I
am so very grateful
and extremely proud
to have been asked
to be the State
Coordinator for
Wisconsin and the
Campaign to END
AIDS! As an AIDS activist, this is
an opportunity of
a lifetime and a
challenge I sincerely
welcome! On October
29th at 10 a.m.
we had an amazing
kickoff at the
UW-Madison Union
Hall with over 50
people in attendance.
Speakers included,
State Representative
Mark Pocan, Bob
Power of
Madison's AIDS Network
and a a very
special visit by
Lisel Christian
of
Camp Heartland.
I spoke and was
also grateful to
read a powerful
message from our
Congresswoman, Tammy
Baldwin. We
then held a prayer
vigil led by the
Reverend Woody Carrey
and enjoyed the
the amazing sounds
of the bagpipes
played by Sean Michael
Dargan and Tom Greenhalgh
on
UW-Madison's
Library mall. This
was followed by
a boisterous march
up a very crowded
State Street
culminating in a
rally at the Capitol
steps. We there
heard from
speakers, Shelley
Whittet of
UW-Madison Students
for Camp Heartland,
Becky Krueger of
UW-Madison SGAC,
Amanda Plummer representing
UW-Madison Humorolgy,
Marge Suttinen of
MATEC as well as
some of the originating
members of the Northern
Tier Caravan from
Washington State.
I cannot thank Channel
27, Channel 3000
and WORT Radio enough
for your gracious
and
extensive coverage
of the C2EA events.
I'm deeply appreciative
of everyone's help
in making the
Madison events
the tremendous success
that they were.
Below you will find
a slideshow of photos
and news coverage
from our Northern
Tier Caravan journey
in progress to Washington
D.C. for four days
of hill visits,
prayer, civil disobedience,
youth rallies,
marches and other
events that will
also include a youth
rally in front of
the White House.
Please feel free
to visit the official
site at:
www.c2ea.org
AIDS activists for C2EA
holding a rally in Washington D.C.
AIDS
2006.
Where are we? We remain in a
global health crisis. This
is a crisis of heart; a crisis
of humanity; a
crisis of human rights
Thousands
of HIV-positive people and
AIDS activists
are preparing to travel across the United States
in 10 caravans during October, stopping in more
than 150 cities across the country to promote
HIV prevention,
increase
AIDS awareness,
and urge greater local, state, and federal involvement
in the
AIDS fight. The caravans will converge in
Washington, D.C., on November 5 for four days
of prayer, lawmaker visits, protests, and a
rally called the March to
End AIDS.
The caravans are
part of The Campaign to
End AIDS (C2EA), a new, national coalition
endorsed by more than 400
organizations.
C2EA brings together
longtime HIV-positive people and veterans
of the activist group ACT UP with more recently
diagnosed Americans—many of them
women and African-Americans. Together, they're
demanding that governments
fund AIDS treatment worldwide, promote science-based
HIV prevention and protect the rights of
HIV-positive
people.
“It’s 2005. We have
the drugs
to treat HIV, and good science shows that
condoms
and clean
needles for
injection-drug users
can prevent it,” says C2EA cochairman Charles
King, an
HIV-positive
Baptist minister and CEO of the New York-based
AIDS service organization Housing Works,
in a press release. “But these tools are being
withheld due to spending cuts, treaties blocking
generic drugs, and federally funded programs
teaching abstinence-only. Our leaders are
taking us backward as
HIV rates increase. They must change course.”
The March to End
AIDS will be held on November 5, beginning near
the White House. On Sunday, November 6, the
Reverend Ronald Braxton will host an interfaith
service
focusing on
AIDS at the Metropolitan AME
Church. C2EA participants will stage nonviolent
demonstrations throughout the city on Monday,
November
7; and on Tuesday, November 8, they'll make
visits to lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
C2EA planned to
launch its caravans in September, but the devastation
of Hurricane Katrina forced organizers to postpone.
C2EA is intent on bringing relief to the 8,000
people
with HIV affected by the hurricane. Half
of all money raised at C2EA events nationwide
will go to HIV-positive Gulf Coast residents.
C2EA’s Soul of the South caravan, which travels
along the Gulf Coast, also will collect relief
supplies to be delivered in Baton Rouge, La.
Caravan departure
cities include; Portland, Ore.; Seattle; Oakland,
Calif.; Los Angeles; San Diego; Brownsville,
Texas; Miami; Boston; and New York City. Washington
D.C. will host a “symbolic caravan,” with
AIDS
awareness events and fund-raisers taking place
throughout the district. While most caravan
participants will travel by bus, van, or car,
the New York City caravan will travel to D.C.
on foot, starting with a march through the Lincoln
Tunnel on October 15.
For more information
about the caravans, the cities the caravans
will visit, and the rally in Washington, go
online to
www.CampaigntoEndAIDS.org.
Bob Bowers
speaking at a rally in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Our
journey was utterly
amazing, inspiring and
rewarding! Thank you
to ALL the agencies
and community members
who have poured your
hearts and souls into
supporting The Campaign
to END AIDS as well
as to the caravan riders.
C2EA will be an ongoing
campaign and I hope
that each of you will
help in the fight however
you can.
It was such an honor to have you and the Campaign
to End AIDS visit us in Lansing. We are traveling with you in spirit and hope
the wide open road is gentle to you and yours. We wish you well on your
journey... and know you are all in our thoughts and prayers. Your heart is
stronger than you know and your spirit will carry you far.
peace, love and victory...
Patrick Lombardi
LAAN
Campaign to END AIDS kickoff in
Madison, Wisconsin-AIDS activists at the Capital Building
Alan
is one remarkable man. He lost his dear
friend and our former Co-Coordinator
Richard Hillaker just weeks before The
Campaign to END AIDS kickoff. The Northern
Tier Caravan was named in Richard's
honor. "The Diva Express" Rest in peace
Richard, we will carry on in your honor!
Your shoes will never be replaced but
you will always be in our hearts!
The Campaign to END AIDS was an
incredible experience and one I will NEVER forget!
Bob
Bowers and Paul Feldman
of NAPWA at Anacostia Park
The Northern Tier Caravan
at the Michigan State Capitol in Lansing
Two very inspiring young
ladies who spoke in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Thank
you Erika and Mary!
Thank
you Erika!
Each
day, 6000 African die from AIDS. Each day
an additional 11,000 are infected. Also
within the U.S. The
HIV/AIDS epidemic is
a health crisis within the
African American
community and has become among the top three
causes of death. When I first picked up
a flyer about this opportunity I was more
than happy to get involved, because I knew
the impact this disease has had on my community.
I was born and raised in Swaziland, Africa,
the product of Swazi and Zambian parents.
After moving to the United States in 1995,
we would always receive news from home about
someone dying from AIDS. After a while it
was as if I were immune to it. I remember
a time when my parents had received news
of a total of ten HIV infections back home.
I personally have lost so many relatives
from AIDS or TB. My father had 12 brothers
and sisters and lost 5 to AIDS. My mother
had a sister who died of AIDS, and currently
there are several others suffering with
AIDS and still fighting the teeth of poverty.
Although there are numerous factors in the
spread of HIV/AIDS, it is largely recognized
as a disease of poverty, hitting hardest
where people are marginalized and suffering
economic hardship. The policies prescribed
by the World Bank and IMF have increased
poverty in African countries and mandated
cutbacks in the health sector.
This has
caused a massive deterioration in Africa's
health status. There is a clear relationship
between poverty and ill-health. The economic
policies attached to World Bank and IMF
loans led to intensified poverty in many
African countries in the 1990's and this
is what has increased the vulnerability
of African populations to the spread of
diseases and to other health problems.
I think that
it is so important to educate ourselves
today about what is going on around the
world, especially my generation. In some
of these African countries the most vulnerable
populations to AIDS are
young people my
age. What this means is a vacuum that is
sucking out future leaders. LIke the slogan
says, we have what it takes to End AIDS.
The world has what it takes. If people had
equal access to medications. If quality
treatment and quality support services
were
accessible to those with HIV and AIDS. If
preventions was made a bigger deal and ramped
up to serve all and if we as world citizens
fight for justice and all these principles,
then and only then can this pandemic reverse
itself.
Thank
you Mary!
I
need you
I need you, to tell my secrets to, you are like
a sister to me, like a brother.
I need you, you to teach me how to smile and dance,
not to take myself too seriously.
I need you, to be strong enough to be who God made
you, to work hard and to be vibrant, overcome obstacles.
I need you, to take care of me, to do the unending
job of being a mother, a father because I can’t
raise myself.
I need you, to teach me so I can look ahead to my
future.
I need you, to grow up healthy so that when I’m
not you can heal me.
I need you, to smile at me on the corner, drive
the bus I take to school or work, be my boss.
I need you, to stand up for me when others say I’m
weak.
I need you, to live life with passion, take away
my pain, to make my mom stop crying every year on
this day.
I need you, to say you care.
I need you, to be here.
I need you, to be a part of my generation.
Many young people today don’t realize that their
lives could be so easily affected by AIDS, that’s
how AIDS works; by creeping into your life when
you don’t expect it. We are young, we’re invincible,
on top of our game, but really we are at our
most
vulnerable to the injustices of life. We are at
our most vulnerable when there is a huge part of
the youth population that is being denied access
to education that could
empower us with knowledge,
dignity and respect for our own bodies. This is
the time when our decisions most clearly affect
who we will become. At the time when we need someone
to talk to us, there is often a huge gap and no
one will come forward because they don’t think that
AIDS could affect us.
To combat this gap there are small groups of university
students, youth leaders,
high school students that
are forming to reclaim their generation. We start
off with a few people willing to ask ourselves
what
we can do?
Can we start educating ourselves? Start by talking
to our friend, younger siblings, and cousins about
taking responsibility for themselves, making sure
that nothing ever has to be whispered, undoing the miseducation.
Are we brave enough to write, call, talk to, yell
at, and be seen by our leaders? They need to know
where our priorities lie.
Can we bring together many different groups from
our campus’s to create a multi-cultural performance
event to raise AIDS awareness?
Can we stand outside our student union with model
penis’s (model vagina’s??) and teach and encourage
our friends to protect themselves.
Can we raise money, show movies, learn from lectures
and keep talking about IT, even though our friends
may get tired of hearing it. They will remember.
These things are not very radical. They take the
tiniest bit of courage, a group of two or more becomes
a community and a community gives you courage where
you never saw it before. Young people are listening,
we know these things, we have the heart.
mber
7; and on Tuesday, November 8, they'll make
visits to lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
C2EA planned to
launch its caravans in September, but the devastation
of Hurricane Katrina forced organizers to postpone.
C2EA is intent on bringing relief to the 8,000
