Bored at work?? Create art by clicking here http://www.starbucksloveproject.com/#/love/ - it's FREE and the fine folks of Starbucks will donate 5 cents (up to $50,000) and your artwork will be featured on the Project Love website. Every drink purchase at Starbucks will also get 5 cents to the Global AIDS fund - and every $15 dollar purchase on December 1st gets you a Project LOVE CD (free) and $1 donated. You see - drawing, coffee and shopping can help save the world :)
Need more cool ways to get involved while doing p-r-a-c-t-i-c-a-l-l-y nothing??? FIGHT AIDS FROM HOME! FightAIDS@Home is the first biomedical distributed computing project ever launched. It is run by the Olson Laboratory at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California. They provide free software that you download and install. The software uses your computer's idle cycles to assist fundamental research in discovering new drugs, building on our growing knowledge of the structural biology of AIDS. In addition, this research helps them study the mechanisms of multi-drug-resistance that the "super bugs" of HIV use to escape the current anti-AIDS drugs. And this research helps them create, test, refine, and share the tools and protocols that thousands of other labs use in their research against other diseases. The best part is – you don’t need to do anything, just install software and ensure your computer is hooked up to the internet, BAM – saving lives. Click HERE for more information.
Okay, for those of you who don't know, today is Day With(out) Art and World AIDS Day. Day Without Art(DWA) began in 1989 as the national day of action and mourning in response to the AIDS crisis. To make the public aware that AIDS can touch everyone, and inspire positive action, some eight hundred US art and AIDS groups participated in the first Day Without Art, shutting down museums, sending staff to volunteer at AIDS services, or sponsoring special exhibitions of work about AIDS. Since then, Day With(out) Art has grown into a collaborative project in which an estimated 8,000 museums, galleries, art centers, AIDS Service Organizations, libraries, high schools and colleges take part on both the national and international levels. For more information, please visit this site http://www.thebody.com/visualaids/dwa/dwa2006.html
Please wear a red ribbon today for World AIDS Day. When people ask you what it's for, tell them you wear it to commemorate this day. If they ask why, tell them that worldwide, and in 2008 alone, AIDS claimed 2.1 million people. That's over 5,400 people every day. But the story does not end there: over 7,000 new cases of HIV infections occur every single day. Tell them that in another ten years, an estimated 40 million children worldwide will lose their parents to AIDS. Around half of all people who become infected with HIV do so before they are 25 and are killed by AIDS before they are 35.
You can make a difference. Find out about HIV. Wear the Red Ribbon. By wearing it, you're showing your support for over 32 million people across the world who are living with a disease for which there's still no cure. For more information, please visit http://www.worldaidscampaign.org/
The history of AIDS is a short one. As recently as the 1970s, no one was aware of this deadly illness. Since then the global AIDS epidemic has become one of the greatest threats to human health and development. At the same time, much has been learned about the science of AIDS, as well as how to prevent and treat the disease. Although HIV and AIDS are found in all parts of the world, some areas are more afflicted than others. The worst affected region is sub-Saharan Africa, where in a few countries more than one in five adults is infected with HIV. The epidemic is spreading most rapidly in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, where the number of people living with HIV increased 150% between 2001 and 2007.
As a sexually transmitted infection, HIV particularly affects adolescents and young adults. Deaths of young adults have an especially damaging impact on their families and communities: skills are lost, workforces shrink and children are orphaned. In some African countries, life expectancies have fallen below 40 years, whereas they would have been above 60 without AIDS. There are around 15 million living children who have lost a parent to AIDS.
Yet although it is known how to prevent and treat AIDS, few people have access to the necessary services. Most rich countries – and a few middle-income nations such as Brazil and Botswana – have achieved near-universal treatment coverage. But across the developing world only 31% of people who need anti-AIDS drugs are receiving them. Access to prevention tools such as HIV education, condoms, clean needles and programs to prevent mother-to-child transmission is utterly inadequate. For example, in 2008 only 34% of pregnant women with HIV received the drugs that could stop their children becoming infected.
In recent years, efforts to fight AIDS around the world have stepped up, with much greater funding being supplied by the US, other rich nations and developing country governments. But the amount of money available is barely half what is needed for an effective response. Apart from inadequate funding, major obstacles in tackling the global AIDS epidemic include weak infrastructure and shortages of health workers in the worst affected countries. Political or cultural attitudes are also significant: for example some authorities are opposed to condom promotion, while others refuse to support needle exchanges for injecting drug users. Many are reluctant to provide young people with adequate education about sex and sexual health. Another very serious issue is stigma and discrimination. People known to be living with HIV are often shunned or abused by community members, employers and even health workers. As well as causing much personal suffering, this sort of prejudice discourages people from seeking HIV testing, treatment and care.
PRODUCTS THAT HELP FUND THE CAUSE
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(RED) is a business model created to raise awareness and money for the Global Fund by teaming up with the world's most iconic brands to produce (PRODUCT) RED branded products. A portion of profits from each (PRODUCT) RED product sold goes directly to the Global Fund to invest in African AIDS programs, with a focus on women and children. You can purchase practically ANYTHING – music, software, computers, clothing… purchase for a cause this season! Get Inspi(RED)!
So why do I care? Best to tell two short stories. First, I lost my uncle to AIDS in 1987, when no one even knew what the disease was. I have fond memories of my uncle - but because the disease has touched my life has less to do with why I care than most would think. I started fundraising for Whitman Walker Clinic when I was fifteen. I realized that those with the disease are stigmatized, I realized that politics and society are stigmatizing. I realized how easily those around me turn their heads from what is happening in the world because they feel like something isn't affecting them. At the end of the day we are all connected. We should all choose at least one thing to be passionate about and we should never be blinded to the struggles of our neighbors. We should never close our minds, close our hearts. To do so, we are closing ourselves. Doing something doesn't mean pulling put a checkbook, it simply means being aware and being informed. So I guess, that's story number one.
Story number two... one day I took the metro in to work. On the ride I noticed a shelter ad that simply said, "Yes, it's grueling. Maybe even the test of a lifetime. But, that's what it's like to live with a life threatening disease every day of your life." I agreed, thinking about family and friends I have known and lost to AIDS and Cancer and in watching my mom fight Lupus. A month after seeing the sign, I officially registered as a rider for Tour de Friends (TdF). In May 2003, I purchased my first bike since I was 15. And now…I’m an addict.
I'm a big believer in the saying that life is a journey, not a destination. I believe that it's true for everything you do in life, including this ride. When I first decided to participate, I tried really hard to find someone to ride with me and I got mixed reactions. Some people legitimately couldn't make the time, others (including myself at times) thought I was nuts and saw the 356 miles as a measurement as opposed to the journey those miles actually represented. When I realized I'd be starting the ride on my own, I was a bit intimidated but the thought of a challenge excited me too. I'd be lying if I said I didn't have brief moments where I thought about "quitting." But, whenever I had those thoughts - even during the ride, I thought about the people in my life and the lives of others who never really had that option. They simply fought, and I simply went. I still try to maintain this mentality.
So, as an aside, it's my birthday and I'm really excited about getting together with a group of friends for dinner, and lecture them about the state of the world - because I can, it's my day. I also get to tell them how special they are and how grateful I am to have such incredible, wonderful people in my life. In Zulu, there is a saying, "one is who they are through others." I am who I am, and the person I am becoming, because of you.
On a final note, last year controversy came from superheros depicted with AIDS (in previous years it was clothing brands such as Kenneth Cole and Bennetton with a depiction of a Christ-like figure). This year, it's a campaign depicting Hitler, Stalin and Sadaam Hussein. I should warn - the video below was pulled from youtube, is NSFW and not suitable for children.
AIDS is a mass murderer from FunnyCommercialsWorldCom on Vimeo.
