“It’s like driving a car,” Kwelagobe said in five-inch heels. “We use seatbelts like condoms, as a precaution. We don’t go around driving like a maniac.”

Elizabeth A. Kaplan, a Williams College sophomore who is HIV-positive and contracted the virus from a blood transfusion, shared her experiences.

Kaplan, an AIDS activist since high school, encouraged others “who weren’t driven by personal experiences” to join her in the fight against HIV-AIDS. Other students from local universities including Brandeis, Tufts, Boston University, Boston College and Mount Holyoke joined those from as far away as the University of Maryland.

“As future doctors, we want to show that we are not indifferent to the people {stricken] locally or abroad,” said Margot L. Albeck, one of 40 Harvard Medical School first-years who made the trip to Government Center. “We do not want to be bystanders as this crisis unravels.”

Between speakers, Co-Founder of Student Global AIDS Campaign Ben M. Wikler ’03 led chants, and Gumboots, a Harvard dance group led a lap of hopping and singing around City Hall Plaza.

Protestors culminated the over three-hour-long program with a minute-long silence.

—Staff writer Justin D. Gest can be reached at gest@fas.harvard.edu.