“We cannot allow our young people to die through ignorance. Ignorance will not save lives…sex education and facing facts will.” -- Wendy Fitzwilliam

Profile

Wendy Fitzwilliam was born to Juditha and Noel Fitzwilliam in October 1972. The first of two daughters, Wendy graduated from the University of the West Indies in 1996 with a Bachelor of Law degree. She continued her legal training at the Hugh Wooding Law School. In her final year of study, two months before writing her final exams to qualify as an Attorney at Law in her native Trinidad and Tobago, Ms. Fitzwilliam won the Miss Universe Title in Honolulu, Hawaii on May 12th, 1998.

In June of 1998 she was honored by the United Nations with the title of UNAIDS Goodwill Ambassador, a direct result of her commitment to fighting HIV/AIDS. Her work with the UN continues as a UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador. Wendy has narrated videos for both UNAIDS and UNICEF on the plight of children and people living with HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean.

The Hibiscus Foundation was one of Wendy's dreams that became reality on the 6th of September 1998. This organization was established to heighten AIDS awareness in Trinidad and Tobago and to give assistance, financial and otherwise, to children's homes in Trinidad. It is Wendy's wish to take this organization regional, establishing a presence in Barbados and then the entire West Indies.

Wendy is also the Red Cross Ambassador of Youth for the Caribbean. This was the first time the Red Cross has appointed anyone to this honorary post.

Activities

5 December 2003. Market Responsible Behaviour Creatively To Prevent AIDS, Says UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador At Caribbean Media Awards In an appeal to the region’s leaders, media and parents, Ms. Fitzwilliam suggested that responsible behavior should be marketed creatively to protect Caribbean youth, especially girls, from the scourge of HIV/AIDS. “Creative communications would also counter the ongoing marketing of sex to sell goods and services,” she added.

11 March 2003. How Do You Talk To Youth About The Facts Of Life, How Do You Start The Conversation?

November 2001. World AIDS Day Observed from New York to London Ms. Fitzwilliam recorded a programme for United Nations radio on the prevention of HIV/AIDS for broadcast in the Caribbean. She asked political leaders in her home region to speak more openly about the infection to slow its spread and called for more concrete public and private sector support for various HIV prevention initiatives in the region.

March 2001. Battling the HIV Taboo in the Caribbean: UN Works Interview with Wendy Fitzwilliam

August 2001. World’s Youth Resolve to Lead Anti-HIV/AIDS Crusade, Promote Responsibility; Goodwill Ambassadors Seek Action UN Chronicle: Issue 4, 2000. Wendy Fitzwilliam talks to the UN Chronicle magazine about AIDS awareness among women and young people around the world.

Priorities

HIV/AIDS Prevention

Link to Wendy Fitzwilliam Pediatric Hospital