Blogging for HIV/AIDS
October 31st, 2006 | Published in Advocacy, Africa, Blogosphere, Botswana, Health | 2 Comments
Ron Hudson, a 21 year survivor of HIV/AIDS living in North Carolina, USA, contacted me a couple of days back about his work: the International Carnival of Pozitivities (ICP), a blog carnival of and for people living with HIV/AIDS, their families, friends or caregivers.
According to Ron, “one of the aspects of the carnival that is important is that you don’t actually have to have a personal experience with the disease. It can be about your perception of the disease within your culture too.”
His message reads thusly:
“I am writing you to ask you to submit articles from your blogs and websites for inclusion in the ICP. My aim is to bring all people who are affected by HIV/AIDS into the forefront again, and to bring attention to our needs in the public sphere. If you can contribute some of your work on the crisis, it will help us all. I am particularly interested in promoting a true African perspective on HIV/AIDS in Africa. We always hear the western perception of [tag]HIV/AIDS[/tag] elsewhere, but rarely hear from people who are actually living with the disease. I would like to invite you to the table and ask you to please join us so that we can learn from one another and do a better job at fighting our common foe: the HIV virus.
“I hope you will visit the ICP homepage at www.internationalcarnivalofpozitivities.blogspot.com, read about my goals for the ICP and how you can help and then contribute or volunteer to host. If nothing else, if you could write your contacts and encourage them to participate on my behalf, that would be wonderful.
“I hope to hear from you soon. Our next edition is due out in November and there is a deadline for submissions of 2 November. The first 4 editions of the Carnival are available through the carnival homepage.”
Another initiative with similar focus is the Blogswana, a blogging project for Botswanian college students affected in some way by the AIDS virus. The project is led by Curt Hopkins and Brian Schartz under the aegis of the nonprofit organization, the Committee to Protect Bloggers. [tag]Blogswana[/tag] just launched the its aggregator: Bots Blog Aggregator.
October 31st, 2006 at 9:28 pm (#)
Dear Imnakoya,
Thank you so much for posting this information for your readers. I hope that we can make a difference together for us all. Much respect and love to all others who, like me, are living with HIV/AIDS and to those as well who strive to end this illness.
Safe Journeys!
Ron Hudson
November 7th, 2006 at 7:05 am (#)
If there is one thing that can bridge the African/African American Diaspora, it is the battle against HIV/AIDS in black nations and communities. The western perspective of AIDS you speak of above is predominately a white, privileged perspective. The virus and disease is destroying black communities in the United States just as it is destroying the black population in various countries in Africa. The battle to embark upon is the global war against the virus and disease itself. Collectively, Africans and African Americans need to unite and fight against the proliferation of this disease. I hope that in your effort to gather the perspective of African men and women suffering from the virus and disease, that there is the recognition that their horrible stories are but a snapshot of the impact of the virus and disease on the entire black diaspora, including AIDS in black America. Please see my blog, http://rrpmedia.blogspot.com for the title HIV/AIDS Pestilence Within Our Land. Thank you.
LeVoyd Carter
Race, Religion and Power
LeVoyd@Gmail.com
http://rrpmedia.blogspot.com