World Vision in Chicago - Princess Kasune Zulu

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Princess Kasune Zulu

Princess Kasune Zulu (30 years old), a native of Zambia, is an HIV and AIDS advocate and educator for World Vision’s HIV and AIDS HOPE Initiative. In this role she speaks about the HIV and AIDS crisis around the world, as well as other related issues such as education for girls, child labor, child soldiers, child prostitution, human rights, and gender and equality. Princess Zulu aims to raise awareness about these issues through education, and advocate for the children and families affected by them.

Since joining World Vision staff in 2001, Princess Zulu has worked in several different capacities with the Hope Initiative. She worked first in Zambia as the Assistant Development Facilitator. She then became an HIV and AIDS educator with Models of Learning, training teachers, pastors, World Vision staff, and partner organizations to care for those with HIV and AIDS, and teaching prevention measures to Zambian children and young people. Now, she serves as an international spokesperson on the global AIDS pandemic.

After losing both parents to AIDS by the time she was 17, Zulu herself tested positive in 1997 (**Please allow Princess to tell audiences of her status). On learning her status, Zulu embarked on a campaign to educate other Zambians to protect themselves from HIV/AIDS. Knowing that unconventional methods would be required to reach those most at risk, she hitchhiked with truck drivers, gave seminars to major employers, and worked with churches and primary and secondary schools.

Since 1997, Princess Zulu has dedicated her life to fighting the global AIDS epidemic. She has facilitated support groups for people living with HIV/AIDS and helped establish anti-AIDS groups in schools. She has educated traditional African leaders and traditional birth attendants as part of her campaign.

Zulu has become a much sought after keynote speaker, who has taken her message to the UN Secretariat in London, to the UN in New York, on the UNAIDS Global Women Coalition US city tour, across Africa, to Canada, Australia, and many parts of Europe, raising millions of dollars for the fight. She has also spoken at several International HIV and AIDS conferences, and high schools and universities across the United States.

Zulu has met with senior government leaders from the British and Irish Parliaments; her own President of the Republic of Zambia, Levy Mwanawansa; the first lady of Zambia; former first lady of Mozambique, Mrs. Mandela; Senator Hilary Clinton; the wife of UN Secretary General, Mrs. Nane Annan; and ambassadors from many countries. In 2003, Zulu was part of a delegation to the White House’s Oval Office that met with President Bush and former Secretary of State Collin Powell, convincing the US Government to commit $15 billion to the AIDS epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa. (Photo: Reuters/Kevin Lamarque, courtesy of www.alertnet.org.)

Zulu’s message has been well received by the church internationally, where she speaks to Christians of their responsibility to care for the most vulnerable and help prevent the spread of the virus. She has spoken in renowned churches including Saddle Back Church, Willow Creek Community Church, Valley Kingdom, Apostolic PAW, Larry Cathedral AME church, and Bethany The City of Refuge.

Zulu has a strong international media presence with features in Cosmopolitan, the Wall Street Journal, Jet, USA Today, Christian Today, and Ebony, on Good Morning America, Fox News and BBC News, as well as leading Irish, Australian, and New Zealand media. But perhaps her proudest media achievement is her nationally syndicated radio series, Positive Living, during which Zulu helps Zambian listeners address the challenges of living with HIV or AIDS and caring for sufferers. This program received Honours from the US Embassy in Zambia for excellence in broadcasting on HIV and AIDS. The program, now broadcast in English and seven other Zambian languages, continues to receive an overwhelming response from listeners.

Princess Zulu is the co-founder and former associate pastor of Apostolic Church in Zambia Newtown Branch. She currently leads global missions as an associate pastor at River City Church in Chicago.

Princess Zulu has received several awards including Outstanding Broadcaster on HIV & AIDS In Zambia 2000, Woman of the Year 2004 La –press Canada, and the Survival Award 2005 by the AIDS Foundation of Chicago. April 24, 2004 was declared Princess Kasune Zulu Day in Chicago. She has also received nominations for the Human Rights Reebok award in 2005 and 2006.

Zulu’s first book, I Will Not Die Before I am Dead – a Memoir of Hope in the World of AIDS, will be published in the coming months.

Princess Zulu is the mother of Joy (11) and Faith (10), who are both HIV negative.

If you are interested in inviting Princess Kasune Zulu to speak at your event, please contact Lindsey Branson at 773.921.3900 ext. 313 or lbranson@worldvision.org.

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World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice.

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