Manoel Filho is a Social Media Marketing Consultant and ambassador for AHF UK. His story is next in our “I Am AHF” series featuring remarkable staff, clients, and partners who are doing what’s right to save lives everyday.
Interviewed by Diana Shpak, Knowledge Management Focal Point, AHF Europe.
Manoel Filho works for AHF United Kingdom and is openly living with HIV. Yet his diagnosis is only one part of his story.
Manoel is one in a million, a man who followed his will to survive and fought his way back to a full and meaningful life. His story is extraordinary and deeply inspiring. For anyone who feels that their life has lost its value, read and watch Manoel’s story, remember your own strength, and reclaim your power.
Manoel was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and grew up as the only boy among four sisters. From a young age, he felt that there was something different about him, although he did not yet understand what it was or how to explain it. As he grew older, he realized that he was a gay man.
For many people, home is the place where they first learn what safety feels like. For Manoel, it was a place filled with a lot of violence. Instead of being free to discover who he was, he learned to hide.
At the age of 22, Manoel was living in a home where he could no longer be himself. His sister’s husband, who had connections to Brazil’s special police, was violent, leaving Manoel feeling watched, judged, and threatened. As the danger escalated, he realized he could no longer stay.
Manoel first left Rio de Janeiro and moved to São Paulo, hoping that a new city would offer him safety. But changing cities did not remove the fear. He still did not feel free. His mental health began to deteriorate. He had built a business and created a life for himself, but eventually he understood that staying in Brazil could cost him his life. He had to make an impossible choice. He could remain close to everything familiar, or he could leave everything behind and give himself a chance to survive.
He moved to London. London did not immediately become the safe place he had imagined. Manoel faced violence again. He started to struggle with addiction. Eventually, he became homeless. He had no family beside him, no stable home, no sense of safety, and nowhere to go.
Manoel had already lost so much, but he had not lost the belief that his life could still have meaning. During one of the hardest periods of his life, while experiencing homelessness during the COVID-19 lockdown, he learned he was living with HIV. It revealed the profound impact that isolation, stigma, and limited access to healthcare can affect a person.
Manoel rebuilt his life slowly. He was supported by people and access to healthcare assisted him a lot. Learning to trust himself again helped him. He moved forward one step at a time.
He first joined AHF UK as a volunteer and later became part of the team as an ambassador, helping to strengthen its social media presence, raise awareness, and support others in building better lives. The organization supported him throughout his journey back to a stable and fulfilling life.
“AHF helped me rebuild my life in an incredible way. Today, I am proud to work here, to use my voice, and to help others find the same hope and support that once helped me,” Manoel says.
Manoel transformed his experiences into a graphic novel, Out in Parks – A Queer Man’s Journey In and Out of Rough Sleeping, illustrated by artist SJ Wyatt. The book explores homelessness, addiction, mental health, and HIV, while also showing how Manoel found the courage to tell his story and advocate for others.
The project was created through a meaningful collaboration between Manoel and peers from Crisis organization, turning lived experience into a powerful story of survival, creativity, and hope.
At AHF UK, Manoel helps raise awareness of HIV testing and prevention. For him, World AIDS Day is deeply personal, a reminder that everyone deserves visibility, dignity, care, and access to support.
His journey teaches us something important: survival is not always dramatic or visible. Sometimes survival means waking up and trying again. Sometimes it means accepting help. It means believing that your life is worth saving. And today, Manoel’s life looks very different.
He works with different organizations such as AHF UK, Crisis, and the NHS, where he supports others and uses his own experience to bring hope to people who may feel frightened, rejected, or alone. He is turning his own pain into a source of strength for people who may still be searching for their own way forward.
For Manoel, speaking openly is an act of courage. Every time he tells his story, he transforms suffering into purpose. He remembers the young man who was afraid to be himself. He remembers the man walking through the snowy streets of London with nowhere to sleep. And he sees the person he has become today. A man with strength. A man with wisdom. A man whose life has meaning not only for himself, but for others as well.
“What can define us is the courage to continue, the willingness to heal, and the decision to believe that our lives still matter,” Manoel says.
If you would like to support Manoel’s projects, you can follow his on Instagram or find his book online.
