Desire Saturday Night Experience

 

Arts.Advocacy+Wellness: "Reflecting on World AIDS Day"

Reflecting on World AIDS Day:

eradicating Stigmas and Healing

Yesterday, we observed World AIDS through live television broadcasting, rallies, candlelight vigils, town hall ceremonies, and online campaigns.

It's reported that 33 million people are living with HIV/AIDS, myself being one. I humbly say thank you to all who chanted silent prayers for me and others. Thank you to everyone who is walking strong in this journey towards ending this fight. Although I feel this fight may go on forever, I want to acknowledge the efforts in the many people helping to

eradicate the stigma and shame associated with this condition (not disease). I say condition proudly because disease, for me, is a dis-ease of my spirit. Disease attributes to a permanent state of immobility. Condition, on the other hand, is a temporary state of being, and can be shifted when we place our mind in a state of healing and wellness, transcending to a higher level of consciousness and inner bliss.

As we continue to find cures and use remedies (pharmaceutical and homeopathic medicine) in order to remain fervid and healthier in life, let's look at how the language we put into our bodies and minds can also heal us physically, emotionally, spiritually, and to a larger dynamic culturally and socially.

Lead with much light this week.

Cornelius LIFE Jones

Thanks for reading on this

A.A+Wsome Wednesday.

More to follow next Wednesday.

Now tune into Torya and Her Notes on Ubuntu

and for up to date information on my works and my journey with FlagBoy

follow me at: www.corneliusjonesjr.com or facebook: Cornelius Jones Jr.

Arts.Advocacy+Wellness: "Torya and Her Notes on Ubuntu"

Ubuntu Client Success Story

 

Linda

22  years old

 

As a child, Linda dreamed of going to university and buying a house for her mother. When she was eight, she was raped by an HIV positive man.  She was also abused by her mother’s boyfriend’s friends on several occasions. She never told anyone. She was living in fear and attempted suicide numerous times because she thought she was infected with HIV. The girl who wanted nothing more than a university education dropped out of school at 15. She needed a safe place and significant psychological counseling to deal with years if trauma.

 

Linda was devastated, hopeless, and helpless when she first walked into our offices. She felt that she had no sense of direction. Although she knew that she wanted an education and to escape her current circumstances, she did not have the tools to do so.

 

Linda was introduced to Ubuntu in 2003. After speaking to an Ubuntu counselor, Linda was enrolled in the Out-of-School Youth Program. This program provided Linda and 19 other young adults with soft-skills necessary to get and keep a job, like interviewing skills, time management, and working well with others. Linda continued to see her counselors regularly to work through her past abuse and understands that it is not her fault.

 

Her counselors eventually convinced Linda to be tested for HIV. “I was so scared,” she explained. “I was certain that I had HIV and that I was going to die.” The test results, however, confirmed that she was negative. Linda was overjoyed and the news gave her a new lease on life. She worked very hard as part of the Out-of-School Program and after graduation; Ubuntu helped her submit her CV to a number of local businesses for entry level positions. We are happy to announce that Linda is now a full-time representative for a national insurance company.

 

Linda now expresses herself more freely and has regained a sense of clarity. She has developed a clear vision for her future, set realistic goals and defeated the overwhelming sense of hopelessness.  Next fall, she will fulfill her dream and apply to University.

WORLD AIDS DAY: UNIVERSAL ACCESS & HUMAN RIGHTS

Posted by: The Gayte Keepers

Every 12 seconds someone contracts HIV.
Every 16 seconds someone dies from AIDS.
Number of people with HIV in 2008:
TOTAL: 33,400,000
ADULTS: 31,300,000
WOMEN: 15,700,000
CHILDREN: 2,100,000
Number of AIDS deaths in 2008:
TOTAL: 2,000,000
ADULTS: 1,700,000
CHILDREN: 280,000
SOURCE: UNAIDS 2009 AIDS Epidemic Update

Ahead of this year’s World AIDS Day, United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, the World AIDS Campaign, and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS have come together to announce the theme of “Universal Access and Human Rights.”

The theme has been chosen to address the critical need to protect human rights and attain access for all to HIV prevention, treatment, care, and support. It also acts as a call to countries to remove laws that discriminate against people living with HIV, women, and marginalized groups. Countries are also urged to realize the many commitments they made to protect human rights in the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS (2001) and the Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS (2006). Speaking ahead of the announcement at the U.N. in New York City, Michel Sidibé, executive director of UNAIDS, said, "Achieving universal access to prevention, treatment, care, and support is a human rights imperative. It is essential that the global response to the AIDS epidemic is grounded in human rights and that discrimination and punitive laws against those most affected by HIV are removed.”

Many countries still have laws and policies that impede access to HIV services and criminalize those most vulnerable to HIV. These include laws that criminalize men who have sex with men, transgender people, and lesbians; laws that criminalize sex workers; and laws criminalizing people who use drugs and the harm-reduction measures and substitution therapy they need. Some 84 countries have reported that they have laws and policies that act as obstacles to effective HIV prevention, treatment, care, and support for vulnerable populations.

Speaking from Cape Town, South Africa, World AIDS Campaign executive director Marcel van Soest said, “The epidemic has not gone away, tens of millions of people are still affected, but those hit the hardest, the poor and marginalized in society, often don’t have a say when big decisions and laws are made. Their fundamental right to essential health care and life free from fear of stigma and discrimination must be strengthened. Governments continue to pass and enforce overly broad laws that criminalize the transmission of HIV which are in direct contradiction to their commitments to promote…a social and legal environment that is supportive of safe and voluntary disclosure of HIV status.”


Some 59 countries still have laws that restrict the entry, stay, and residence of people living with HIV based on their positive HIV status only, discriminating against them in their freedom of movement and right to work. At the same time, laws and regulations protecting people with HIV from discrimination and women from gender inequality and sexual violence are not fully implemented or enforced.
SOURCE By: Advocate.com Editors