defining & history

day 8
Each day of the month leading up to World AIDS Day, I'll be posting some sort of resource, thoughts or action for you to use.

Quote of the day:
"It's a very human virus, a very human epidemic. It touches right to the heart of our existence," says Dr. Peter Piot, executive director of UNAIDS. "When you think of it, that in let's say 25 years, about 70 million people have become infected with this virus, probably coming from one [transmission] ... it's mind blowing."
-from Frontline's Age of AIDS

some oft-asked questions:

HIV/AIDS: what's the difference?
HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) is a virus that attacks the immune defenses and ultimately causes AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome) if left untreated. By weakening the immune system, HIV opens the doors for a variety of other health issues to develop. When the immune system is weakened significantly, AIDS is the result.

you can find a more complete explanation here

I've heard it called a "pandemic". What's the difference between a "pandemic" and an "epidemic"?
An epidemic is a virus that affects a specific group of people. A pandemic is also a virus, and is both contagious and widespread.

an official definition can be found here

Where did HIV come from?
The latest research, coming out just this past May, extends the knowledge about the origin of HIV. HIV is a developed form of a disease found in chimpanzees in Cameroon, originally transmitted through usage as food (contracted possibly by hunters or slaves). This probably happened sometime in the 1930's. From there it was spread in a variety of ways, with the first cases in the US and France being determined to be a distinct health issue in 1981. By the time that the first case was diagnosed in the US, hundreds of thousands of people were already infected by the time the first case was officially diagnosed in Africa, millions were infected.

The Frontline video has an excellent summary of this history. Avert.org also has a good description.

PBS = swell

day 6:

missed yesterday. sorry.

but today's resource is so great, it makes up for it.

last year PBS did a special on Frontline on "The Age of AIDS." they've made the entire 4 hour program available for viewing online, as well as creating a central hub of resources, research, and information. this resource is hands down the best overview of AIDS that i have found online. hope you'll take some time to learn from it...

PBS Frontline: The Age of AIDS

promises, promises

day 4:
the slogan for World AIDS Day until 2010 is "Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise." The promises referred to by the event organizers are those made by people and countries. The promises we respond to, as God's people, are those God has given us in scripture and that are etched throughout the history of the church. Promises to relieve the burden of the oppressed and bring healing to those broken and diseased.

each Sunday during my month of AIDS blogging i'm going to take a few moments to reflect on a few of these promises and to consider what God is calling us to.

if anyone has material possesions and sees
his brother in need, but has no pity on him,
how can the love of God be in him?
dear children, let us not love with word or
in tongue, but with action and in truth.
>>1 john 3.17-18

i have so much crap. i own a house now first of all (or the bank does...however you want to view it). and it's full of all sorts of things. clothes and tools and files and furniture and so much stuff i don't even know what all of it is. and all the same i still have a list of things i wish i had.

giving away everything i have doesn't give me a heart for those with less. but it allows me see. my vision can be cluttered with all sorts of belongings. but clear it away and i can see others. see not only their need, but their hopes and dreams. and together we can pursue those dreams because i'm no longer encumbered by all of my junk.

what do you think? how does your stuff impede your compassion?

how does AIDS work?

day 3:
last year in preparation for our church's push on World AIDS Day i did a lot of research on how HIV/AIDS goes about destroying peoples immune systems. the following few links provide what i think are the best overviews:

easy explanation with illustrations:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/africa/03/biology_of_aids/html/default.stm

more complex explanation with animation:
http://www.galaxygoo.org/biochem/hiv/hiv_lifecycle.html

an international movement

Day 2
Each day of the month leading up to World AIDS Day, I'll be posting some sort of resource, thoughts or action for you to use.


World AIDS Day began in 1988 as has since ballooned into an internationally recognized and observed awareness day. Up until 2004 it was run by UNAIDS (who I'll have more info on in future posts) at which point it was handed over to the World AIDS Campaign (WAC). They settled on the theme "Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise." which will remain the theme until 2010.

The WAC has a variety of resources and networks available on their website. If you'd like to host an event at your school, church or neighborhood, you can receive posters, a CD-Rom of resources, and web promotion/networking all through their site for free.


I'm out of internet access for the next two days, so I'll post again on Saturday night (hopefully)...

World AIDS Day...the one month countdown

last year i tried to post on my xanga site (wow...i'd forgotten that it was that recent that i used xanga) every day in the month prior to World AIDS Day to help educate and bring awareness to World AIDS Day.

i didn't succeed every day, but i did learn a lot in the process.

so this year, i'm taking another stab at it. i think i'll do better. though i'm going to be without internet access for the next two days, i think, so we may be off to a rough start.

World AIDS Day: December 1st, 2007

today you can...
-join the event on facebook (which has a handy list of ways to participate in the coming weeks)
-start thinking about how you want to participate (maybe using the above mentioned handy list)

more to come in the coming days...

christmas?!

Last Saturday I heard my first Christmas song of 2007. In October. I complained so loudly that my friends were embarassed. But that's another story.

Apparently Christmas is just around the corner. And so in that holiday spirit I offer this article from Crave, cnet's blog:

http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9798241-1.html

It's not very long and definitely worth the read. The things we spend our money on are telling of where our lives live.

--

Sometimes people ask me if peace would actually work. It's not our natural inclination to be kind, to turn the other cheek, to return evil with good. Surely peace is not sustainable they suggest. But have we actually ever tried? Every year America spends billions of dollars (yes...literally billions. over 100 billion in the last year on Iraq alone) on war and its supplies. Peace has never had that kind of payroll. It's had the poverty of Ghandi. The passion of Martin Luther King Jr. But it's never had the profits of our Fortune 500's or the taxes of our goverments leveraged in its favor.

This Christmas I want more than eye-candy. I want some hope. Some hope that I could offer peace and happiness to my neighbor. And my enemy.