International Carnival of Pozitivities - Edition 16

The 16th edition of the International Carnival of Pozitivities is now available at Ogre's Politics and Views at this link.

This edition represents an attempt to reach out to a conservative political community about HIV/AIDS. It is our hope that our messages might encourage those who normally do not come in contact with the issues of HIV/AIDS to think about how to help us fight the pandemic. We have poetry, video, personal accounts and news from around the world.


Next Edition

Please visit the ICP homepage to learn more about this project and how you can contribute at this link.

We are now accepting submissions for edition 17 to be hosted at Slimconomy at this link. Please consider contributing your original artwork, poetry, news, personal accounts, short stories, videos or music files for the next edition.


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Please Share with Your Friends

Please post a permanent link to the ICP homepage (you can get a widget there as well) on your blogs or websites and to share the word of this edition with your readers and friends. The more people who know about the ICP, the more likely it will be that we will continue to receive excellent contributions. In fact, feel free to nominate your own HIV/AIDS related contributions from your favorite blogs or websites. The most powerful stories are those of personal nature, so I would encourage you to seek out or write personal accounts and to share them with the ICP. There are many more of you than of me, so join me in the search for quality blogs that share personal stories about HIV/AIDS from around the world. We have hardly begun to tap into the situation in Asia, so blogs from that region of the world are particularly welcome.

Bono: We Can Be the Generation that Ends Extreme Poverty

The last minute or two of Bono's NAACP humanitarian award speech is so powerful. Please watch this. He begins, "To those in the church who still stand in judgement of the AIDS emergency, let me climb into the pulpit with you for just a moment...."



Excerpts:


"I grew up in Ireland, and when I grew up, Ireland was divided along religious lines, sectarian lines. Young people like me were parched for the vision that poured out of pulpits of Black America. And the vision of a Black reverend from Atlanta, a man who refused to hate because he knew love would do a better job. These ideas travel, you know, and they reached me clear as any tune and lodged in my brain like a song, I couldn’t shake that...."




"I know that America hasn’t solved all of its problems and I know AIDS is still killing people right here in America, and I know the hardest hit are African-Americans, many of them young women. Today at a church in Oakland, I went to see such extraordinary people with this lioness here, Barbara Lee, took me around and with her pastor J. Alfred Smith – and may I say that it was the poetry and the righteous anger of the Black church that was such an inspiration to me, a very white, almost pink, Irish man growing up in Dublin."




"..to those in the church who still sit in judgment on the AIDS emergency, let me climb into the pulpit for just one moment. Because whatever thoughts we have about God, who He is, or even if God exists, most will agree that God has a special place for the poor. The poor are where God lives. God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house."








"God is where the opportunity is lost and lives are shattered.












"God is with the mother who has infected her child with a virus that will take both their lives."











"God is under the rubble in the cries we hear during wartime. God, my friends, is with the poor. And God is with us if we are with them."











"This is not a burden, this is an adventure."









"Don’t let anyone tell you it cannot be done. We can be the generation that ends extreme poverty."

THE ONE CAMPAIGN



*Thanks to Weekend Fisher for transcript.





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International Carnival Of Pozitivities - Edition 11


Be sure to see Steve Schalchlin's edition of the International Carnival of Pozitivities. [LINK] It's issue number 11 and its filled with the stories of those living with or loving someone with HIV/AIDS. I was moved by this revelation from 2sides2ron's guest writer Robin Hope, who describes the joy and the struggles of adopting an HIV positive baby:

"The ignorance that still floats around is amazing . My daughter comes home from school and relays to me how some kids in her health class still believe that you will get AIDS just from being in the same room. Ashley wants to stand up and scream, but instead she screams silently, afraid of the repercussions if she were to disclose her diagnosis."

ICOP - Edition 9

The 9th Edition .... of the International Carnival of the Pozitivities is hosted this month at Creampuff Revolution. [click Red Ribbon for link]

I'd like to feature Kristian's My Space blogpost. It's an open and poignant story about her own 20-year experience with living with HIV. It reminded me that those who look down upon or who fear people who struggle with this disease are in denial about the importance of keeping forgiveness and loving intention at the center of the fullness of our common humanity.

I couldn't make the father of my child leave my home dying from a disease and not care for him. His own relatives called me to say, make him leave, and I thought they were insane. All I knew was, he was sick, and he was my husband, and he was the father of my child. So he was staying, and we were going to learn whatever we needed to learn in order to deal with this.

But I had to be tested as well, and I tested positive. He looked as shocked as I was. I was a straight young mom having sex only within the confines of a marriage. That proved it was not hard to come in contact with someone who had been exposed for whatever reason. If it wasn't that he, himself, was in a high risk category, he could have been exposed to someone who was. It could have started anywhere. Being a member of this race, the human race, linked us all.

To add more news about HIV/AIDS, I have to say that I was astounded to learn that 2008 POTUS candidate John McCain drew a complete blank when asked if he supported the distribution of taxpayer-subsidized condoms in Africa to fight the transmission of H.I.V.


Gene defect leads to an AIDS drug - In 1996, scientists solved a mystery surrounding certain gay men who were immune to AIDS. This year, Pfizer Inc. will sell the first drug based on that discovery. The US and European researchers, writing in several science journals, said a small group of Caucasian gay men carry a gene mutation that provides natural protection against HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Last week, culminating an 11-year race among three drugmakers, Pfizer released successful studies of a new pill [called Maraviroc] specifically designed to mimic the gene defect.
[A tip o'the hat to Rah Bourbon for the heads-up on this one.]

The 8th Edition of the International Carnival of Pozitivities

ICP
Edition #8 of the ICP [International Carnival of the Pozitivities] includes a special Valentine’s Day feature from host Ron Hudson:

As many of you know, I have opened up my personal blog to provide space to anyone who wishes to contribute to the ICP. This month, Janina from the kd lang MSN langisms fan group contributed an original poem in honor of St. Valentine’s Day. Janina describes herself as a hopeless romantic and has shown tremendous support for the ICP within the kd lang fan group since I began to participate a while back. Her poem, hearts ~ is not specifically about HIV/AIDS, but her contribution is intended to spur on others who might be willing to write something relating to HIV/AIDS for future editions of the ICP.

hearts ~

a weaving melancholy,
flocks of birds crossing their wings;
two hearts entwined as one
enflamed passion unites.

truth be upturned
for i can imagine the further dawn;
as our future is upon us
the birds carry on.

the sky paints in the arms of the tree
the raindrop bends the leaf;
flowing musician writes
lyrics embraced it's song.

my lover loves but only me
and her spirit feeds my soul;
a beat to hear them
hearts watermark.

alas, but in my lovers arms
my heart lays to rest;
angels in heaven
forever blessed.

we pray of one another
eternally languid and sweet;
immortally begotten
bittersweet!

In many of our lives, we suffer needlessly from lack of compassion. Often, we suffer alone. Isolation is an ever increasing issue for people living with HIV/AIDS. Never, ever give up hope. Hope is what truly keeps us alive. Reach out to make new friends if your old friends have left you behind. Do it for you because you do not deserve to be alone.

My own monthly feature with updates on news about HIV/AIDS:

ENCOURAGING?
Iranian Scientists Boasting New Herbal-Based Med for HIV/AIDS
Ron Brynaert is reporting at Raw Story that scientists in Iran are claiming to have found an herbal-based medication with no known side effects called 'IMOD' that they say will help to control the AIDS virus and increase immunity in patients who have tested HIV positive.


DISCOURAGING?
Opinion: AIDS burden worsens and the silence lingers by Leonard Pitts Jr.

Eight years ago, I wrote this: "The silence, the absence of voices raised in fear, raised in warning, raised in alarm -- raised -- is deafening." [..] Eight years later, the silence is still loud and the numbers are worse. Blacks now account for nearly half of all new HIV/AIDS diagnoses and contract AIDS at a rate 10 times that of whites. Sixty-four percent of all American women living with HIV/AIDS are black. AIDS is the leading cause of death for black women 25 to 34 years old. [..] And eight years later, Gaye's advice still haunts. Because while poverty plays a role in those ghastly numbers, while access to healthcare and lack of information are factors, who can deny that the main reason for this plague is the silence, the closed-mouth social conservatism, the priggish moral rectitude, of a people still ill at ease discussing sexuality, homosexuality, drug use and other realities. Instead, we mouth piety, prayers and platitudes while the world burns down around us.


DISAPPOINTING.
Halt of trials a setback in AIDS fight

Researchers said last week that they had shuttered two trials of a microbicidal compound because preliminary data found that women using it were contracting HIV, which causes AIDS, at a higher rate than those not using it. [..] The halt was a setback for Conrad, a Virginia health-research group supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which hoped to market the compound. [..] It's the second time in recent years that a microbicide appeared to increase the risk of HIV infection rather than retard it.

TROUBLESOME.
New WHO Chief fails to stand up for people living with AIDS

Approximately 108,000 of 500,000 people living with HIV/AIDS in Thailand depend on GPO-VIR, the generic version of the first-line anti-retroviral therapy produced by the Government Pharmaceutical Organization. According to the Thai government, an estimated 20,000 of these patients have developed resistance to the drug, and are in need of Kaletra. [..] “AHF is alarmed by Dr. Chan’s comments regarding Thailand’s move to increase access to lifesaving AIDS medications for its citizens in need. It is clear that, despite the WHO’s mission to attain the highest possible level of health for all people, the health of people living with HIV in Thailand is not among Dr. Chan’s priorities,” said Michael Weinstein, AIDS Healthcare Foundation’s President. “Thailand’s move to issue a compulsory license for Kaletra will likely lower the price of this lifesaving drug to nearly half of its current cost and will mean the difference between life and de ath for thousands of Thai citizens in need. The comments made by Dr. Chan serve only to undermine Thailand’s efforts to protect the health of its people and it is appalling that in her position she would choose to advocate for multinational corporate interests over the interests of people living with HIV/AIDS in the developing world. AHF seeks immediate clarification from the Director General on her position regarding Thailand’s efforts to protect the health of its citizens.”


NEW CAUSE FOR CONCERN
Seattle area sees drug-resistant HIV

SEATTLE -- A hard-to-treat strain of the virus that causes AIDS has been found in four gay men in Washington's King County, and authorities fear it could spread to more. [..] There is no evidence that the troublesome strain of HIV is spreading rapidly, but its appearance underscores the need for renewed emphasis on safe sex practices, said officials in the Seattle-King County Public Health Department.

International Carnival of the Pozitivities #7

Welcome to the 7th Edition of The International Carnival of the Pozitivities


We begin this 7th edition of ICOP by revealing the spirit by which the Carnival itself was born. In 21 Years of Knowledge that I am HIV+, Ron Hudson of 2sides2ron tells you about himself and his reasons for creating the ICOP.

Ron writes:

Today is the 21st anniversary of having learned my HIV status in 1985. It was a different time then, but stigma, fear and ignorance still surround HIV/AIDS. I am trying to help change that by talking openly and honestly about my situation and by encouraging others to do so as well.

In June of this year, I founded the International Carnival of Pozitivities (ICP) to help bring HIV/AIDS back into the forefront of discussion. This forum is a place to learn the truth about HIV/AIDS, its prevention, treatment and direction.

I joining enigma4ever in thanking Ron and sending him many healing thoughts:

....you have taken good care of yourself and others, and I can only hope and pray that the Next Regime will treat People and our Young with more respect and Truth, and recognize AIDS as the Health Crisis it is....Bless you or sharing your path with us and helping us learn more...Namaste.

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CDC Chatter has posted an article seen in the Bucks County Courier Times in Pennslyvania written by Emanuel Stanley, a Disease Intervention Specialist for the Philadelphia Department of Public Health. The title is The Monster is on the Attack: AIDS ravishes Minority Communities. Dedicated public health servants, in pledging to uphold their mission of "Early Detection, Intervention and Prevention of Disease Transmission, Disability and Death," are frustrated and concerned about African-American and Latino females who are contracting HIV at a high and disproportionate rate in America. Mr. Stanley explains how public health departments must redirect their efforts in order to lower the level of the ever-growing pool of undetected infections, including recognizing that what goes on in our prison system increases the contracting and the spreading of HIV/AIDS to heterosexual females:

With the advent of African-American and Latino females becoming the number one population demographic contracting HIV and eventually dying from AIDS, public health departments around this nation will have to redirect their efforts, via partner notification and other disease control measures, to help curtail this exponentially driven threat. More federal funding will also be necessary to protect the unknowing and unsuspecting female from becoming infected or at least to be notified in a timely fashion about their possible exposure to this deadly virus. This is a "Right to Know" and a "Right to Exist" issue.

An interesting discussion follows, icluding the fact that US. House Rep. Henry Waxman, Ranking Minority Member of the Committee on Government Reform's Minority Office, has requested an explanation of why the CDC has failed to update the Compendium of HIV Prevention Interventions with an Evidence of Effectiveness document. The Compendium, a key compilation of evidence-based prevention measures, has not been updated since its 1999 release, although government experts have identified multiple new proven programs.

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Laura Finley talks about Women And HIV/AIDS in Africa at The AIDS Pandemic. Here are just some of the many facts she provides:

Globally, women now constitute 48% of the HIV positive population. 76% of these HIV positive women live in Sub-Saharan Africa, where women account for 59% of adults living with HIV.

The rising rates of HIV infection in women and young girls is directly related to their inferior social, economic, and legal status in this region of the world.

Violence against women, whether in the context of rape or sexual abuse, is a significant factor in the propagation of HIV in women.

Antiretroviral treatment is now available to 1.3 million people, representing a significant increase in just a few years. Still, ARVs are only available to 17% of the people in Sub-Saharan Africa who need them.

Laura says that, thankfully, "there are feasible steps that can be taken to empower women and address the issues that make them vulnerable to HIV infection." She outlines some of them for us.

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In an article he's written for TomPaine.com titled Bush, the Democrats, and AIDS, Doug Ireland of Direland says that we are losing the fight against the AIDS pandemic, in part, due to too many years of George W. Bush and the Republican-led Congress and that it's time for the Democrats to repair some of the damage.

AIDS prevention education has suffered due to the Bush policy restrictions that are undermining AIDS education and prevention. He forwards hope that Rep Barbara Lee's reintroducing of the PATHWAY Act (Protection Against Transmission of HIV for Women And Youth) will result in ensuring that all those who are sexually active are taught how to practice safe sex���and that includes using condoms.

Doug walks us through some recent history regarding another critical problem that has undermined the 2005 G8 summit meeting goals of universal access to treatment for AIDS by 2010. He shows how the Bush administration has been, behind closed doors, "sabotaging the ability of the world's poorest countries to produce or buy cheap, generic AIDS medications."

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At The Nata village blog, Melody and Martha tell us a New billboard in Nata advertising a new campaign that The National AIDS Coordinating Agency has rolled out to encourage fathers to get tested along with their pregnant partners.



From the website:

Overall, men are dying at a faster rate than women as they are not testing and taking ARV's at the same rate as women. In the past, the PMTCT (prevention of mother to child transmission) program has been geared to women.

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Last February, a blogger named Marianna offered to us some facts about HIV/AIDS in Azerbaijan, as best as she could gather them, at a post titled Situation with HIV/AIDS in Azerbaijan at the New Eurasia website.

Official statistics on HIV/AIDS in Azerbaijan claims that over 700 people were infected and 60 died by early 2005. However, experts say the figures are woefully under-reported. And it may be true: the CIA World Factbook listed 1,400 HIV/AIDS infected people in Azerbaijan back in 2003. Half of them, according to the United Nations Development Program���s data, are drug addicts; 25% have been infected through sexual intercourse. Men constitute 70% of this relatively young group, predominantly ages 30 to 39.

She explained how the government has introduced praiseworthy initiatives to fight the spread of HIV/AIDS, but she also reveals, sadly, that the government has failed to back them up with substantial budgetary allocations. She also pointed out that the citizens of Azerbaijan have a long way to go to fully understand how the disease is spead and what can be done to prevent it:

Materials released at the XIV International Conference on AIDS held in Spain in 2002 acknowledged that less than 60% of survey respondents in Azerbaijan were aware of the disease and the ways to prevent it. Up to 98% of young women in the country held major misconceptions about HIV/AIDS.

Fact Sheet: HIV/AIDS in Eastern Europe and Central Asia
HIV/AIDS is rapidly spreading through countries of this region,
which is now experiencing the fastest-growing epidemic in the world.

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The Dreamer is asking for prayers and healing energy at his blog Nightmare Hall - Welcome to my nightmare. He had to have back surgery in November and he's still healing.

..it was interesting that all of the doctors and nurses who made the rounds while I was in the hospital were amazed tnat I've been living with HIV for so many years and have remained as healthy as I have. They're even more shocked and amazed that I've been off all HIV meds for 16 months and still coasting along fine. A few have asked what I attribute this to and I tell them, dumb luck, genetics, taking care of myself, being aware of and listening to my body, doing my own research (on the web) plus taking the law into my own hands as far as medical treatment goes.

In this post, he talks about how to choose a doctor, especially when you're living HIV+.

My healing thoughts and prayers are with you, Dreamer.

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There's a lot we can learn from Japan, says JP at Japundit, and one of those lessons is about the new Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who recently donned a pair of red Giorgio Armani sunglasses given to him by rockstar Bono for the media cameras. [Part of the profits from the Red-brand sunglasses are donated to AIDS programs].



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LeVoyd Carter's HIV/AIDS - Pestilence Within Our Land �� Blogswana is a must read call to action at the Blogswana blog. He was inspired by the ABC Primetime news special titled, ���Out of Control: AIDS in Black America." The research for this special was initiated by the late Peter Jennings. Mr. Carter asks this of you:

Please make a decision to make a difference by passing this important message and link on to at least five (5) people - NOW

He includes a list of...

Important Links Related to HIV/AIDS

Afraid to Ask

AIDS Education Global Information System (AEGIS)

AIDSinfo

AIDS Survival Project

AIDS Treatment Data Network

AIDS Treatment Initiatives (ATI)

American Foundation for AIDS Research (AmFAR)

American Social Health Association Resource Center

Body, The

CDC

ChildKind, Inc.

Correctional HIV Consortium

Critical Path AIDS Project

Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation

Emory/Atlanta Center for AIDS Research

Families USA

GA Division of Public Health (DHR)

Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC)

Gender and HIV/AIDS

Global Campaign for Microbicides

Hepatitis Information (American Liver Foundation)

HIVdent

Internationa Association of Physicians in AIDS Care

JAMA

Kaiser Family Foundation

Medscape HIV/AIDS

NAMES Project

National AIDS & Education Services for Minorities

National Institutes of Health (NIH)

National Minority AIDS Council

National Tuberculosis Center Information Line

Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG)

POZ Magazine

Sexuality Information and Education Council of the US

Southeast AIDS Training and Education Center

Straight But Not Narrow

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services

US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

Until There’s A Cure

 

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Kelly is one of 324 South Carolinians on a list that was started in July after federal funding was cut for South Carolinians who needed financial assistance for expensive AIDS medications. Most people would agree that nobody in a country as rich as ours should have to wait to receive life-saving medication. At the Blog To End AIDS, Angie reveals how the federal government has cut funding for HIV/AIDS treatment and how tebh State of South Carolina is woefully short on its appropriations for HIV/AIDS programs. According to Angie, the DHEC [Department of Health and Environmental Control] is working with patient assistance groups, thankfully, to get people like Kelly the medicine they needand will soon ask the General Assembly for $5 million in funding to help patients on the list.

Kelly - you are in my healing thoughts and prayers.

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In November, Ron Brynaert of Raw Story wrote an article which pointed out "a study conducted by an international Christian child development organization finds that many Americans are ambivalent about the world's HIV/AIDS crisis, with nearly two-fifths admitting to having difficulty sympathizing with victims."

While roughly one out of seven Americans (15 percent) said they donated in 2005 to an organization specifically to address the HIV/AIDS crisis, only 8 percent said that they have a compassionate attitude toward HIV/AIDS victims and have donated to the cause.

Fifty-two percent admitted to being unengaged with the HIV/AIDS crisis, expressing conflicting, neutral or undecided views and behaviors related to addressing the issue, according to the press release.

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At 2sides2ron, guest writer Royce Hardin, returns this month to contribute a poem that he just penned titled Weakness' Temptation. Ron says that he hopes you will welcome Royce's work with praise and feedback. The poem begins...

Give me strength
To keep my life whole
To journey with grace
The twisting hilly miles

Give me strength
To keep myself upright
With dignity
To honor love, life, calmness and truth....

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Ron Hudson [2sides2ron] hosts the powerful words of a gifted poet who has dedicated his poem to the great actor and director of Chilean theatre, Andr��s P��rez, who died of AIDS on 3 January 2002.

See Ya Eres Todo Un Muerto by Guest Poet Mario Mel��ndez of Chile

[Translation: You Are Already Completely Dead]

Mario has agreed to participate in the International Carnival of Pozitivities as the first contributor from South America. Ron first "met" Mario a couple of years ago when he was asked to translate Mario's poetry for the Other Voices Poetry Project. Since then, Ron has been working with Mario to translate a number of additional poems that should soon be available in print.

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International Carnival of the Pozitivities #6

Ron Hudson hosts the International Carnival of the Pozitivities [ICP] this month with the 6th - World AIDS Day edition. We encourage you to participate in future editions. Next month's ICP [#7] will be hosted by me, Jude Nagurney Camwell, here at Iddybud Journal.

The homepage URL for the ICP is at THIS LINK.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me.

World AIDS Day -December 1

When asked to write something for December's International Carnival of the Pozitivities, a cooperative blog effort to help others understand how HIV/AIDS effects real human beings, I immediately agreed. I've lost (and am losing) too many friends and loved ones to a disease that no one talks about because of pride, fear, embarrassment, depression, or pain. We need to open up and talk about HIV/AIDS and how it effects our lives and the lives of those around us.

December 1, 2006 is World AIDS Day. On this day, I'll tell you about Chuck, a boy I grew up with and called a close friend. He was always a joyous person. A gifted musician and a gay male living in a town where his prospects for happiness with openness about his true self were dulled by prejudice and fear, he moved to San Francisco in the late 70s. Chuck was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS in the days when the public barely knew what the heck it was. Those were the days when President Reagan's response to the easily forseeable oncoming public health crisis was "halting and ineffective," according to his biographer Lou Cannon. "Those infected initially with this mysterious disease -- all gay men -- found themselves targeted with an unprecedented level of mean-spirited hostility." [source of quote]

I knew Chuck's mother and father all my life. They were good friends to my own parents and Chuck was more to me like family than just a friend. He was like a big brother to me. An only child, Chuck was luckier than some others of his time. He was "out" from the beginning. None of us who knew and loved him ever questioned his personal choices. He had wonderful, loving and supportive parents.

The disease took him quickly once the opportunistic infections begin to emerge. At that time, medicine could do little for him. There just wasn't enough known about the disease except what you'd hear from the so-called "moral majority" - that it was a punishment from God for the sin of homosexuality. When I speak about real values today on this blog - love, compassion, understanding, human rights, justice - I speak about the memory of the lack of compassion and the outright fear-mongering of the Religious Right toward a disease that stole someone I knew and loved.

Looking back, I wish I could have been mature enough to have been an effective listener in the many times when Chuck and his mother must have needed to talk to someone confidentially. I wasn't old enough, nor was I educated enough at the time. I remember my own parents explaining it all to me. I didn't learn about HIV/AIDS from my own government. Instead, I learned it the hard way, and believe me, I realize it was a lot harder for those who had to suffer the night sweats and the never ending body pains - hardly realizing what was slowly killing them. I made a journey West ten years ago just to visit Chuck's grave. I wish to God Chuck could have been standing there - alive. Thankfully, there has been good progress in medical research that allows for HAART (anti-retroviral therapy) that can improve the quality and length of life for many HIV-positive people. The importance of early detection is key to survival. If you are not sure, please go and get tested today.

On December 1 - World AIDS day - I see that there are many people in this world who have taken up the cause because our leaders abdicated their responsibilities so long ago. President Reagan could have chosen to end the homophobic rhetoric that flowed from so many in his administration. Dr. C. Everett Koop, Reagan's surgeon general, has said that because of "intradepartmental politics" he was cut out of all AIDS discussions for the first five years of the Reagan administration. On June 1 1987, after being booed at an AIDS conference, then-Vice President George HW Bush wondered aloud in front of a live mic: "Who was that? Some gay group out there?" We're way behind the eight-ball, but I give former President Clinton credit for really opening up the gates of knowledge about HIV/AIDS during his administration. With a foul scent of the old "moral majority" foolishness, the current Bush administration seems to have closed some doors and brought back some of the fear and ignorance about birth control and how it can stop the deadly disease in our own nation as well as overseas.

A leader who understands values from the most human perspective would scramble to push an agenda that would include real and complete sex education for the protection of the children of this world. If you think that frank talk about sex causes children to lose their innocence, just wait until you see what the effect of AIDS will do to their sense of innocence. I was no more than an innocent child when Chuck died of AIDS-related complications. It is realizing that Chuck was an innocent child that makes me so sad as I write these words today. We're all innocent children.

Break the silence.
If we want to know all we can about HIV/AIDS, go to the World AIDS Day website.

Please say a prayer for Chuck and promise me you'll teach your children well.


________________

See Royce Hardin's moving, honest and beautiful testimony to the trials of HIV/AIDS, along with the mysteries and wonders of love, life, death, and the spirit.

See outgoing UN secretary-general Kofi Annan's statement for World AIDS Day.