AIDS: A Personal Journey By Wendi Williams, Editor & HIV/AIDS Prevention Educator

June 5, 2006, marked the twenty-fifth year of AIDS in America. For many AIDS activists, it has been a year to sound the alarm once again that HIV/AIDS remain major health problems, particularly for people of color. But more importantly, with no cure in sight, it is time to develop new strategies in an effort to save more lives.

In 2003, I was fortunate to start an AIDS ministry at my local church in time to prolong the life of a young African female. After my initial visit with her, I came home and cried like a baby. Imagine being so sick that you have to crawl up the stairs to bed because you are too weak to walk or stand. Imagine watching your body waste away to skin and bones, hoping that someone would care enough to see that you have a decent meal to eat. Imagine knowing the clock is ticking away before a doctor signs your death certificate. For many AIDS victims who are poor and uninsured, this is a common tale. My Care Team Friend is now one of the lucky ones who has benefited from life-sustaining medications. But a member of my extended family was not so lucky.

Because of the stigma associated with this disease, I just recently learned that a second cousin died of AIDS---someone I grew up playing with as a child. I wasn't even aware that she was gone, let alone died of AIDS. Anyone who knows me is aware that I am a HIV/AIDS prevention educator, including my family. You would think that someone would have mentioned it to me in passing. But I had to find out years, not months later. And if I didn't ask where she was, I would still think she was alive and well today. The sadness of her death weighs heavily upon me at times because this journey is more personal for me and I, like many of my comrades on the front lines of this epidemic, must continue sounding that alarm. But what about those individuals who have no hope of ever receiving life-sustaining medications like my friend? I'm not talking about people living in Africa, but people living right here in America. People like our brothers, sisters, friends, aunts, uncles, cousins, parents, or grandparents who remain on waiting lists to receive proper medical treatment.

For the past four years, Extension's Urban Affairs Unit has addressed HIV/AIDS during our Family Conference. In 2003, we were fortunate to bring Dr. David Malebranche from Emory University. Dr. Dave, as I like to call him, has appeared on CNN, Black Entertainment Television, and recently on an ABC "Primetime" special to address the AIDS epidemic. He continues to be one of the few researchers in the nation that addresses HIV/AIDS from the black male perspective and is an expert on the issue of living on the "down low." Down low is the term used to describe the behavior of men and women (regardless of race) who have sex with men and women, but do not consider themselves to be homosexual or bisexual.

In 2004, we had another leading researcher, Dr. Gregory Wilson from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, who has done invaluable neonatal research with HIV-positive mothers. Dr. Wilson is without a doubt, one of the nation's leading contributors on preventing the spread of HIV from pregnant mothers to their fetuses or infants.

Left to Right: Hill Harper, actor and author; Phill Wilson, founder and CEO of Black AIDS Institute; Steve Villano, president and CEO of Cable Positive; and Political Activist Earl Ofari-Hutchinson. (Photo courtesy of Black AIDS Institute)

Then in 2005, we invited Phill Wilson, the founder and executive director of the Black AIDS Institute in Los Angeles. Phill turned 50 this year and has been living with AIDS for 10 years. He continues to be a champion around the world in addressing HIV/AIDS in the African Diaspora. During the time he was in Huntsville, CBS television filmed him for an AIDS special that included highlights of Extension's 2005 Family Conference and the Student AIDS Rally on the Alabama A&M University campus.

This year we invited Dr. David Vance from the University of Alabama at Birmingham who conducts AIDS research with older adults; Dr. Ritalinda D'Andrea who has conducted extensive AIDS research at the grassroots level; and Dr. Kathy Lettieri who is the founder and executive director of the AIDS Education Bureau. Kathy stands in the gap as a bold mother who doesn't mind sharing her personal story of losing three stepsons to AIDS in the early years of the epidemic. Although her story is unusual and tragic, Kathy and her husband Paul, remain strong AIDS advocates today. I said all that to say that we take the subject of HIV/AIDS very seriously in Extension, but our journey has only just begun.

What started as an isolated outbreak in 1981 has progressed into a worldwide pandemic, claiming the lives of 25 million men, women, and children. It is estimated that 40 million people are living with HIV today. Since 1982, approximately 14,559 HIV/AIDS cases have been reported to the Alabama Department of Public Health as of August 2006, and the South now has the highest rates of new HIV infections. Based on worldwide statistics, particularly among women, youth, older adults, and people of color, we are not winning the war on HIV/AIDS.

It is time for us to get real about HIV/AIDS. What do I mean? I mean it's time to stop thinking that AIDS only happens to white gay males. It's time to stop thinking this disease cannot and will not affect you because you or your loved ones do not engage in risky behavior. It's time to stop thinking that your spouse or partner is always faithful. It's time to stop thinking that the family member with the erratic behavior is not on drugs or drinking alcohol. It's time to stop thinking that your teenager or preteen is not having sex, including anal and oral intercourse. It's time to stop being afraid to ask your future husband or wife, boyfriend, girlfriend, or partner about their sexual history. It's time to stop thinking that HIV/AIDS is not in your family, in your congregations, on your job, or as close as next door. It's time to stop thinking that older adults do not engage in sex and therefore, cannot contract the virus. It's time to stop being afraid to go and get tested!

It's time to take control!

For more information on Extension HIV/AIDS efforts, please contact Dr. Donnie Cook at (256) 372-4983 or Ms. Mary Hurt at (256) 372-4981.

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