Solidarity

Click for Video Meet David Jenkins. Watch his testimony in church.

Faith-based involvement in the HIV epidemic continues to be critical. The courageous acts of people living with HIV/AIDS, like David, that speak truth to power where it counts need to be supported.

What do these support structure look like? Are they reports? Are they policies? How do you get people to tell the truth?

These are the questions I am thinking about as I prepare to meet the world in Mexico. I am a physician/filmmaker that is using media as a movement-building tool to bridge the silos of HIV prevention work. The questions posed are about the culture work that falls in between silos of HIV prevention and treatment. This missing dialogue and language is an obstacle to action and support.

Support is about solidarity and bridging pieces together. Media can serve as this congealing force in our interconnected cyber-world. This requires two things: listening and creating new forums for the resulting lessons to grow. I film community-based participant driven narratives on the frontlines of HIV prevention work in hopes of uniting a fragmented movement towards human rights.

As a physician, I have taken care of HIV infected and affected communities in the South Bronx, Ethiopia, and South Africa. Listening to the patients in all these settings has been a humbling lesson in solidarity and the profound obligation that comes with listening.

Those on the frontlines have been telling it like it is for a long time.
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So as I sit and stare at my suitcase wondering what to put it into it, I am a ball of emotions about the impending week. I thought I would take a moment and blog about it...(bare with me).

Besides the normal freak out of not wanting to forget anything like tickets, passport and tolietries. I am a ball of excitement about all the potential learning experiences I will have in the next week. I find myself energized, nervous and sometimes crazed in my head. As I began my packing experience tho I decided to give myself a quick pedicure just to take the edge off. Normaily I would just rub the dead skin away, clip the ends and leave it at that, but today feels different so I decided to choose a color to go on the nails. I choose Black today, not only because it was available in my home but as I am feeling symbolically it adds the sentiment that I am searching for.

Often when I think about the AIDS crisis, I become overwhelmed and wonder if things will ever be alright for the millions of folks living with the disease. At conferences such as IAC, I usually get inspiration from my fellow PWHAs and they let me know that things will turn out alright. Although there are what seem like insurmountable odds against us; the faint laugh, the contentious moment always seem to bring me back to a middle ground and a feeling of calm.  read more »