December 1, 2003 - Aids Awareness

[JennyOmanHill]

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Taking a moment today, the 15th World Aids Day, to remember my friends who have passed on, those friends who live day to day being H.I.V.-positive and for those throughout the world that will become infected in the future.

For you, Jim The brief time we knew each other changed my life immensely. You were the first man to tell me that I was a beautiful person. Thank you for looking out for me, and for still making me smile.

For you, Gary Thanking you for your time and kindness behind the scenes on Broadway, allowing many of us to see the truth behind the magic of "The Phantom of the Opera". I feel honored to have been one of the few who saw you perform the lead role

For you, J.C. You are a beautiful man who lost his magnificent voice to this illness. I hope your days are still bright, although your work now is limited to off-stage. Hang in there, and know that you are loved by many. You are still my favorite "Jean Valjean"; never forget "One Day More".

 

[JennyOmanHill]

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[tonitits]

This is a great thread. Thanks Jenny. I have known quite a few ppl with HIV/AIDS. Most of them have died and some of the others might have as well, as I have lost contact with them. This is an awful disease and it is always a slow, awful period before they finally die. The saddest part is that so many of them...the patients, their family and friends desert them when they need them the most. It is a very scary disease, and I will be the first to admit I would rather not be around the disease, not from fear of getting it myself but to see what they are going through. I am not a strong person when it comes to those type things. But still I have/would do it again to keep a friend/loved one from having to go it alone. I just hope and pray that someday they will find a cure for this disease.

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Thanks, Toni, for sharing. I know many others but the three I mentioned were my earliest exposure to this hideous disease, and are instrumental in MY awareness of aids throughout the years.

It's scary to me that all these years later, most of this country (and throughout the world) people are still so ignorant and reckless about it all.

Caught some of this on MTV last night! What a great show:

Beyonce Knowles, Bono perform at star-studded AIDS benefit
Sunday, November 30, 2003 Posted: 1347 GMT ( 9:47 PM HKT)

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) -- Beyonce Knowles, Bono, Peter Gabriel and musicians from around the world took to the stage Saturday for a star-studded AIDS benefit concert hosted by South Africa's former president, Nelson Mandela.

More than 30,000 people, among them Oprah Winfrey and Richard Branson, filled Cape Town's Greenpoint Stadium for the show, part of Mandela's 46664 campaign, named after his prison number under apartheid.

With a giant bronzed image of his face as a backdrop, Mandela came on stage dressed in a black shirt with the number emblazoned on his chest.

"For the 18 years that I was in prison on Robben Island I was supposed to be reduced to that number," Mandela said. "Millions infected with HIV/AIDS are in danger of being reduced to mere numbers if we don't act now. They are serving a prison sentence for life."

The concert -- broadcast live by the South African Broadcasting Corporation's Africa channel and on the Internet -- is part of an appeal to governments to declare a global AIDS emergency.

Between 34 million and 46 million people around the world are infected with HIV, including 5.3 million South Africans -- more than in any other country. The pandemic killed more than 3 million people this year, according to U.N. figures.

Bob Geldof, organizer of the Live Aid concerts that raised millions of dollars for famine victims in Ethiopia in the 1980s, said governments around the world need to make life-prolonging medicines available to all who need them.

"The condition is medical, but the solution is political, and that is why we are here today," he said.

Only around 1 percent of the 29 million people living with HIV and AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa have access to anti-retroviral drugs widely available in wealthier countries.

Beyonce urged the world's youth to practice safe sex and use condoms.

"There is nothing sexier than being confident and taking care of yourself," she said. "Protect yourself."

The artists, who also included the Corrs, Anastacia, Yusuf Islam, formerly known as Cat Stevens, and Annie Lennox, performed free Saturday night.

Gabriel and the Soweto Gospel Choir stilled the crowd with a rendition of "Biko," a tribute to slain anti-apartheid icon Steve Biko.

Brian May from Queen performed the song "46664," featuring Mandela's voice saying: "The struggle is my life. I will continue to fight.

Messages from former U.S. President Bill Clinton and civil rights activist the Rev. Jesse Jackson were broadcast on a screen at the back of the stage.

Earlier, Bono and Beyonce visited a maternity unit and a childrens' home caring for HIV sufferers in Cape Town's impoverished township, Khayelitsha.

Bono said he was incensed by the suffering of hundreds of thousands of Africans who cannot afford treatment.

"This is an obscenity," he said. "This is like watching the Jews being put on trains."

The 46664 campaign, conceived by Dave Stewart, was put into place in partnership with the Nelson Mandela Foundation, as well as May and Roger Taylor of Queen.

The concert will be screened globally by MTV on World Aids Day on Monday. Proceeds are going to the foundation, whose work includes funding research on HIV and AIDS in South Africa and supporting services for sufferers.

 

[tonitits]

I saw Beyonce and some of it on Oprah yesterday and she was talking with Charlize Theron also, who is from South Africa. It is amazing how many ppl still do not practice safe sex, etc...after all these years. I guess it is like everything else they think it will never happen to them. That that only happens to someone else, but it only takes one time of unsafe sex to destroy someone's life. I remember when I got pregnant in fall of 1991, my best friend chewed me out for not having safe sex and that I could have got AIDS and told me that I knew what the dangers were. She was right, but at the time I didn't want to hear it and there was a part of me that was scared that I could have contracted it but a part me was happy that I was going to have a baby! And it was routine procedure at the clinic that I went to to test for HIV/AIDS. I went to the county hospital that had the AIDS clinic inside, because I didn't have health insurance at the time. But they are also some of the best doctors around and like one of the girls I work with now said, her mom said that if it was good enough for them to take President Kennedy to when he was shot, it is good enough for me.