AIDS Awareness Week in Lake County culminated with a moment of silence and the sharing of grief in recognition of those lost to the terrible condition. A Service of Remembrance, hosted by Community Care HIV/AIDS Project (CCHAP), was held on Sunday, Dec. 7, at the United Methodist Church in Clearlake Oaks, where people gathered to share their pain and assist one another in the healing process.
Mike, Peter, Angela, Mark, John, Christopher and countless others were remembered for the courage and strength they had displayed in their losing battles against the wretched virus. Through tearful eyes, people shared stories of lost ones and the toll the condition had taken on them personally as well as its affects on the world. Many stories recounted days when the virus was yet unnamed and how those infected were often ostracized from society.
A mother recalled her son”s efforts to educate the public after being diagnosed with the virus and how he had volunteered as a test subject for medications that would eventually lead to prolonged life for victims of HIV/AIDS. One man shared a collage of all the friends he has lost over the years due to infection while a woman questioned why she herself had not contracted the virus.
The woman said she had required a blood transfusion while at the same time her neighbor was in the same hospital for a hernia operation. The blood her neighbor had received was tainted and he contracted the AIDS virus. Another acquaintance, she said, was also in the same out-of-county hospital for a hernia operation and contracted the virus through blood transfusion as well. She said she often wonders why, when she had required use of more blood than they, she did not get infected. She cried as she recalled how her neighbor had taken his own life following diagnose of the virus and how the other man had taken the condition home to his wife, who also became infected.
Another woman shared her story, which began in 1983 in a San Francisco shelter where she had assisted people with HIV/AIDS. She remembered 15 people, sharing all their names with the audience. “I don”t know what to say about the gifts these people left with me other than my life would have been different without them,” she said.
CCHAP Program Coordinator Ken Young shared some of the advancements in care and awareness. He said he remembered when CCHAP first opened clients did not see each other. Now programs offer clients an opportunity to collaborate and share in the life struggles the virus presents.
According to CCHAP, 2.1 million people worldwide died of AIDS in 2007; 330,000 were children younger than 15 years of age. By the end of 2007, there were approximately 33.2 million adults and children living with HIV/AIDS in the world. Last year, an estimated 2.5 million people became newly infected with HIV, including approximately 420,000 children. Approximately one half of all new HIV infections are women.
By the end of 2005, the epidemic had left behind 15.2 million AIDS orphans.
For more information on how you can make a difference in increasing HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention, contact the CCHAP Drop-In Center, 14644-B Lakeshore Drive in Clearlake at 995-1606. The center is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Bilingual assistance is available.
Contact Denise Rockenstein at drockenstein@clearlakeobserver.com or call her directly at 994-6444, ext. 11.
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