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World AIDS Day, Dec. 1, 2009
Posted: Sun Nov 29, 2009 4:04 pm
by Fire Daughter
Being my mother's daughter I have taken over her WAD tasks because she can not do it this year.
In 1989 my Uncle Stephen was diagnosed with HIV. Most here know that he recieved tainted blood after a hit and run car accident when he was 13. He was 20 when he found out that that he would eventually get AIDS. Literally, from the moment the diagnosis came down, my mother and uncle became crusaders. Not only to find a way to eliminate the virus, but to help those who were medically and socially ostricized for being inflicted with it. They became members of a group called AmFAR...the American Foundation for AIDS Research, subsequently, they became members of many other groups as well. UNAIDS, AVERT, EJAF, and Bono's ONE Foundation, just to name a few.
Mom and Uncle Steve's first World AIDS Day was in Dec of 1989, a little over a month after his diagnosis. He passed in 2001, but my mother still crusades on. Still helps those who cannot help themselves. Still searches for that elusive way to end HIV and AIDS. Here in America, progress has taken a leap forward, many who have been diagnosis now are living AIDS free lives partly due to the work my mother and Uncle Steve did in the early days. But, the rest of the world, namely countries like South Africa and India, AIDS runs rampant, killing people at an alarming rate. Leaving children orphaned by the millions. I have 2 sisters (3 counting Zia) and 2 brothers who came to us because their biological parents died in Africa from AIDS.
My mother cannot do it this year. So, here I am, along with my brothers and sisters, we have taken up the crusade and on this World AIDS Day, we are on our way to San Francisco, where we will dedicate a patch to the AIDS Quilt in honor of Alex, who came to us and passed on from AIDS this summer.
I post this in memory of my Uncle, Stephen Clarke McKinney. And also in memory of the millions who have been inflicted and have succumbed to AIDS. May their lives not be in vain, and may we yet find a way to eliminate it before it kills more.
World AIDS Day: May it be the last we need to have...
Posted: Sun Nov 29, 2009 6:01 pm
by Savor Dam
Amen.
Posted: Mon Nov 30, 2009 2:01 am
by aliantha
Safe journey, Fire Daughter.
Posted: Mon Nov 30, 2009 3:04 am
by danlo
GO, Kidz, GO!!!!!!
Posted: Mon Nov 30, 2009 3:55 am
by Fist and Faith
Well done, Brooke.
Posted: Mon Nov 30, 2009 6:42 am
by variol son
I have a family member with AIDS who has come home to die more than a handful of times, so I'm glad to see this thread exists this year.
It also reminds me of something I was speaking with Furls about a few months ago. Here in NZ, a man who knew he was HIV+ and had unprotected sex with 14 men and women, infecting seven of them, was supposed to appear in court today. He couldn't however as he passed away this morning, cause as yet unknown. Since he was insisting that each opf his victims give their testimony in person, it gives them a small repreive from public humiliation.
Posted: Tue Dec 01, 2009 12:59 am
by Harley Guy
Myles, Brooke, Heidi, Jordan, Ryan, Tristan and Micah made it safely to San Francisco.
I'm so proud of my kids....
Posted: Tue Dec 01, 2009 1:27 am
by Savor Dam
Justifiably so. Looking forward to the story of tomorrow's dedication of Alex's swatch in the quilt.
Posted: Tue Dec 01, 2009 3:14 am
by Fist and Faith
Every time one of you lists even some of the kids like that, I think you should just call them your football team instead of your family.
Posted: Tue Dec 01, 2009 5:30 pm
by Furls Fire
Look! Another milestone in our fight! (I knew about this for about a month, and it's fitting that he chose WAD to make the announcement.)
news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091201/ap_on_bi_ge/af_south_africa_aids
All babies testing HIV positive in South Africa will be treated. The great work continues.
And my children, no words can express how proud I am of them. They will continue this fight long after I leave.
I love you, my babies
Posted: Tue Dec 01, 2009 6:03 pm
by aliantha
Great news, Furls!
Posted: Wed Dec 02, 2009 1:13 am
by Dromond
One day...
...one day World Aids Day will be a memorial only. With the ceaseless effort of people like Furls Fire and Her Children, I believe that day will be sooner.
Posted: Wed Dec 02, 2009 2:42 am
by Furls Fire
Heard from the kids a litle while ago. Jordan's presentation went very well. He says to me on the phone "I didn't cry, Aunt Tracie, I almost did, but I held it together."
So proud of my kids. They will be heading home tomorrow morning.
Posted: Thu Dec 03, 2009 2:07 pm
by Furls Fire
Kids got back safely. As soon as I feel a bit better, I'll attempt to upload pics and the vid so everyone can see how beautifully Jordan did with Alex's dedication.
I'm one proud Mom at the moment.
Posted: Thu Dec 03, 2009 4:37 pm
by Menolly
Posted: Mon Mar 15, 2010 6:23 pm
by Fire Daughter
I wasn't sure where to put this, so I decided to bump up this thread and put it here.
Annie Lennox on the changing faces of HIV/AIDS:
www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/03/13/annie.len ... l?hpt=Sbin
Watch Annie Lennox on "Amanpour" at 2100 CET Sunday on CNN International, at 2 p.m. ET Sunday on CNN, or podcast @ amanpour.com/podcast.
(CNN) -- Singer and activist Annie Lennox wants the world to know that the HIV virus and the debilitating condition it causes, AIDS, are the leading killers of women of reproductive age in the world.
"The world needs to wake up and realize that the HIV/AIDS pandemic has changed its face since the 1980s. It has been affecting women and children at an enormous rate," Lennox told CNN's Christiane Amanpour in an interview aired Friday.
"As a woman and a mother myself, I want to contribute to keeping this issue on the table. HIV is invisible," she added.
"You have swine flu, you have bird flu, and everybody is up in arms. But this has been a killer for years and it's not getting any better."
Lennox this month went to the United Nations headquarters in New York to help launch a five-year action plan to provide recommendations on how to address the disproportionate impact of HIV/AIDS on women and girls worldwide.
Health officials acknowledge that great strides have been made addressing HIV/AIDS as a whole. But they say when it comes to women and girls, the world has made little progress.
Lennox said her intention is not to shock, but to break stigmas on the subject, by using the power of her music.
"Music is a great vehicle for communications, and I have a certain platform. I have an opportunity and I have to take it," she said. "As a woman, and as a mother and as an artist, it's something that I feel compelled to do. Otherwise it would be a complete waste."
Lennox said she has been very focused on this issue since she heard former South African President Nelson Mandela describe HIV/AIDS as "genocide" in 2003.
"To hear Mandela describe the HIV pandemic as a genocide really almost knocked me off my chair," she said.
"You know in South Africa, post-apartheid, one in every three pregnant women is carrying HIV. That is hugely significant. If they don't have intervention, the baby will be born with the virus. That baby will probably last, maybe a year."
Lennox added that a woman is raped every minute in South Africa, a country that is believed to have more people infected with HIV/AIDS than any other nation.
"You're seeing women especially, and young girls and young children, right at the front of the devastation. And it breaks my heart."
Asked whether she thinks the next generation will take up the HIV/AIDS issue as energetically as she has, Lennox said, "Unless people campaign in civil society, unless governments and leaderships campaign and keep the issue on the table, it's very hard to say."
The more we speak out, the more information is spread. And the more ammo we have to fight this.
Posted: Tue Mar 16, 2010 3:30 pm
by matrixman
Thanks for the article, Fire Daughter. I really had no idea the HIV epidemic was affecting women to such a degree, but there's kind of a sad logic to it once I think about it - the situation in Africa.
Posted: Wed Mar 17, 2010 4:38 pm
by Angel Daughter
In between final exams I was looking at the internet and saw this on Yahoo. This is the type of thing that used to set my mother's teeth on edge.
news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100317/hl_nm/us_insurers
I will not quote the whole artical, but the jest of it is, in 2001 Fortis, who is the parent company for Assuarance Health dropped a then 17 year old college student from coverage after he was diagnosed HIV positive. He took them to court (GO JEROME!) and won. By doing this, he made it possible to discover that they had drop quite a few other people who were HIV positive as well.
Our mother worked so very hard against such injustices, and I intend to keep fighting as well.
Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2010 1:32 am
by Fire Daughter
Looks like Heidi beat me to it.
