This is my second and sadly the final edition of what has been an excellent series of posts and debates on HIV/AIDS. Ron Hudson who started the ICP has decided to end the Carnivals….

It is with relief and sadness that I have decided to allow the International Carnival of Pozitivities to come to an end with our next and final edition in June of 2008. I have made many wonderful friends in the past two years and have been fortunate to learn the life-stories of some amazing people and their efforts to end the stigma of HIV/AIDS around the world. I am truly grateful to the contributors and hosts who have blessed my life with their kindness and encouragement. I hope that you will continue to blog about HIV/AIDS and keep alive the spirit of the ICP. I am very proud of our efforts and the outcome that you see on this site today. I will leave the ICP homepage available for people to access in the future, but there will be no further editions after June, 2008.

As always, I wish you the peace that I wish for myself.

Ron Hudson

Thanks to Ron for bringing us the Carnival over the past two years and I wish him peace and safe journey through his life.

I will begin with Ron’s post on the passing of his mother.

I owe my visitors an explanation. I lost a huge part of my life this month. I have not been writing anything of my own for some time now and am just reaching a point where I can tell you why.

My mom had a stroke between Thanksgiving Day and the first week of December of last year.

And a poem by Dee-Elle called “Mama Dos Dos” [Dee-Elle also writes at “Red Whyld N Blu”

you spread your arms to shade
the damage done by the sitter’s sons
i could not understand those boys
beating stick against the defenseless palms
but i could forget with my feet
small enough on your back
kicking off the day long worry over

Slimconomy asks why rapid HIV testing is failing in Canada

It’s been several years now since rapid HIV tests entered the market with FDA approval; first OraSure, then MedMira, then Trinity and BioRad and now Inverness. Yet we still haven’t seen the growth in use (and subsequent sales for the manufacturers) as we should by now.

Nata Village goes from strength to strength and here the village elders are honoured.

At the handing over ceremony in Maposa, all the village elders were asked to stand and everyone recognized them. This gentleman pictured above was one of the eldest members of the village so he was asked to share the history of Maposa.

The Aids Pandemic travels to Mwandi, Zambia and reports on HIV transmission

The incidence of HIV in the village is around 30-40% and the percentage of HIV positive people is larger within the Mission Hospital patient population according to interviews with medical officers on the hospital staff.

blabbeando reports on the passing of HIV/AIDS immigration activist Richard Sandman

A sweet low-key kinda guy who truly helped hundreds of HIV positive and LGBT immigrants gain political asylum in the United States, Richard was truly an unsung hero. He was somewhat comfortable with the Spanish language which surprised me a bit until I found out his family was from Mexico. Still, as always, he would underplay just how much Spanish he knew and was self-depreciating about his language abilities.

A mutual friend tells me he was so dedicated to his work that few people truly got to know him. By all accounts, though, many seemed to love the guy and recognize his unselfishness in dedicating his life’s work to the issue of immigration.

Black Aids comments on the lack of government funding for HIV/AIDs and the conditions imposed by the US

The United States has promised money for the AIDS pandemic that the United Nations has called the world’s worst health crisis. But the United States won’t deliver any money unless the country, the program, the people or the recipients of the U.S. aid subscribe to the insane policy of “abstinence only!”

Evolution of Jeremiah shares a letter he received from a gay positive man who lives in Miami.

The person you are has no meaning to them unless you have something “they” want. I am no pretty boy nor a gym bunny, I am just an average Joe who happens to be gay. I learned and personally experienced the ” self -discrimination” and “self-destruction” the gay “community” is self inflicting. There is no community, there are only “clubs or cliques………The gay community needs to grow up first and leave high school behind.”

Aids-Write comments on the lack of information around Hepatitis - May 19th was “World Hepatitis Awareness Day”

In the United States, the statistics are staggering. There are an estimated 6 million people with the hepatitis B or C virus. Most Americans living with hepatitis C are unaware of their infection. Chronic viral hepatitis is the leading cause of liver cancer, now among the top 10 killers of Americans over the age of 25. In addition, around 30 percent of people living with HIV are co-infected with hepatitis C, and end-stage liver disease is now a leading cause of death for people with HIV/AIDS.

Aurora-Rayne who is part of a drug study, gives an update on her drug treatment and the happenings and the love in her life.

i love so much that we laugh together. she is the world in my eyes and i see the love reflect in hers. sighhhh. oh and did i mention my baby took third in the national arm wrestling competition? oh yeah! she says it was years ago but hell ill take that. im going to try and get a picture or two up of her so that you can all see the magical wonderful person i have described here so you can see she is after all truly human and not some imaginary goddess i have conjured…lol. i am happy, i am blissful, i am soo completly content.

stephenlewisfdtn video post on AIDS orphans in Africa

Drop Dead Happy comments on blaming others for our actions

In my Pozitive Speaking presentation which I have shared with hundreds, or more, I admit I was infected even before we had the name of H.I.V. and when asked who Infected me I reply “I did, because even in those days when we didn’t know much about this dis-ease I was the one playing with my life my injecting drugs. I knew of other risks but no matter the knowledge at that time - I did this to myself”.

NotPerfectAtAll comments on her experience and the impact of religion on her life

I was busy with living, with learning to socialize, with spending time with men platonically, more often than not, with learning an art of flirting that didn’t lead to being taken there and there, with seeing humans - often with shadows, often threatening, but human nonetheless.

Carlton Entertainment Ministry reports on the “spoken word performance” by Emanuel Andre Stanley called MONSTER

NOTE: June is the month that we’re launching our campaign to promote HIV/ AIDS awareness and the National Christian Film Tour. After our film tour releases the first four videos on the front page of the Omega Vision Studios website, we will start accepting submissions for consideration from film makers (who have produced inspirational, faith-based, true story and socially-conscious films and documentaries like Bill Duke’s Faces of HIV”) to add to our distribution network/chain.

Degree Com on a distance learning programme for chronically ill students

A distance education degree offers excellent opportunities for these students. They do not have to leave the comfort of their own homes to walk into a hostile classroom and take an exam. If they are hospitalized or not feeling well, the flexibility provided by on line degree programs allows them to catch up on coursework when they feel better. Furthermore, students aren’t visibly reminded of their “differences.” They are more able to interact with peers and professors naturally and without inhibitions, fears of cruel comments, or uncivil behavior.

The AIDS Pandemic comments on HIV/AIDS policy in China

The government’s AIDS policy is superficial. It cannot really be implemented. There is a saying in the countryside. The village tells lies to the township government; the township tells lies to the county government; the county tells lies to the state council; the state council issues a document; the document is read by all levels of the government. After they finish reading it, they go into a restaurant, and the document is never put into practice.

kickin tina posts a piece from the newsletter “Strength in numbers”

today i am sharing the newsletter i have been working on with the SIN tribe. it’s our second edition, and i think the guys have done quite an admirable job. there are so many people who work on this and it is really a feeling of accomplishment to have it done. now, i can’t wait for the next one.

Another Video post, this one from “funscenes” on condoms

Finally from Black Looks, the arrest of Ugandan LGBT activists in Kampala who were protesting against comments made by the head of the Ugandan AIDS Commission

On 2 May 2008, Kihumuro Apuuli, Director General of the Uganda AIDS Commission, stated that “gays are one of the drivers of HIV in Uganda, but because of meagre resources we cannot direct our programmes at them at this time.” The SMUG activists staged a peaceful protest at the HIV Implementers meeting to protest the Minister’s statements and gross neglect on the part of the Ugandan government in responding to a growing HIV epidemic among the country’s LGBT community.

Tags:
HIV/AIDS
INTERNATIONAL CARNIVAL OF POSITIVES

One of the three Ugandan LGBTI activists who was arrested at the
HIV/AIDS Implementers’ Meeting in Kampala on the 4th of June 2008, was
re-arrested and held for an additional four and a half hours today.
In response to demands for his release from his lawyer, the
Chairperson of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), and UNAIDS, Usaam
Mukwaaya was released this afternoon on the condition that he returns
to the police on 10 June 2008.

Despite the fact that accredited cards for attendance at the 2008
HIV/AIDS Implementers’ Meeting were given to all three of the LGBTI
activists by the sponsors of the international meeting, the police
have refused to drop the charge of criminal trespass against the three
activists and have added a charge of forgery against Mukwaaya today,
claiming that he did not have a valid permit for attending the 2008
HIV/AIDS Implementers’ Meeting.

After the release of the three LGBTI AIDS activists yesterday, a
collective decision was made by the co-sponsors of the 2008 HIV/AIDS
Implementers meeting to accredit Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG) to
attend the meeting. An official letter accompanied by three
accredited official cards for attending the conference was awarded to
the LGBTI AIDS activists.

Despite this fact, the police have refused to drop the charges of
criminal trespass and forgery. UNAIDS has submitted a statement to
the Ugandan Police indicating that the card was not forged and was
issued officially by the sponsors of the meeting.

NOTE: The charges against the three LGBT AIDS activists HAVE NOT BEEN
DROPPED and their case is still scheduled to be heard on the 20th of
June 2008. Please continue contacting the following people to request
them to drop all charges against the activists:

Via Smug - Sexual Minorities Uganda
Tags:

SMUG
LGBTI
Uganda

cross posted @ kameelahwrites.

The 21-st century pencil test

As attacks on foreigners intensified and spread across Johannesburg, mobs began pulling people out of shopping queues and forcing them to take “tests” to establish their nationality.

In a practice that recalls the humiliating “tests” used by apartheid officials to classify coloureds as white or black, reports came in that South African mobs were using similar techniques to identify foreigners.

African fears about SA are being confirmed

Betrayal describes the general reaction to the xenophobic attacks in South Africa. Betrayal and disgust. Like Caesar, we turn in shock and slowly reach for the knife in our back, not quite feeling the pain yet. Slowly we look down to our bloodied fingers, then look up to our brother. “Et tu Brute?” And thus, the word “brutal” enters the English language, with fratricidal betrayal.

Long-held fears, justified or otherwise, about South African ignorance and disdain towards other Africans are being confirmed. “I flew from Jo’burg sitting next to an elderly South African to Dakar. On arrival,” the Gambian lawyer continues, “he turned to me and asked, ‘Is Dakar in Africa?’ I was too embarrassed to reply.” Then he notes matter-of-factly: “This is a man who started working as a professional in 1972!”

Mbeki says govt wasn’t warned about attacks

President Thabo Mbeki on Tuesday denied reports that the South African government had been warned of the prospect of xenophobic attacks by the National Intelligence Agency.

Briefing reporters following his meeting with Nigerian President Umaru Yar-Adua, Mbeki said suggestions that the government was warned a year ago about the recent xenophobic violence were false.

“There was no such intelligence reports — they certainly did not come to me,” he said.

The power of positive people

While South Africa reeled in shock this week and the cumbersome machinery of international organisations creaked to life, the most effective responses to the xenophobic attacks came from municipalities, ordinary citizens and faith groups.

Albinos, Long Shunned, Face Deadly Threat in Tanzania

Discrimination against albinos is a serious problem throughout sub-Saharan Africa, but recently in Tanzania it has taken a wicked twist: at least 19 albinos, including children, have been killed and mutilated in the past year, victims of what Tanzanian officials say is a growing criminal trade in albino body parts.

Many people in Tanzania — and across Africa, for that matter — believe albinos have magical powers. They stand out, often the lone white face in a black crowd, a result of a genetic condition that impairs normal skin pigmentation and strikes about 1 in 3,000 people here. Tanzanian officials say witch doctors are now marketing albino skin, bones and hair as ingredients in potions that are promised to make people rich.

Obama’s Victory in Democratic Party Poll Has Continent in a Spin

Until he started making news as a possible contender for the US presidency, Barack Obama, who this week won the Democratic ticket in the White House race, was almost unknown in Ethiopia. Now, he has a huge fan club in the country, with one of his greatest fans being Ms Birtukan Mideksa, former deputy chair of Ethiopia’s opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) party.

UN overstated Aids risk, says specialist

The United Nations has systematically exaggerated the scale of the Aids pandemic and the risk of the HIV virus affecting heterosexuals, claims a leading expert on the syndrome. The numbers of people worldwide with HIV have been inflated and the UN Aids agency has wasted billions of dollars on education aimed at people who are unlikely to become infected, says Professor James Chin, a former senior Aids official with the World Health Organisation. […]Chin will detail his claims this week in London in a meeting hosted by the International Policy Network, a free-market think tank, where he will launch a new report, called The Myth of a General Aids Pandemic.

Three Ugandan LGBT activists have been arrested in Uganda whilst attending the HIV/AIDS Implementers Conference in Kampala. The LGBT and HIV / AIDS activists were protesting against comments made by the head of the Ugandan AIDS Commission that no funds would be given to AIDS programmes working with men who have sex with men. The meeting is part funded by PEPFAR which ties HIV funding to abstinence only programmes and anti-prostitution clauses.

On 2 May 2008, Kihumuro Apuuli, Director General of the Uganda AIDS Commission, stated that “gays are one of the drivers of HIV in Uganda, but because of meagre resources we cannot direct our programmes at them at this time.” The SMUG activists staged a peaceful protest at the HIV Implementers meeting to protest the Minister’s statements and gross neglect on the part of the Ugandan government in responding to a growing HIV epidemic among the country’s LGBT community. They were arrested and detained at the Jinja Road Police Station immediately after taking the stage at the meeting, distributing leaflets and holding up small placards demanding attention to HIV vulnerability among LGBT.

Ugandan LGBT activists have been at the forefront of the struggle for human rights amongst the LGBT communities of Africa.

Tags:
SMUG
LGBTI
Uganda

This Monday, 2nd June, 2008 the Director General of Uganda AIDS Commission (UAC), was widely quoted by international media saying “Gays are one of the drivers of HIV in Uganda, but because of meagre resources we cannot direct our programmes at them at this time,”

We would like to point out:

* 26 years since the epidemic of HIV started there has not been a single government led prevention programme amongst gay Ugandans.
* That from the very beginning of the world wide epidemic it was known that gay men are a vulnerable group.

The statement by the Director General is particularly sad, following statements of other Ugandan leaders that gay people should be marooned on an island to die2, and from an advisor to the UAC that “Our previous experience showed us that bringing homosexuals into campaigns against HIV only gives them a chance to propagate their illegal and unnatural acts.”3

We are Ugandans. We are gay Ugandans.

We have a right to life.

We have a right to health.

We have a right to be free of HIV.

We have a right to knowledge about HIV prevention and treatment. We have a right to protect our selves, our lovers, our families and our communities.

26 years since the HIV epidemic started, Gay Ugandans believe myths and lies about HIV because of biased and unscientific public education campaigns carried out by the government. Despite the lies we have been told, all people have the right to unbiased prevention, care, treatment, and support.

We are gay Ugandans, fellow human beings. We are your brothers and sisters, fathers, mothers, cousins and clans mates.

Please stop discriminating and stigmatizing Gay Ugandans in the fight against HIV. Gay Ugandans need to be included in HIV prevention programmes and to be ensured equal access to care, treatment, and support.

Press Release by Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG)

Tags:
SMUG
LGBTI
Uganda