The real question is, who isn’t here?

Bill and Melinda Gates, Barry White, the mayor of Toronto, Peter Piot of UNAIDS, Blue Man Group, an opera singer and a rapper all welcomed participants of the International AIDS Conference to Toronto. Even the hotel workers union, representing 100 countries and thoughtfully postponing their labor strike in our honor, participated in the opening ceremony at Blue Jay’s Stadium.

Those who endured the 6 hour event to its finale enjoyed a show from Our Lady Peace and the Bare Naked Ladies in the Blue Jay’s stadium. I’m not sure a more eclectic and amazing event has ever been held in Canada.

Snap shots from the audience: The sex workers all wore blue shirts and chanted in protest while Bill Gates spoke. Wife Melinda Gates spoke too, but she seemed nervous addressing 20,000 people. Booing from the crowd occurred throughout the speech of the Canadian Minster of Health, Tony Clement. He ended up with the blame that belongs to Stephen Harper, the Prime Minister of Canada, who refused to attend the conference.

Apparently he is on vacation in the North Pole. Because he did not attend, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of Liberia also declined an appearance. To mark their dissatisfaction with their leader, people carried pillow cases that read, “Sleep in Steve? HIV never sleeps, time to deliver.”

The charismatic Alicia Keys, now apparently an Ambassador, as opposed to a singer, rambled long about her year-old foundation. Everyone, apparently, has traveled to Africa and claimed the pain as their own. No doubt, celebrities are important allies in the cause, but after so many speeches, we all longed for a song.

I’ve heard so many speeches that I am not sure I can take another one and it is only the first day. But Frika Chia Iskandar, a young woman living with HIV from Indonesia, stole the show.

After hearing her speak, I was frustrated I had spent so much time listening to the formalities and repetition from the officials. She addressed the crowd with grace, bravery and brilliance, challenging the audience by turning platitudes on their head, and calling for genuine investments to build communities. “We do not need to reduce stigma, we need to deal with it, and fight back,” she said. “I learned how to live with it and demand my rights.”

Young people were well represented in the audience and on the stage, but her words summed it up for everyone: “I was born the year AIDS was discovered, in 1981. Now I take three pills a day instead of ten. I don’t know how long I will take these medicines – 10, 20, 50 years? Is there hope for a cure? As a young woman from Asia, I am the new face of AIDS. I know I can deliver, can you?”