Diaversary: 15 Years of Becoming

Fifteen years. That’s how long I’ve been living with type 1 diabetes.

ISPAD 51st Conference, 2025

I was diagnosed three days after Christmas in 2010 — a season meant for joy, abruptly rewritten by hospital corridors, insulin vials, needles, fear, and questions no family is prepared to answer. Life didn’t pause to let us catch our breath. It demanded adaptation — immediately, relentlessly. Diabetes didn’t knock. It arrived and stayed.

3 days before diagnosis, 2010

For many years, survival was the goal. Learning how to inject. Learning how to eat. Learning how to calculate, correct, and carry on. Learning how to live with a condition people rarely see but constantly misunderstand. There were highs and lows — physiological and emotional — and a quiet, exhausting weight that came with having to be vigilant every single day.

Diabetes was personal. Private. Heavy.

Then came 2019 — the turning point.

Nine years after diagnosis, a call was made. An advocacy training camp for two people living with type 1 diabetes across the Anglophone region. That moment altered the trajectory of Tinotenda Dzikiti’s life forever. For the first time, diabetes was no longer just something happening to me — it became something I could speak through.

Advocacy training 2019

After that training, accountability took root. I drafted a thorough report for the Zimbabwe Diabetes Association — my member association then and now. A huge thank you to them and to everyone involved. They did not just see a participant; they discovered potential. They trusted me. And in that trust, a natural, unstoppable passion was ignited — to advocate not only for myself, but for thy community. Since 2019, there has been no turning back. Learn more here

In 2020, I joined T1International as a Digital Advocate. That chapter opened doors I never knew existed. We organized, mobilized, and disrupted. Campaigns like #insulin4all and Fight for Five were not hashtags — they were lifelines. Strategy meetings, global summits, collaborations across borders — all centered on one truth: insulin is not optional, and access is not a privilege.

By then, advocacy had become my language.

In 2020, I found #dedoc°voices program — and everything shifted again. Through the diabetes community network, and with a special shout-out to my dear friend Nejwa Muyezen, an opportunity was shared that I seized without hesitation. My first ISPAD experience came through the 2020 virtual conference, followed by ATTD 2021 and ISPAD 2021 virtual attendances.

#dedoc°voices at #ISPAD2022 & #ISPAD2024

Then came ISPAD 2022 — my first face-to-face conference. ATTD 2024 followed. Then ISPAD 2024. And now ISPAD 2025. These were not just conferences; they were rooms where lived experience finally mattered. Through continued partnerships with ISPAD and special arrangements with #dedoc°, I have been granted free access to conferences since 2022 — something I will forever be grateful for.

Some ISPAD EB & AC members

In 2021, I officially became an ISPAD member. Later, I volunteered within the Membership Committee and was welcomed as the first Patient Advocate. From 2022 to 2024, I served on the ISPAD Advisory Council. In 2025, I served on the ISPAD 51st Scientific Conference Committee. These were not symbolic roles — they were seats at tables that once excluded people like me.

Highlights with ISPAD EB & AC members

From September 2024 to November 2025, I served as the African Community Representative for people living with diabetes within ALIGN T1D. That work culminated in a strategy launched on 14 November 2025. For this opportunity, I remain deeply grateful to the Breakthrough T1D Global Responsibility team for believing in African voices and lived experience. Learn more here.

In 2023, I joined the NCDI Poverty Network as a Voice for PEN-Plus — an initiative focused on improving care for people living with severe noncommunicable diseases. Through this platform, I attended the 1st ICPPA Conference in 2024 and the 2nd ICPPA in 2025, alongside colleagues living with and advocating for some of the most severe NCDs. This work grounded my advocacy in systems, policy, and equity.

Highlights from 1st & 2nd ICPPA

Through #dedoc°voices, I found my tribe — and I love them hard. #PayItForward is not just a phrase; it is a responsibility. Through this community, I learned the principle that now defines my advocacy: Nothing About Us Without Us.

My loop support system

Since October 2024, I have been a hybrid closed looper — an opportunity made possible singlehandedly by Miroslava Calegari, whom I lovingly call my “T1D mum.” She guided me through processes, resources, and systems with patience and heart. 

Tino & Miroslava at ISPAD 2022

Alongside her, the magnificent support of Dawn Adams, Carol Go, Belinda Moore and Nathalie Piat cannot go unnoticed. I was not only taught how to walk — they helped construct the path for me to crawl, then sprint.

Bryn, Belinda & Mary

At home in Zimbabwe, my journey has been anchored by exceptional medical professionals. Dr. Ismail Ticklay and Dr. Prisca Matyanga-Mureriwa have been my shoulders, my walking sticks, my compass through some of the most critical paths. Much of what shines within my advocacy today has been shaped by these two mentors — my anchors. I do not know what this journey would look like without them, my colleagues living with diabetes, and the many collaborators who walk beside me.

Advocacy support system

Today marks my 15th diabetes anniversary — my diaversary.

Random snapshot of my Android APS

It is a moment to pause, reflect, and say thank you.

Community, SolidarMed, PGH

So much has happened that I sometimes forget to write it down. Yet these moments are extraordinary: collaborations with the World Health Organization, UNICEF Zimbabwe, Lili Grace Foundation, SolidarMed Zimbabwe — and many more. None of this was guaranteed. None of this was easy.

Diabetes did not end me. It refined me.

ATTD 2024, Florence, Italy

Fifteen years in, I am still here — advocating, building, challenging systems, centering lived experience, and refusing to be silent.

This is not the end of the story. It is proof that survival can become purpose — and purpose can become legacy.