Stigma is the bigger issue here...

I read a post over at Chichi’s in the (2nd and 3rd paragraphs) about the Red ribbon she wore on world AIDS day.

In the post, a much older colleague of hers asks her why she’s “advertising” her status with the ribbon. By this, that guy obviously meant that by Chichi wearing the Red Ribbon symbolised her infection with HIV/AIDS and positive living. This is very astonishing coming from someone that lives in Uganda (a country that has fought the HIV/AIDS virus so hard that the scars will never go away.) This guy works for a humanitarian organisation that provides food and aid to people in need. Most of these people in need are HIV orphans and victims.

Being an employee of this organization alone should bring him into close proximity with HIV patients almost everyday. And he still asks why she is “advertising” her status? And given that this man is higher than her in both age and seniority makes it a disgusting thing that he said that. I’d understand if it came for a 15 year old. But him?

Stigma is the biggest obstacle in the success in the fight against AIDS in the world. Stigma is the open aggression towards HIV/ AIDS. It is what we called “Pointing fingers” way back when AIDS had just hit. Way back when every “thin” person, or anyone with a cough or fever was suspected of having “silim”/Slim". It is this that gave the sufferers that embarrassment they suffered when they learnt that they were infected with the virus. I learnt that when u point one finger at someone, the other 3 are pointing right back at u.

Further down in Chichi’s post, there is another female colleague of hers that says that “she can never be close to an HIV positive person.” I think this is very careless and ignorant of her. It borders on illiteracy. When we were children (about 9 yrs olds) we hid from our relatives that were thought to suffer from AIDS. Because we thought they would infect us if they touched us. That was then. HIV was not talked about then and we could be excused for our actions because we were very young then and we had not been educated about HIV. For someone to still speak of such in this day and age is short of stupid.

In the past decade, there has been a huge transformation. 2 decades ago, when people found out that they were infected, most of them took their own lives because they saw HIV/AIDS as a death sentence. Infected people were excommunicated and shunned by everybody, including their relations. Suicide was seen as a way out.

When the government of Uganda fought AIDS by fighting stigma, this was a well aimed arrow. These days, many “high” society people are living positively with HIV and are well known activists. An example is ActionAid’s Beatrice Were. HIV should no longer be seen as a curse of a death sentence. It should be seen as a manageable illness. Just like Asthma.

I still think that the fight against AIDS is one that will never end if we still have adults that think like 5 year olds in this era of sensitization.

- Cheri

Still Keeping the promise...

Thank you for putting up a brave fight. However, we need to re-arm now.

How time flies; it feels like just the other day that I talked about the Red Ribbon for the first time. And a year has gone by already. Another year and more good news on the HIV battle front. Well, not entirely good news. It’s just Uganda that’s doing well in that war. It’s shouldn’t be just Uganda that does well, the whole world should be ululating and jumping with joy. The prevalence rates in Uganda have fallen drastically from 21percent to 7 percent between 1991 and 2004. With this result, Uganda; which was once seen as one of the worst affected countries; is seen as a huge success story in the global fight against AIDS? This is a direct result of the awareness campaigns mounted by the government with assistance from international grants and donations. However, in countries like Jamaica, Dominican Republic Zambia and Senegal, the prevalence rates are soaring. Perhaps they should adopt the steps Uganda took to fight this disease.

Aside from all the campaigning and marketing, the Red Ribbon still continues to cause waves. Like the poppy campaign in Britain to remember World War heroes, the ribbon is worn in remembrance of the dead, the people living positively with AIDS and it also helps as a reminder to people of the danger of AIDS.

Teenagers here completely disregard whatever is said about protection. According to some sources most teenagers are more afraid of unwanted pregnancy than they are of contracting the virus. On a popular talk show here, the Jeremy Kyle show which features mainly adolescents with issues such as child custody, drug addiction, multiple sex partners and teenage pregnancies, most of the guests don’t really know much about HIV. Countries need to adopt stronger and more effective communication methods to get the vital information to the people in this age group as they are more in danger given their lax approach to sex.

People should stop thinking about HIV/AIDS as a disease that affects only people in developing countries as this stereotype only works to put them in danger. Reports show that the prevalence rates in Britain are rising faster than rates elsewhere in Europe.

It’s almost 4 decades since the HIV virus first hit and no vaccine has been discovered in spite of all the money and time sank into it. It has claimed more than 25 million lives worldwide. That is a little under the entire current population of Uganda. Each day, about 6000 children are orphaned. More than ¾s of these children are in Sub Saharan Africa and Asia. The statistics are sad. But statistics are not a way to win a war. Statistics only work to make staggering exaggerations.

The only statistics that matter to this fight are the increase in the number of people that choose to Abstain from sex until they get married; the number of people that choose to Be faithful to their partners and finally, the number of people that choose to use Condoms as a method of protection. As these numbers increase, HIV/AIDS will be kicked out for good hopefully.

Here’s to the continued fight against AIDS and stigma. And hopefully to an HIV free generation in 20 years.

-Cheri

Gearing up for World AIDS Day -December 1st

World AIDS Day, observed December 1 each year, is dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection. AIDS has killed more than 25 million people, with an estimated 38.6 million people living with HIV, making it one of the most destructive epidemics in recorded history. Despite recent, improved access to antiretroviral treatment and care in many regions of the world, the AIDS epidemic claimed an estimated 3.1 million (between 2.8 and 3.6 million) lives in 2005 of which, more than half a million (570,000) were children.

(photo credit: Edinburgh Stop AIDS Society / SPW) The concept of a World AIDS Day originated at the 1988 World Summit of Ministers of Health on Programmes for AIDS Prevention. Since then, it has been taken up by governments, international organizations and charities around the world.

From its inception until 2004, UNAIDS spearheaded the World AIDS Day campaign, choosing annual themes in consultation with other global health organizations. In 2005 this responsibility was turned over to World AIDS Campaign (WAC), who chose Stop AIDS: Keep the Promise as the main theme for World AIDS Day observances through 2010, with more specific sub-taglines chosen annually. (source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Get involved in your local community during this year's activities to mark the global World AIDS Day.

Uganda: ABC Aids Strategy is the Way to Go

I pulled this article off of allAfrica.com. Thought it might be an inspirational reading for this blog. Read article here from allAfrica.com.

New Vision (Kampala)

OPINION
14 August 2007
Posted to the web 15 August 2007

Kampala

STATISTICS project that in 2010, 100 million people will be HIV-positive globally. As usual, majority of these will be the poor from Africa and Asia. Uganda's success story of reducing HIV prevalence from 30% to 6% will soon be a gone case. We have forgotten where we came from yet uncertain of the future.

Uganda's point was clear: Aids kills, abstain from sex before marriage and be faithful in marriage. Hope was restored and Uganda became a universal focal point on the Aids issue.


However, the consequences of Uganda's approach were not business friendly because condom-makers would not sell. Secondly, some organisations earn their daily bread from HIV/Aids. These advocate the change of the prevention strategy to anything other than ABC.

Today, abstinence is viewed as a primitive and religious act, but I do not agree with that. What matters is my life. A female friend in her 30s told me how a man had live sex with her after having begun with a condom. She was at that time too emotional to resist. She is now infected with Aids and regrets why she did not choose abstinence.

It is clear to anyone who reads between lines that UNAIDS does not appreciate the ABC model. If, indeed, they supported ABC, their funding would be highest on abstinence.

The Uganda Aids Commission (UAC) has of late been reluctant to do the right thing - pursuing the ABC strategy. Now in their quest to get funding, the UAC bows down to donor demands. They have become more of reporters on Aids than "trouble-shooters". Recently, they reported that Aids is fast spreading among married people without doing anything to protect marriage. They should defend the ABC strategy, especially before the donors. And where principle is involved, be deaf to expedience. What good is there in getting the money and you lose lives?

Let us make our point clear that we are not about to change our strategy. All Ugandans should rise up to defend this cause at any cost.

We also need to fund abstinence activists and come up with programmes to promote marriage to counter the reports of increased infections among married people.

The secret to success is consistency of purpose and this is what every human being should pursue. We can do our job well in one accord and kick Aids out of Uganda.

The writer is a counsellor and Aids activist in Kampala

Food for thought! Have a lovely weekend folk.

Uganda's Early Gains Against HIV Eroding

In the global fight against HIV/AIDS, Uganda has openly been lauded as one of the success stories due to its inadvertent "taking the bull by the horns" approach to the AIDS awareness campaign. I received the article below in my inbox at the end of March this year. It’s an article that appeared in the Washington Post in the same month written by Craig Timberg about Uganda's seemingly eroding gains against this fight. Read article from source. Reading it myself, I realised that it highlighted the centrality of fidelity, or reducing sexual partners - in effective HIV prevention. And it also suggests the efficacy of fear, all in the fight against HIV/AIDS through awareness-raising. Before I had it posted here, I sent a hyperlink to the article round to a few people I knew that it would generate varied reactions from. With the exception of this passionate blog entry at Ish's, there wasn't much reaction to it. I made a mental note to further publicise it but I guess I got caught up with the business of life.
Otherwise here's that article again and I would like to know your take on this.


By Craig Timberg
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, March 29, 2007; A01

KAMPALA, Uganda -- Students packed a grassy field at Makerere University in April 1989 for a farewell concert by singer Philly Lutaaya. This symbol of swaggering virility had grown gaunt, with splotchy skin and the fine, sparse hair of a baby. He sang hauntingly, "Today it's me, tomorrow it's somebody else."
Between songs, he warned the stunned crowd that having several sex partners was a sure way to die in the age of AIDS, echoing pleas also made by political and religious leaders of the time. When Lutaaya died that December, at age 38, the country already had begun its historic reversal of the epidemic, researchers say, because of the power of that single, terrifying message.

Despite this success story, unmatched elsewhere on this AIDS-ridden continent, no country has entirely replicated Uganda's approach. Most instead have followed a diffuse palette of other remedies pushed by Western donors -- condom promotion, abstinence training, HIV testing, drug treatment and stigma reduction -- while forgoing what research shows worked here: fear and a relentless focus on sexual fidelity.
Even in Uganda, these key ingredients have been lost as a new generation coming of age years after Lutaaya's death indulges in the same reckless behavior that first spread the disease so widely.
"We saw him. We saw him die. We abandoned the girlfriends," said Swizen Kyomuhendo, a social scientist at Makerere, who was an undergraduate when Lutaaya spoke there. "When you look at the university students now, they are not as terrified as we were then."

The percentage of sexually active men with multiple partners has more than doubled in recent years, undoing earlier declines, surveys show. Reports of sexually transmitted diseases among women, another indicator of dangerous behavior, have risen sharply as well.
A glimpse of changing attitudes can be seen every Friday night as cars stream onto Makerere's campus and pull into darkened parking lots outside women's dormitories. The glow of cellphones briefly illuminates the drivers, most 10 or 20 years older than the average student, as they call their girlfriends to come out for dates.
Cathy Katumba, 22, a student with a heart-shaped face and long braids looped into a knot at her neck, said many of these college women have on-campus boyfriends their age plus older, often-married ones with the means to provide dinners out and nice clothes. Many young women, Katumba said, arrive with few possessions but finish their studies with refrigerators, DVD players and closets full of the latest fashions.

As for AIDS, she said, most women at Makerere are more worried about getting pregnant. "They don't look at it as a deadly disease now," she said.
Yet even in an era of improved treatment, AIDS remains Uganda's leading killer of adults. The HIV rate has risen again at some urban hospitals. And a 2004 study put the adult infection rate at 7 percent -- several times lower than its estimated peak in the 1990s but higher than estimates just a few years earlier. Ugandans are contracting HIV five times faster than doctors are able to put new patients on the antiretroviral drugs that offer the only hope of long-term survival.
The country's once lean, focused programs, meanwhile, have grown complacent, Ugandans say. Even President Yoweri Museveni, praised for his leadership in early years, "has gotten a bit bored with the AIDS story," said his spokesman, John Nagenda.
"The whole thing is too big now, too heavy," said Sam Okware, a top Ugandan health official who designed early, frightening anti-AIDS campaigns. "It has adapted too much to international guidelines instead of sticking to our own methods, which were very controversial at first but which worked."
'Fear Is Stronger Than Love'
Scientists identified Uganda's first case of AIDS, a mysterious new disease beginning to appear across Africa, in 1982. But a government response in this mostly rural country of 28 million came only after Museveni, a blunt, charismatic rebel leader, ended years of civil war by taking control in 1986.
That year, he sent 60 military officers to train in Cuba. Eighteen tested positive for HIV in routine screenings there, according to Museveni's advisers. At a conference that year in the Zimbabwean capital of Harare, Cuban President Fidel Castro told Museveni, "Hey, brother, you have a problem."
Museveni soon huddled with his top doctors and focused on what they knew: A fatal, incurable, sexually transmitted disease was on the rampage. The only solution, they decided, was to urge Ugandans to stay faithful to one sexual partner or, if in polygamous marriages, to those spouses.
The dominant message was, in Museveni's simple but evocative phrasing, "zero grazing," an agricultural term inspired by the zero-shaped patch created when livestock were tied to a post and allowed to eat only from a single section of grass.
Billboards went up. Songs were sung. The national radio broadcaster, which in that era dominated public airwaves, started each day at 6 a.m. with the rumble of war drums followed by the soft voice of a schoolgirl pleading, "Father, I'm still too young. Please don't die. Be faithful."
AIDS programs of the time had rough edges. In a documentary on Lutaaya chronicling his decline from energetic Afro-pop superstar to a man barely able to walk, he is shown wincing as a group of village women sing sweetly, "AIDS was inflicted upon the rebellious, the promiscuous and the criminals."
While warning against stigmatizing those with the disease, Lutaaya didn't flinch from his core message. "Changes must be made in our sexual behavior," he tells one group shown in the film. "If we don't work hard, the human race is going to die."

This message worked because of the passion of the delivery and the dynamics of HIV, which spreads most easily among networks of men and women with several ongoing sexual relationships, researchers say.
Such arrangements declined sharply in the years after Lutaaya's campaign. The number of Ugandan men reporting three or more non-marital sexual partners fell from 15 percent to 3 percent between 1989 and 1995, according to World Health Organization reports.
The HIV rate in Kampala, once estimated at as high as 30 percent, fell dramatically. Some of that resulted from an estimated 1 million AIDS deaths, but Uganda -- a rarity among African countries -- also experienced a steep and sustained drop in new infections.
"You change because of fear. And you change because of love," said Jesse Kagimba, a longtime AIDS adviser to Museveni. "Fear is stronger than love."
Fewer Casual Sex Partners
During the zero-grazing era, Museveni resisted promoting condoms on the grounds that they offered false hope that the epidemic could be stopped without curbing multiple sexual partnerships.
In 1991, his government banned condom advertising. And at the International AIDS Conference that year in Florence, he told delegates, "We are being told that only a thin piece of rubber stands between our people and the death of the continent, but condoms cannot be the main means of stemming the tide of AIDS."

So rare were condoms in those years that Westerners working in Uganda had trouble getting them for their own programs. A clinic that the University of California at San Francisco had set up to treat sexually transmitted diseases resorted to ordering boxes of them in rainbow colors -- lemon yellow, cherry red, lime green -- that their Ugandan clients found odd, said Nick Hellmann, a doctor who ran the clinic from 1989 to 1991. Few knew how to use them.
"It clearly at the time was not a commonly utilized product," Hellmann said from Seattle, where he is a senior AIDS program official at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Museveni gradually relented. The number of condoms delivered and promoted by international groups rose from just 1.5 million in 1992 to nearly 10 million in 1996, most paid for by the U.S. Agency for International Development. Uganda eventually adopted a national plan to distribute condoms whose packages featured pictures of healthy, amorous young couples.

But their role in curbing the epidemic is unclear. Kampala's decline in new infections began in 1990 and ended by 1994, according to an analysis by U.S. researchers Rand L. Stoneburner and Daniel Low-Beer, meaning the change happened before massive condom imports began. The key factor in this reversal, they concluded based on models of the epidemic and surveys from the time, was the decision by Ugandans to have fewer casual sex partners.
One national survey in 1995 found that more than half of Ugandans said they were sticking to one sexual partner to protect themselves from AIDS. Only 11 percent of men and 2 percent of women said they were using condoms for that reason.
The major push on abstinence began even later, several years after Uganda had its dramatic decline in new infections. And though surveys have shown a gradual decrease in the age when youths here begin having sex, the connection to infection rates remains unproved. A 2005 journal article by national health officials here reported that among adult Ugandans, those who started having sex at 16 are no more likely to have HIV than those who started at 19.
Despite the uncertain science behind both condom promotion and abstinence training, AIDS activists worldwide hotly debated them after President Bush created his $15 billion anti-AIDS program in 2003. The program endorsed a prevention strategy called "ABC," for "Abstain, Be Faithful and Condomize," with $1 billion set aside for abstinence programs alone.
In the international debate that followed, conservatives rallied for abstinence, liberals for condoms. Each side bashed the other's strategy. And attention to the one element that clearly worked -- fidelity -- dwindled, even in Uganda.

Fueling confusion were the dynamics of AIDS itself. A decade often separates the date of HIV infection and death. So Ugandan health officials did not know they had made great strides against the epidemic until recently, when researchers identified those early years of zero grazing as decisive.
By then, the initiative had been overtaken by big-budget, bureaucratic programs that resembled those in most African countries. Persuading Ugandans to stay faithful to their partners was no longer the focus.
"It was a mistake," Okware said. "That message was loud and clear."
Nearly 18 years after Lutaaya's dramatic crusade, billboards warning against the dangers of reckless sex are hard to find in today's Kampala, the graceful, hilly capital. Far more common are photocopied fliers brazenly saying "Get a Lover" and listing a cellphone number.
Using Condoms Sporadically
As Uganda's AIDS programs lost their focus, Raymond Kwesiga, a quietly charismatic altar boy with gentle eyes behind gold-rimmed glasses, contracted HIV.
It wasn't for lack of available condoms or familiarity with abstinence messages. Ugandan high school students receive AIDS education focused heavily on abstinence. And in a 2004 survey, 92 percent of young, urban Ugandan men said they knew where to find condoms.
What gave Kwesiga HIV, he said, was the behavior Lutaaya once warned against.
Kwesiga, 24, had a girlfriend, several occasional partners and a knack for seducing others so reliable that his friends dubbed him "Raymond the Great," he said. Many nights, too lazy to call a girlfriend after downing a bottle of Uganda's bitter national liquor, Waragi, he spent 75 cents to hire a prostitute.
Sometimes he used condoms, sometimes not -- a common but uneven approach that research shows almost entirely undermines their value.
"I was enjoying my life, and I thought I wouldn't get the virus," Kwesiga said, speaking with the deliberate cadence of one trying to live up to newly learned ideals. "I wasn't very scared. . . . During the night, you don't get scared."
Now many of Kwesiga's nights are filled with fear. He fears dying. He fears he may not be able to marry or have children. And with the painful clarity that has come with sobriety, he fears he may have given HIV to somebody else.
With his voice filled with regret, Kwesiga said darkly, "I'm like a murderer."

---- end of article.

Now what did you think of that?

Zack.

On Promises

Happy new year!!!!

Okay, totally inappropriate title up there. Only used it cuz it's been a long while since we last met here. No?

Well, alot has gone on here and there. But the highlight is an activity that took place at the bank premises last week on Wednesday and Thursday.

We had an awareness talk here at the bank. We had a guest speaker from ActionAid. Her name is Beatrice Were. It was the most amazing talk I've had/heard. And I've had/heard many. I love my job. Our HR dept provides such talks. This particular VC&T/T is the in-theme this year. We've had/heard about 5 so far.

Beatrice Were is HIV+ and has been so so the last 15years. She contracted the virus when she was on campus. She said, her life literally stopped when she got that bomb. Her husband died soon after they realised they were positive. Her father was there for her throughout the whole time and so was the rest of the family.
But she told us that during that time, everything that mattered to her, ceased to matter. She just sat back and awaited her death wih such eagerness that she paved way for it. Then after about 8 years;alive not seeming to die; she woke up and decided she wasn't gonna die afterall. So she went ahead a followed the dreams she'd cast by the wayside.

She went to school, completed her PHd and is pursuing her 2nd one by correspondence with a top UK university.

She met another HIV+ dude and fell in love. Together, they have a daughter. And 2 others from her previous marriage.
Beatrice looks absolutely great. Greater than u and me. Cuz she accepted he condition and decided to live through it. And with it.

From Beatrice' talk, we learnt not to die within after we got such bad news. It's managable if we really wanted to get on with our life. It is.
Her talk also revealed a bizzarre truth. The most recent studies show that HIV prevalence was rampant among marrieds. And that women seemed to be the most vulnerable one because they seemed to trust their husbands wholly. Because of this, they ignore the routine tests and go on to infect each other. It's scary!

Then on Thursday, we got the VC&T/T(Voluntary Councelling and Testing/ Training) team down. The whole day was spent taking AIDS tests and awaiting the results.
This was a test even on the safest person. You never know where u'll get the virus from. Earlier, Beatrice had told us she knew of people that contracted it from salons that used un sterilized gadgets and nails clippers. This scared us so much, seeing as I never leave the salon.

We took our tests, got free soda, chocolate, splash and candies. This was the highlight of the VC&T/T. We got lots to eat.

The real test came when we had to go back 30mins later to recieve our results. The suspense in there is nail biting. My heart wnet on rampage during this wait. My results;though came out as expected. NEGATIVE! But with the complimentary tummy churning and sweating that comes with so much anxiety.

It was worth though at the end of the day. So much.

According to the training we got......it's better to know your status. So u can seek relevant help from trained specialists.

And how was yo long weekend?

The gist of it all......

WHAT IS WEARING A RED RIBBON?

We wanna welcome you officially to this blog. Under our theme, ‘Wear a Red Ribbon Today!’, we hope to add to the many voices fighting against HIV/AIDS around the world. Ours is mainly an awareness campaign through this blog and the blogosphere, all through which we believe more people shall come to learn about HIV and AIDS and shall, each one, strive towards living our lives more carefully. In this awareness campaign, we shall also promote the concept of “positive living” among people already infected by HIV/AIDS. “A friend with AIDS is still a friend” and “God loves embraces people with AIDS”.

Through the ‘Wear a Red Ribbon Today’ campaign, we are encouraging all bloggers with a heart to learn a little more about HIV/AIDS. This blog could be a good start for that. And as you learn more about HIV/AIDS everyday, it is our humble request that you advertise this knowledge through your wearing a red ribbon on any article of your clothing or accessories; the rationale here is that anyone who didn’t know about HIV/AIDS would ask you why you were the red ribbon…and this would be your cue to share your lessons learned on HIV/AIDS. You will have made a positive impact on the global fight against HIV/AIDS. One by one they say…

In addition, under the ‘Wear a Red Ribbon Today’ Blog campaign, we hope to get more people factoring HIV/AIDS into whatever they do. HIV/AIDS Mainstreaming: how does what you do (your work) increase/reduce vulnerability to HIV/AIDS for people that are not infected and how does what you do (your work) reduce/increase people’s vulnerability to cope with HIV/AIDS for people that are living with HIV/AIDS. In our future posts, we hope to tackle aspects such as these and others, more eloquently. So please stay glued here.

As you wear your virtual and physical red ribbons, please remember the reasons for which you were them and to share those reasons with others!

Cherie: “I wear the red ribbon because I figure it’s a simple way to remind myself of the “Promise”. Also, it’ll serve as a reminder to whoever sees it, of their own promise to stay HIV free. It will also encourage the HIV positive to live positively and protect themselves and others.”

Zack: “I wear my red ribbon to show my support for the fight against HIV/AIDS, but more importantly to remind me to factor HIV/AIDS in everything I do”)

This blog is still in its nascent stages and as a result, we ask you to bear with us should there be any changes with the template and/or layout design. We also welcome any feedback and/or positive criticism that you might have towards the initiative. We are thankful for the positive criticism from this blogger. You could do that in a comment or if it’s long, in an email. Our email address link is also present in the blog sidebar. If you want to contribute to this blog, you can also send us an email, and if possible, write a few lines explaining why you think you should participate in this campaign. This is a global initiative so applicants from around the world are welcome irrespective of whether your country of origin or residence is affected by HIV/AIDS or not.

As a good gesture, we shall be giving away a red red-ribbon freely to the first few bloggers (our rationale being six for each continent, but given we’re saying first to contact, then we believe it will still be o.k. if this number does not represent all the six continents) who request for them by email. Please note that this is just a promotional offer and once it’s over, we shall encourage everyone to go out and purchase an AIDS ribbon or other paraphernalia relating to the same, preferably from a cause that is supporting people living with HIV/AIDS in your local community or somewhere else around the world. Your money will go so far in the global fight against HIV/AIDS as a result.

Let’s go out and ‘Wear a Red Ribbon Today!’ you and me!

---

Bloggers against AIDS

Ok, so our campaign took off. Quite literally. Given out some ribbons and I've none left as we speak. Though some of u were not as careful with yours. We are gonna try and get as many as possible then send them out to u.

The best response we have received so far is the one from Pea about expanding and generalizing it to Bloggers against AIDS. Great response and we are gonna see about it. It's surely a greater way to get the message across. But the tricky aspect is the handing out of the ribbons. Of course u're all welcome to this campaign/message/ and the more we are, the better it is for everyone.
And on our part, its seems a lil' bit jealous to make it only Ugandan like we're the only affected people.

Our bad.

Jump in and join the fight.

Hey y'all

The "Wear a Red Ribbon Today" is a new initiative from Ugandan Bloggers to start an awareness drive. This drive is intended to remind people to do everything to protect themselves from HIV/AIDS. Everybody is targeted with this message. Unlike all these other messages designed for this purpose, this one is a simple one.

It basically involves a small red ribbon and you! Wear your red ribbon everyday and it will get the message across. Your ribbon will serve as a reminder to u and to whoever sees it that they made a promise they aren't going to break. The promise here is to protect ourselves from HIV/AIDS. By Abstaining from sex. Maintaining a faithful relationship with your sexual partner and using Condoms.

With this, we sure gonna conquer this demon. But, we need to keep reminding people about it. Its simple. This is how.... The ribbon is not that huge, it'll only cover like a small area on yo dress/shirt/blouse/top/jacket-whatever, wherever. Its red, one color, so it wont spoil yo ensemble. As part of your apparel, its guaranteed to raise some eyebrows and questions. And this is where your sensitization comes in. U tell them about its meaning and how its gonna work.

This is how.

Its gonna have a positive impact on the person wearing it and the person that sees u wearing it. This obviously is gonna raise a question or two from the seer. From this question, the person that asks is gonna learn the basic info that u're gonna give....which is that this ribbon is supposed to b a symbol of your fight against HIV/AIDS. Simple as that. The seer will definately love the whole idea and ask for a ribbon. This is when u refer them to TASO and African village. They have some bracelets and bangles.

At this point, u're free to tell them more about what u think of the ribbon vis a vis your anti HIV/AIDS campaign. Anything to juice up the whole thing. Make it pretty with the truth.

I hope I've helped.

We'll have some ribbons for u guys soon,,,in about a weeks' time. So feel free to ask for one. We're still tryna devise ways and means to get them to u. One of us will have some at the BHH next week.

Be there.

And also, this blog is open to contributors(mainly anti- AIDS contributions). So anyone will be welcome to post up here. Once we're done with the blog layout and some other stuff.

So, hold your fire. By Tuesday next week, u could be a contributor.

Testing!

Test Drive!