And at the end of the war on the 5th May, 1945, that is our Liberation Day. And it's a very [00:08:30] special day because for me, it always has been the incredible joy. That's what I experienced as an eight-year-old, and later on, of course, it changed over the years. The Liberation Day was the joy of liberation and the gratitude for those who created that, and it was always combined with the grief for all those who had lost their lives, sometimes forced. You know, the [00:09:00] Jewish people, the Gypsy people, the gay people, and many, many more, and a lot of people who lost their lives in the resistance. And there was a gratitude towards that. So there was a sense of balance in that for me, has always been. And my father came back after the liberation looking like a scarecrow because he was totally riddled with cancer. And to have cancer in post-war Holland was probably not such a good choice. There was no [00:09:30] palliative care. There were not a lot of drugs, and he had the, he had cancer in his lungs as well as in his brain, the secondaries. So they started with taking a lung out, and they thought it was a great success because he was the first one in six people who survived. The five before died. So we all th- were very excited about that until the cancer in the brain became more obvious, and that was... That didn't go so [00:10:00] well. So he suffered. He really suffered, and he suffered on a physical level, and he suffered on an emotional level You know, he was very... He was Dutch Reformed, very Christian. He had this God who he never complained to. I did. I talked a lot to that God and thought, "Why the hell don't you do anything?" But that God was not listening to me very much, [00:10:30] so I threw that God out of the window, of course, after my father died because it was completely useless. But my father never complained, and he just suffered. And I was so desperate because what could I do? And especially when he was emotionally suffering, uh, because he had, he had always had the dreams that he'd come back to his family, and he was going to be a judge. He was a judge, but he was going to be a mayor in a little village. So [00:11:00] all that went. And all what I could be for him was be there and hold his hands and just be there. And I realized that that just the being and holding his hands or sometimes stroking his face, that that created something in him. It settled him down, and it somewhere for me created a sense of peace at that [00:11:30] time that I could still serve in a way So my father died, and I know one of the last days that he was in the hospital, running around, or not running around, he was rolling around in a bed what had high bars, otherwise he fell out. And I was eight. I was quite small because the war, and I was so angry that I had my little hands around the bars and I said, "You know, God, you're [00:12:00] pretty useless, but I am going to make a difference to people who are suffering," because that's not allowed. And you know, that is a spontaneous expression of an eight-year-old who at a certain time forgets that, but it's of course much deeper. It's really a message of the soul, what we come in with in incarnation. When we incarnate, we have an, a mission. And obviously my mission was [00:12:30] to be of service to people who have far often life-threatening illnesses, and that's what I have been involved with, with AIDS and neurological illnesses and cancer and so on. And I made that promise, and remind me that at the end that I tell this story how that came up again. But anyway, I always wanted to study medicine, so I studied medicine in Holland. Now, at that time, I'm an elder, so, um, that was in the '60s. [00:13:00] This, the education was slightly different than now. My granddaughter is studying medicine, and I can tell you that 80 to 90% of all the stuff what I put in my brain, books and books and books, is completely obsolete. The study now is so different, thank God, by the way. So I was, um, six or seven years, we were, we were given knowledge, knowledge, knowledge. And there was a ratio behind that, that [00:13:30] it was better not to get the heart involved. It was, I was decapitated Because they said, um, you know, if you get the heart involved, you really, you get very... You get grief when somebody dies, and it might affect your practice. And if you become friends even, you know, it's even worse. So be respectful. Do the best you can, but stay in your head. And my heart was open because I was very passionate about life and animals and, [00:14:00] and everything. But that part in the medical scene needed to be closed. It was emphasized. In the times that I did my, um, we call it in Holland co-schappen. You do call it your internships, I think. And I had times that I was sitting on the bed with a patient holding their hand when they cried. I was later on told better not. You know, just sit and perhaps give them a handkerchief. So that's how I started. I worked in Holland, then I worked in the [00:14:30] States. I married a New Zealander, and we lived in the States for a while. Then I came here in New Zealand and became an anesthetist. Now, as an anesthetist, you don't have a lot of communication. As you know, there are normally two questions, and they're always the same: Please don't wake me up during, and please wake me up after. Always the same questions, and I can tell you that I, uh, very dutifully always answered to those, "Yes." And they thought I was absolutely [00:15:00] wonderful, but there was just... I didn't know anything about that person. I knew that person was alive and the operation was a success, and that was so unsatisfactory for me that I went into general practice. In my general practice, my passion was really... Although I had a big general practice, my passion was really to be with people with life-threatening illnesses. It was cancer, neurological illnesses, sometimes post-trauma. So I worked very much in the hospice. And then [00:15:30] the '80s came, and my first HIV patient arrived in the form of Gary McGrath, and there might be people here who knew Gary. Gary was the most amazing guy. He was, has been very influential in the needle exchange scheme. He did many, many, many things. I adored him, and he became my teacher. He became my teacher, and he became my friend. First of all, he told me a lot about what I absolutely [00:16:00] didn't know about IV drug use. He told me a lot about HIV. He taught me a lot about what not to do. And I remember one day I saw my patients, my patients with, um, cancer or HIV always at lunchtime because then I have more time for them. So Gary was there eating a sandwich and, um, bringing me a sandwich as well. Both had a sandwich. And then I was [00:16:30] called out for an emergency next door. So I ran out, and when I came back 20 minutes later, he said, "Uh, uh, uh, bad, bad. You do not leave an IV drug user in your room alone." He said, "I know everything." He said, "I know where you have the little key, and if I use that little key, I open the little drawer, and in that little drawer is the special prescription pad what you write your narcotics on, and there is still the imprint of your [00:17:00] signature, so I can write anything. And I know as well where you keep your syringes, and I c- and I know a lot." He said, "Never, ever, ever do that." He said, "You might love me, you might like me, but you put me in the waiting room when you go out." And he taught me a lot. And then through Gary, and probably through the AIDS Foundation, there are more... I got more and more and more patients. And what I said at the sermon, there were about [00:17:30] 70. And what I was faced with was with people... Now let me start with myself. I knew a reasonable lot about HIV in my head. I went to conferences. I read a lot of books. I spoke with the hematologists and the research people, and I really tried to, to do the best I could, but that was not what it was about. What I met was people [00:18:00] who were physically and emotionally suffering. I met people, that was new for me, to live in such fear in those days with such stigma, with such despair, so aban- abandoned, so ostracized, so not wanted, and so, and that's the most important thing, not touched. You know, living in a [00:18:30] society what was well-meaning, but ignorant, and ignorant creates fear, and fear creates separation And why I am, why I used the word privileged in the beginning is that because through them, through those men and women who I had the blessing to care for, this opened. This had to open. [00:19:00] It was always open in my normal life, but I had been so trained to, when you have a patient, you close it. And it opened. And I realized that when they were sitting there crying because somebody else had died, there were so many funerals we went to and eulogies I did, that I actually could hold them and give them a hug, or that I hold their hand and just listened. And that was for me [00:19:30] such a gift that I realized that I had the capacity to be there with an open heart without the fear, because you're very vulnerable, because you get hurt. I did get hurt. I did cry. I did felt awful. I did feel angry when things happened. But I kept my heart open. And I'm so incredibly grateful for that because what [00:20:00] they went through, and then at the same time they held it sometimes in a resilience and a courage that was just amazing. I remember a very beloved friend of mine, HIV person, who came in and he came in, he said... He had the, um, key of the door in his hand. He said, "This is all what I have left, Ettie. So and so has died as well." That was, I think, his sixth or [00:20:30] seventh friend who had died. And he said, "There is an empty house." But it is a metaphor. It was an empty heart. It was filled with grief. There was no love left. You know, and even you- when you can be of assistance, and assistance is not always such a mental word, you know. When you can be of service, I love the word service. When you can be of service to somebody like that and just hold them, [00:21:00] that's worth seven years of study. Because that's what life is about. Life is not about doing, you know, writing lots of prescriptions and knowing a lot. Life is about your heart that needs to be wide open En zo This brings me to the next thing, because we, these people, and it was so beautiful how somebody opened here this morning, um, let's never forget.[00:21:30] Let's never forget their legacy. Because their legacy, together with the scientists and with the hematologists, they created here in New Zealand now a s- a time where somebody with HIV is a chronic illness as long as they take medication. What a blessing. And it's not outside New Zealand because, as you know, in many countries it's rampant. But here, because, because of their suffering, because [00:22:00] when AZT came out everybody was terribly excited, and I tell you that there were quite a few of my patients who died with the side effects of AZT because they had no idea how to prescribe it. How much, and how many, and what the side effect was, and what it could combine with. You know, and it was, it was these little things. I- I, there's so many stories I can tell you. I have... One of them came at, in the morning to me. He had advanced AIDS. He didn't have a long time to live. And, um, [00:22:30] and he said to me, "Now they have taken my coffee away." And I said to him, "What do you mean?" He had been to a very well-willing hematologist, because all of them tried, but he had a habit. He went, in the morning when he got up, he went to a cafe and had a coffee and two cigarettes, and then he went through his day, what was mainly taking hundreds of medication and being very sick. And then around 4:00 or 5:00 he had another coffee [00:23:00] with two cigarettes. That was two rituals what kept him going, and they had said to him that it was better not to do that. So I told him, of course, to smoke two cigarettes and have four cups of coffee. Because that is what love is about. You know, the, I am so into rituals. The- the healing power of rituals. The healing power of the open heart. And so let's not forget. And what they have given as a legacy as [00:23:30] well is something what we can use now. Because we live now in a world here, in, in the world in general, but in New Zealand as well, where there is a lot of... There is corruption, there is separation, there is poverty, there is judgment. There is... It is a separation between the haves and the have-nots, and it's going to get better. And a lot of judgment to anybody who dares to be different.[00:24:00] Dangerous. Never close your heart. Our strengths, how we will survive and how we will overcome, is in communities. In a community like we have here, in a community perhaps at work, perhaps a community in... I live in an apartment building, so an apartment- A community with sport. Have a community where you love, and I don't mean the love from, "Oh my God, we found each other, and we run to the horizon. We [00:24:30] live for 50 years, have other..." I don't believe in that at all. I believe in the love what is about joy, what is about courage, what is about generosity, what is about compassion, what is especially about acceptance what is different. Accept each other in our gender, in our culture, in our color, in our language, in our choice of sexuality. Accept each other. [00:25:00] That is love. And you know, love is the universal healer, and that is for me, that is something what is... I've, I mean, I've always probably had it. There was always a seed inside me, but through those years, 15, 16 years with so 75 or 80 people with HIV, that has got us through. That has got us through together. It got through me. [00:25:30] I could be sad, I could cry, but it never got me down because there was still the love. If you have love, people cannot take that away from you. So im- it is so important for me And so I want to, it, I just suddenly there's a little voice what says, "Tell the story." And I tell that story of that little kid what stood there with her little claws almost in the war [00:26:00] around that bed of my father and said, "And you get out of the window." I spoke to God. Um, "And I am going to make a difference to people with ca-cancer or people who are suffering." And in, um, it was about '94, '95, I did a lot of debriefing in the Hart Hospital with people from AE or with the orderlies. If you want to do some debriefing, do it with the orderlies. So we did that and, um- [00:26:30] And I said it was a group of nurses that were worked in, um, plastics or A and E, I can't remember. And, um, they, they talk, you know. It's very important for them to talk out the trauma. And this time I said to introduce them, I said, "Now, don't tell your name." I said, "I want you to know why you became a nurse, and don't think you wanted to marry the doctor or you like the uniform." I said, "Just go, close your eyes, go inside, and ask that [00:27:00] question, and it will come." And to their surprise, answers came that they never had realized, and they were very excited about it. And I wanted to start the, the course, and they said, "No, no, you. No, you, Hetty." And it was very spontaneous, and I closed my eyes, and I became eight. And I was standing like this and say, "I am going to make a difference to people with cancer." And I think I have served my [00:27:30] soul in that way because it has been my purpose in life. It's never been work, and I really, I swear that I'm not bad, bad, bad. Please, I'm not. I have every day of my work, well, it was 25 years and then longer after I sold my practice, of course, I went on in other, other ways, and I'm still counseling. Every day I have enjoyed. And, um, and when you know that you have [00:28:00] a, that you bring a tiny little bit difference- It helps. So that is really my message, you know. Stay in your heart. Don't close it. Don't be afraid Heart is the universal healer. The healer of fear, the healer of judgments The healer of separation.[00:28:30] Fear separates, love connects. That's where our strength is So aroha atu, aroha mai. Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa. Thank you Thank you, Hettie. [00:29:00] Thank you so much. Right, now we're gonna have a positive speaker, um, Matt Sharp Kia ora koutou. Ko Matt Sharp toku ingoa. Um, I just resonated with some of the words that Hetti said, which was, uh, "Let's not forget." So I w- encourage everybody to say, "Let's not forget." Let's not forget. Kia ora. Um, so tonight, um, I want to speak about the importance of community, [00:29:30] about how community come together in times of need, and how we support one another to share memories and reflect. Events like tonight's International AIDS Candlelight Memorial are a very important part of that. There is probably... This is probably about the fourth memorial I've attended. I've helped organize one, and every time I find it deeply moving. Um, it's a moment where we [00:30:00] remember how many lives lost to AIDS, but also the struggles faced by people who've been living with HIV since the beginning of the epidemic in the ear- early 1980s. It's also a, a reminder of the strength of our communities. Uh, in a couple of months, in July, Aotearoa will mark the 40th anniversary of the Homosexual Law Reform Act, which decriminalized consensual relationships between men in [00:30:30] 1986, and that was another time when communities came together to fight for equality, dignity, and human rights. People stood up, often at great personal cost, to create a safer future for others. Here in Wellington, uh, local figures such as Bill Logan and Fran Walsh helped lead that charge For me personally, community came [00:31:00] especially important in t, uh, 2013, the year I, I was d- diagnosed in HIV while living in Berlin Uh, at that time, I made the decision to come home to Aotearoa to be closer with friends and family. But even, but even surrounded by people who loved and supported me, I felt s- still felt isolated within my experience of being HIV positive. I realized I needed connection with people who f- truly understood [00:31:30] what I was going through I reached out to the Burnett Foundation, which at the time was the New Zealand AIDS Foundation, through their Fe- Awhina Center. I was able to access counseling, and that became the beginning of my hea- healing journey Not long after that, I nervously attended a monthly peer support group. It was the first time I had really sat in a room with other people living with HIV [00:32:00] I was able to share my own experiences, my story, and listen to others share theirs. For the first time since my diagnosis, I truly felt I was not alone Later, another meetup group was formed through Body Positive. We met mo- monthly at S and M's, generally hosted by the legendary Scotty and Mal. We would catch up over drink, talk about life, discuss imp- developments in HIV treatment and [00:32:30] advocacy, and then we'd head out for a meal together afterwards. Something as simple as a regular monthly catch-up became incredibly important. It created consistency, connection, and belonging. There was a core group who came regularly, but also there are people who dip in and out depending on where they are on their journey. That is the strength of community too. People can come as they are when they need it.[00:33:00] After a year or so, I took on the role of coordinating the group myself. It became a real privilege to help hold space for others in the community, provide s- peer support where needed, and help organize events such as Candlelight Memorial, World AIDS Day Parliamentary Breakfast, and Project Toitoi Exhibition Earlier last year, I stepped away from coordinating the group, but it's now in very good hands with [00:33:30] Denny. I still attend monthly meetups because staying connected to the community remains important to me. Seeing familiar faces from that meetup grou- group here tonight means a great deal to. It's also a reminder of the connections we build through community and the importance of con- continuing to show up for one another Even after many years, there's still something powerful about [00:34:00] being in a room where people understand each other's experiences without needing everything explained Another community I'm proud to be part of is the Positive Speakers Bureau, New Zealand's preferred supplier of HIV education services. PSB empowers people living with HIV to share their stories, helping raise awareness, improve understanding of HIV through the country through storytelling. [00:34:30] For me, being part of PS- P- PSB has also been another step in turning personal experience into connection, education, and advocacy When I look back now, I don't like to think about where I would be without community. The community helped me, it supported me, and reminded me I was not alone. And in turn, I hope I've been able to do the same for community [00:35:00] So tena koutou, tena koutou katoa, and one more time, let us not forget Let us not forget. Kia ora [00:39:00] So tonight, we come together in remembrance and reflection and solidarity. We gather to honor those we have lost to HIV and AIDS, to acknowledge those living with HIV today, to recognize families, friends, carers, advocates, and communities. We [00:39:30] continue to work alongside together. The AIDS Candlelight Memorial has always been about more than remembrance. It's also about visibility, compassion, education, and hope. It reminds us of the importance of communities, especially during times when fear, stigma, and silence isolated so many of us. For many of our communities, HIV epidemic is deeply personal. We remember partners, friends, [00:40:00] whānau, colleagues, and community members whose lives were cut short far too soon. We remember the courage of those who faced discrimination and hardship with dignity and strength, and we honor the a- activists, health workers, volunteers, and organizations who fought tirelessly for care, treatment, equality, and understanding. While so much progress has been made, tonight we reminds us that, [00:40:30] that work is not over. HIV stigma still exists. Access to healthcare and support is not equal for everyone, and there is still people who feel isolated and afraid. So tonight, as we light candles and share the space together, may we recommit at- ourselves to kindness, inclusion, and care for one another. I would like to sincerely thank everyone who helped make tonight possible, [00:41:00] our volunteers, speakers, performers, supporters, and community organizations. Your support means a great deal. Most importantly, thank you to all you for being here. Your presence matters. It shows that those who are remembered are not forgotten, and that the community to- continues to stand together with compassion and hope. As we move into the candle lighting proportion of this evening, I invite you to take a quiet moment to reflect the people we carry with tonight.[00:41:30] And then, so if you'd take a moment, and then if... Feel free, please come up and light a candle for those for us to remember. [00:43:30] Um, prepare to blow out the candles, to step back home. I want to thank each of you for being here. In doing so, we continue to s- to longstanding tradition of standing in solidarity, [00:44:00] remembering those we have lost, and reaffirming our support for people living with HIV today. Over the years, our Wellington community supporter groups, w- we're very thankful to Burnet Foundation, Body Positive, and, and Positive Women Uh, uh, for these, these, um, organizations, they have a, they have stood strong against stigma, misinformation, and isolation, and we wouldn't be... luckily, we [00:44:30] wouldn't be here without them today, without their support. Tonight reminds us that while medical advancements and modern treatments have transformed acti- HIV into a condition people can live with, our work is not done. We must keep educating the next generation, maintaining the visibility of New Zealand AIDS Memorial Quilt, which we have down one of them here, and fighting prejudice in our neighborhoods. Thank you for your time, your araha, and [00:45:00] ongoing commitment to building a com- compassionate Aotearoa. And next up, can we please have our closing with, uh, Te Whanawhana? Thank you. Tēnā anō tātou. Ka nui te mihi ki a koutou kua kōrero tia. Greetings, uh, and acknowledgments to you who have spoken, uh, this evening and have [00:45:30] brought forth and shared thoughts and feelings with us that resonate, that resonate for all of us here, I'm sure. Um, and so we come to the closing part. Um, we might keep the candles burning until after we've done the final karakia, and then we can, uh, finish them informally rather than having a... Yep, we'll be doing that. That's the one. That's the one. But for the [00:46:00] meantime, there's a, a formality of powhaki, which is, uh, a farewell. And so from our way of seeing the world, because we've remembered people and brought them forth, then they're actually present. And so this part of the ceremony, the f- the final closing, is to greet them, greet those that have come in response to that memory and to farewell them back to the places [00:46:30] where they currently reside. Which is, we would say, beyond the veil, on the other side of that unknown place where we can philosophize about what it is, but it's not here. Many, many different worldviews. But for us, we have brought them in, in to, to offer memories and by lighting candles and by thinking and speaking names, then we carry out that action. So [00:47:00] this is the, this is the response to that. So we can then move into the social element of our gathering, the community support element of our gathering that we've been talking about. Anō reira, huri nō kia koutou, mo kaitua maha kua whakahoki mai, kua hoki wairua mai i roto i tēnei tō tātou whare. Ka heke tonu ka roimata mō koutou.[00:47:30] We're acknowledging you who have returned to us in spirit this evening, and we're reminding you that tears are still falling for you. Ka maumahara tonu mātou ki a koutou, and we still remember you. Nō reira, ki a koutou. Kua tae mai te wā hei hoki atu ki tua o te arai. And so now, at this time, the time has [00:48:00] arrived for you to return beyond the veil. Hei noho kei reira, i te aroaro o katipana o katua. And so to dwell there once more in the company of your ancestors and of the spirits with whom you now reside. Anō reira, hoki atu rā, hoki atu rā, hoki atu [00:48:30] rā. We farewell you, we farewell you, we farewell you. Noho kei reira i tēnei rā, i tēnei pō, i te aroha me te raki mārie. Dwell there this day and this night in peace and love Rātou kia rātou ka moe, tātou kia tātou e tome. Tēnā koutou. And so we leave our departed spirits [00:49:00] to themselves, and we greet us now, those of us who still live in Te Ao Mārama within the world of light. Greetings to you all Ka mamaki taka ki runga i a tātou. May blessings descend upon us as we conclude our gathering. Tena koutou, tena koutou. So this waiata here talks, again, it's another love song, another waiata aroha. [00:49:30] And it talks about those, our love for those who have gone, who have gone beyond. And so the do-do, the mōpōkō comes and reminds us of them and of our aroha for them But we're standing here very much alive and in our humanity when they have gone in spirit. Nō reira, [00:50:00] tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, huri noa, huri no, tēnā tatou katoa. [00:53:30] whakatau a Papatūānuku e tākoto nei. Tiitia kia oho, tiitia kia wātea, tiitia ki te pōho o Tānenui-a-Raki. Tauteru mai kia whakamaua, kia tina- Tina! Haumi e, hui e, Tāiki e! Kia ora tātou.
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## START KEYWORDS
1980s, 2020s, AIDS, AIDS Memorial Quilt, AZT, Aotearoa New Zealand, Berlin, Bill Logan, Body Positive, Burnett Foundation Aotearoa, Christchurch, Debbie Roche, Events, Fran Wilde, Gary McGrath, God, Gypsy, HIV / AIDS, HIV education, HIV stigma, Hetty Rodenburg, Holland, Homosexual Law Reform, Matt Sharpe, Nazi Germany, New Zealand AIDS Memorial Quilt, People, People who inject drugs, Poland, Positive Speakers Bureau, Positive Women Inc, Scotty and Mal's Cocktail Bar, Space, Stuff, Tararua Tramping Club, Warren Wah, Wellington, World AIDS Day, World AIDS Day Parliamentary Breakfast, World War 2, acceptance, access, access to health care, advocacy, ancestors, animals, aroha, balance, bars, belonging, blessing, books, building, burning, cafe, camp, cancer, choice, church, coffee, communication, community, community support, compassion, connections, corruption, counselling, courage, crying, culture, difference, dignity, discrimination, drugs, eating, education, emotional, epidemic, equality, exhibition, expression, face, family, farewell, fear, feelings, friends, future, gay, gender, gratitude, grief, healing, health, health care, health system, hell, home, homosexual, hope, hospice, hospital, hug, hui, human rights, humanity, inclusion, isolation, journey, karakia, kindness, knowledge, korero, language, law, legacy, liberation, listening, love, mayor, medicine, memorial, memory, misinformation, navy, needle exchange programme, normal, nurse, other, palliative, passion, peace, peer support, poroporoaki, poverty, power, prejudice, privilege, promise, quilt, reflection, relationships, remembrance, research, resilience, resistance, running, sad, scene, separation, sexuality, silence, social, solidarity, soul, sport, stigma, storytelling, strength, study, success, suffering, support, tangi, tapu, teacher, the other side, time, touch, tradition, trauma, understanding, uniform, visibility, voice, waiata, wairua, window, women, work, writing.
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## START REFERENCES
The original recording can be heard at this website https://www.pridenz.com/international_aids_candlelight_memorial_2026.html.
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Generated 2026-05-31T18:32:21+12:00.
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