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This entry is a part of our World AIDS Day Blogathon. During this week we share our experiences, stories, and ideas about how HIV affects young people around the world. Join the blogathon .
The much publicized World AIDS day has come and gone. So what does that mean? Does it mean that for that one day we gave HIV/ AIDS awareness our full attention and then for the rest of the year it’s place is on the back burner? As a Jamaican youth advocate who has had numerous encounters with persons living with HIV/ AIDS and who knows of the life changing effects of this disease, I implore you all to live the message of safe sex and antidiscrimination against persons already infected with the disease. I firmly believe that persons who are truly passionate about youth sexual and reproductive health should not only spend time trying to influence policies that may take years to change but should spend more time interacting with persons who are vulnerable to sexually transmitted diseases especially the marginalized groups in our respective countries.
On December 1st this year I spent some time reflecting on my life and how fortunate I have been as several persons I have known who have been infected with AIDS have died over the past years. It brought tears to my eyes when I remembered a particular instance in which I had gone to a home for children living with HIV here in Jamaica one Christmas as a closing to an awareness campaign a group I was involved in had embarked on.
During that visit we handed over the gifts from our fund raising activities and spent time interacting for hours with the children. So happy and loving were the kids that I immediately forgot about the nature of their illness. This however hit me when less than 6 months later we revisited the home just to realize that atleast 2 of the children had died during the passing months. I can only imagine how painful it must have been for the other children some of whom I am sure might have started to wonder about their own faith. This instantly brought tears to my eyes and again as I sit here to write this message the tears flow as I think about how much more needs to be done to save the children of this world from this deadly disease. Today I say my friends “YES I CAN....SUPPORT SOMEONE LIVING WITH HIV” which was the tagline for this year’s national campaign here in Jamaica. The question I ask therefore is WILL YOU...?
Let us all in whatever way we can continue to help promote HIV/AIDS awareness especially amongst our youth population, the population most at risk worldwide.
“I can support someone living with HIV because....It could happen to me or someone I love.”
M.S (Jamaica)
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