I was really pleased to see lots of people wearing red ribbons around the time of World AIDS Day. It showed an interest within our society regarding a disease which is so prevalent within the world today, not just in the gay community, but within society as a whole. As time has gone by, the public in general has come to realise the massive problem faced by HIV and AIDS both on a domestic and global scale. It used to be that a tombstone campaign placed AIDS away from the domestic environment; upon homosexual men and in certain areas of Africa. Thankfully, gone are those days. True, HIV and AIDS are still regarded as alien to, per se, the suburbs of Warwick, and there is still a great urban myth that homosexual men are all destined to get the disease, (my grandfather is positive I am a walking AIDS mutation) but generally there is a greater understanding amongst Brits that HIV and AIDS can strike anywhere and at anytime if you are not careful.

You all know the standard ways AIDS can be caught… sexual intercourse, no protection, sleeping around, it only takes the one time… etc. But how about the monsters that perpetuate that and spread it amongst more people? People who know they have AIDS but rather than take responsibilities for their actions continue to spread the disease, sometimes to deliberately hurt others as they themselves are hurting.

It could be anyone. It could be the sexy guy you just met in mission, the guy you were dancing with 10 minutes ago... he put his arms around you, kissed your neck, just right, and smiled, God he had a lovely smile. He offered to buy you a drink, you accepted, he wandered off, brought back the drink. You took a sip, you fell, he lead you outside, into a cab… did you really want to wake up decaying? Did you really want to wake up with AIDS? Did you really want the story to end up this way, sat on my bed crying, how stupid you were? It’s amazing how what you go to bed with can be so different when you wake up.

This is serious sh*t, and I’m very sorry to say that the last part is a true story, though naturally adapted to protect the teller. There are still true cases of ignorance. People in rural Malawi (not a racist slur but a true story) who believe religiously that sleeping with an “Azoungou”, (literally translated from Chichéwa into “white person”) will cure them of AIDS. In Thailand, people in rural provinces such as Nongkhai or Loei who simply do not understand the implications of AIDS and the nature of its ability to spread, to consume. People in England, not quite understanding why it is that the cold they’ve been having recently, is so bad. They are sad stories, preventable, heartbreaking. I once met a Thai gay couple who were madly in love with each other. They’d been together for 6 years and all of a sudden both of them began to experience the same symptoms: lethargy, bleeding, vomiting. They both had developed AIDS. One of the couple had slept with a sleazy white guy a year before the couple had met, as a result, largely down to ignorance, the disease had been transmitted, the most worthy of people were infected. Things that have happened in my life, and no doubt in your lives too have made me become very aware of HIV and AIDS. What is it? What does it do? How can you stop it? How can you help people with it?

What can we do to help educate people regarding AIDS? Is there anything we can do in order to stop the disease from spreading? Of course there is!

The preventative measures outlined on World AIDS Day, things such as stronger condoms, specially designed for gay sex, thousands of leaflets given out by charitable organisations such as the Terrence Higgins Trust; people talking about it, coming to terms with it, the sexual health workshops the LGBT is due to run next semester. Learning about it, checking on the symptoms, avoiding any possibility of drug rape, STD tests, confiding in your friends…. The list goes on. If you’re horny, whatever you do, don’t go out and pull someone who might have HIV, just jerk off. It sounds a really stupid thing to say, but the guy I mentioned earlier had gone out to pull; now he lives his life haunted by this one night of ‘passion’. It really wasn’t worth it.

So what can you individually do to help?
(This is the important bit people)

Contribute your time and do something amazing, fun and rewarding. Next semester, hopefully around about April when the weather is starting to warm up and there’s not too much stress, I suggest that we co-ordinate a fundraising event. Now I’m undecided what this event should be, which is where everyone comes in. I was thinking we could all cycle through to Manchester, before realising that most people don’t have bikes… so any suggestions of things that would be fun, challenging yet do-able would be fantastic… Those interested in participating would fundraise for this event in co-operation with the student radio (representatives from the radio are already interested) and hopefully get lots of support from local charities and businesses sympathetic to the cause, not to mention fellow students. All the money raised will go towards a HIV awareness charity, such as the Terrence Higgins Trust and by the end of the fundraiser, everyone will have had an amazing time, and have made such a difference. If only one persons life is changed by the things we do, it’s worth it, and we can look back in pride.

This is merely what I suggest of course, and if the committee felt that something like this would be better co-ordinated from outside the society, that would be fine. I know that I have talked to a few of the society members in coffee hour, and you seemed enthusiastic about doing something like this. Please suggest ideas so as to make this fundraiser as much fun as possible, and those of you who I haven’t met yet, who browse the forum but don’t come along to coffee hour, please feel free to let me know if you are interested. PM me or add me on david_project_trust@hotmail.com.

Wear your hearts on your sleeve like the red ribbon you wear on your chest. This year, your New Years resolution should be to make a difference, change someone’s world.

Happy New Year

ThaiDave x