I wish I could do more than just the walks, but I don’t seem to be very successful at branching out. For instance, I sent out a few e-mails and letters to local AIDS charities around town volunteering my time. I heard back from only one. I won’t name the organization since I don’t have a positive story to tell. Basically, I attended orientation and realized that, due to my work schedule, I wasn’t going to be able to really help out in the areas that I would have liked. But there’s a monthly event held here in Dallas on a weekend night, and I volunteered to help decorate. When I showed up, everyone just kind of stared at me and wouldn’t talk to me. Since I guess all of them had helped set up on previous occasions, they all seemed to know what needed to be done. This being my first time, I was getting my volunteer cherry popped so to speak, I was relying on the other volunteers to let me know what I could help out w/. After about an hour of hearing “I don’t know what you can do” and several dirty looks, I decided my help wasn’t needed or wanted. Besides, I don’t see how what they were doing was benefiting anyone who has HIV/AIDS. I mean, the event draws in money, but I need something more hands on. I want to interact w/ the people and I want to see who I am helping to remind me just why I’m doing what I’m doing.
So, I do the walks because I get to inform people and I get to be out amongst so many other people working toward the same goal. And I feel like I’m actually doing something productive. So this brings me to my real topic….
This year Adam, of The Krebs Cycle, and I are joining forces to start a team for the upcoming AIDS Arms LifeWalk. The event will be on Sunday, October 1, 2006. The name of our group is The Gayborhoodies. If you live in the Dallas area, I strongly urge you to consider joining our team. Please e-mail me ( gayborhoodgringo@gmail.com ), and I can provide you with more information. However, if you don’t live in Dallas, or do but don’t want to join us, feel free to contribute. Please don’t feel obligated, this post isn’t me trying to get money from you…I’ll save that one for later – ha! My goal is to make you aware of HIV/AIDS and hopefully motivate you to volunteer in some way. Because the only way we can combat this thing is through educating ourselves, making others aware of the issue and teaching people how to prevent it. It doesn’t seem to be talked about much any more, but that doesn’t mean it has gone away.
Here are some interesting statistics:
• By the end of 2005, 40.3 million people were living with HIV/AIDS, including 17.5 million women and 2.3 million children under the age of 15.
• 4.9 million people became newly infected with HIV in 2005, including 700,000 children.
• In 2005 alone, a total of 3.1 million people died of HIV/AIDS-related causes.
• World-wide, only 1 in 10 persons infected with HIV has been tested and know his/her HIV status.
So let that sink in. Then go out, get tested and FIND OUT the results. Too many people go get tested, but never actually go back for the results. If you don’t want to go alone, take a friend and get tested together. In fact, that’s what I’m going to do the next time I go to Houston. My friend and I are going to the free clinic there. Which reminds me, most major cities have free testing. If you aren’t aware of any where you live, do a Google search for your area. They are free and anonymous. And thanks to Hypoxic for this (I can't believe I would forget this bit of advice): ALWAYS WEAR PROTECTION!! There is absolutely NO excuse for not using it.
WARNING: Some good advice that I’ve learned is to NEVER go through your insurance to get tested. At any time, they can go through their files, see that you have gotten tested and can use that to drop you…even if your results come back negative. As far as they are concerned, you are a potential risk.
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