World AIDS Day

I can’t believe that Dec. 1, World AIDS Day, has almost passed before I had a chance to blog. We’ve been extremely busy of late, probably busier than we’ve been since we returned from South Africa, but I still want to take this chance to highlight the global AIDS crisis.

Two weeks ago, I (Dan) started my new job, which has contributed to the busyness. I’m now working downtown, and with the commute I’m typically gone about 11 hours a day.

For those of you who haven’t heard, I was hired by Calgary YMCA as their International & Employment Manager. Ironically, the job offer came shortly after we heard that our family had been chosen to receive a Calgary YMCA Peace Medal for our work in South Africa. It was a huge honour, as is the job.

The YMCA is in many ways just what I've been looking for. Their motto is "Building Strong Kids, Strong Families, Strong Communities" and it is truly their practice and aim, and not just empty words. Many of us in North America associate the Y with only Health & Fitness, but they do SO much more. The branch where I work has no fitness facilities; only offices and classrooms where incredible Community Development programs are facilitated. I've been hooked on the concept of Community Development since our experience in South Africa.

When we were in Africa, we had the opportunity to see the sub-Saharan HIV/AIDS pandemic up close, and I cannot adequately describe how much that experience rocked our world and changed us forever. We experienced first-hand how widespread and intense the needs are; how devastating the disease is to individuals and also to entire communities. Stephen Lewis, Canada’s Special Envoy to the UN for HIV/AIDS in Africa, recently wrote about how wonderful it is that drug treatments are finally being made available in Africa, but he also lamented that “the attempt to subdue the pandemic is, predictably and appropriately, focused on treatment. This still leaves a vast and continuing human toll: grandmothers desperate for food; orphans desperate to go to school; infected women desperate for the nutritional supplements that will allow the drugs to work on ravaged bodies.”

But while we were in South Africa, we also experienced how easily we can make a difference! The smallest acts of kindness and generosity go a long way, especially when issues are addressed through Community Development...not by coming to an area with bags full of money and our own solutions, but by working with and supporting community leaders who are already tackling local issues with local solutions.

One of my mandates of my position as International Manager at the YMCA is to continue to highlight the YMCA principle of “global perspective and participation.” We have so much in North America, and there is much more that we can do. Every day we can make a difference through the smallest choices: where to shop, what to buy, whether to refrain from buying, how to commute, and generally how to free up money and time to give to others.

I’m also excited about Calgary YMCA’s new international partnership with Ukraine YMCA: the Ukraine has the highest rate of HIV infection in Europe, and the YMCA there is making a huge grassroots impact through their education and leadership development programs.

By the way, if you're interested in learning more about HIV/AIDS, here are some web resources to review:

• World AIDS Day site
• Kaiser Network.org
• GlobalHealthFacts.org (an amazing site! Also from Kaiser)
• Stephen Lewis Foundation (great information here too)
• UNAIDS
• The Global Fund

Thanks to Mike Todd for the above links and the Stephen Lewis quote. Please stop by his site and make a $10 donation to (Red)emption.

Peace,
Dan