Showing posts with label world aids day. Show all posts
Showing posts with label world aids day. Show all posts
Sunday, December 1, 2013 - , , 0 comments

World AIDS Day 2013

HIV/AIDS was one of the main reasons that I joined the Peace Corps. A dear friend of mine got a positive diagnosis shortly before I left for Nicaragua. The emotional pain it caused me and other loved ones made me believe in the fight even more and I want to do my part in making sure no one else has to go thru that.

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Today is the day where we all have the opportunity to unite in the fight against HIV. It doesn't matter where you are in the world to show your support for people living with HIV and to commemorate people who have died.


It's not just a disease that is isolated within a specific population, everyone is vulnerable: men, women, teens, bisexual, homosexual, heterosexual, children.

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Check out (RED); not only do they partner with companies (read: Starbucks, Beats by Dre, Apple...all of which have great gifts for the holidays!), but a large percentage of their profits go directly to AIDS relief, including 100% of the profits from their new Dance (RED) Save Lives² album (personally, I think this is a GREAT album for running, working out, dancing, etc).

So today, take the time to educate yourself about HIV and AIDS and educate those around you. Wear red or even just a red ribbon to show your support in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

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Throwback from August 2011 before doing the AIDS Walk Colorado in Denver.
Friday, December 7, 2012 - , , , , , , , , 0 comments

World AIDS Day 2012


To me, World AIDS Day is one of the most important days of the year, and I wanted to do something for it. One of my counterparts/gym owner and I decided to have a dinner with our Zumba ladies and their partners at a restaurant in Jalapa on December 1st to educate them about HIV/AIDS. We presented a slideshow about the statistics in Nicaragua and they asked many questions and learned a lot by the end of the night. 

Only 3 ladies and their children showed up. I was a little disappointed by the turnout, but the ladies who did show up are always at my classes and I really appreciated their presence.

Slideshow Presentation

Marvin answering questions about HIV/AIDS

The following Monday, our women's shelter, Oyanka, put on an HIV/AIDS fair, with the help of Cruz Roja (Red Cross), and NGOs like CEPS, ProFamilia and myself. It was a nice event. We did condom demonstrations, free rapid HIV tests, giveaways (t-shirts and condoms) and education about HIV/AIDS.

Hopefully next year I can create more excitement and do a bigger event on my own, rather than tag along to someone else's event, but only time will tell!

Preparing the ribbons we handed out to everyone who attended the fair

CEPS banner: "Nueva Segovia united for a global response"

"I have AIDS in mind, so I don't have it in my body, I use a condom"

The setup

Putting together condom packets to hand out

Putting together condom packets to hand out

Condom Packet: "I can protect you! If you use me always and correctly in every sexual relation"

Me with Don Condón


"Vive Informate Humanizate (Live, Inform, Humanize)"

One of my CEPS buddies proving that a condom can never be too small!

Demonstrating how to correctly put on a condom

Receiving information from Oyanka