To Exist Is to Resist

My name is Rodrigo Silveira. I am an actor, an aspiring playwright, a human development professional, an activist – and I have lived, proudly and unapologetically, with HIV since 2014.

The diagnosis came quietly, a routine test nothing more than a precaution. But when the result came back, it felt like crashing into the unexpected. “I don’t even look like someone with HIV,” I thought, and in that moment, I met stigma face-to-face. It didn’t shout; it whispered, hiding behind assumptions.

I was left by someone who said they loved me. I lost friends people who stayed only when I seemed “invincible.” And still, I survived.

What saved me wasn’t just medication. It was care. It was Brazil’s public health system, SUS, which saw more than my diagnosis. It saw me.

The doctor. The psychologist. The silences that held space. The hugs that carried dignity. They helped me transform pain into strength. That strength became my purpose.

I opened my heart, I spoke my truth, and in doing so, I found a true support network: my parents, my real friends those who stayed. While some believed I had lost my life, I discovered I was finally beginning to live it.

In 2018, I co-founded Florir a space rooted in affection, action, and advocacy. Everything we did was voluntary: psychological support, nutrition advice, legal guidance, and a welcoming online group for the newly diagnosed.

Our deepest work was on the streets. We reached those most forgotten: people experiencing homelessness, sex workers, truck drivers, trans women offering condoms, lubricant, self-tests, information, and above all: respect.

We closed our doors in 2023, but the seed still grows in every life we touched. Florir keeps blooming in resistance.

Today, almost 11 years since that first test, I remain an activist, a dreamer, a survivor. “To exist is to resist, even when everything is chaos.”

There’s a song that echoes through me: “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, stand a little taller…” And I do.

Because to live, to love, to keep dreaming, even when the world misunderstands you, is my most powerful act of resistance.

I didn’t disappear.

I didn’t break.

I became.