UUA President and Congregations Mark Global AIDS Day with Witness and Action (America, church)

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UUA President and Congregations Mark Global AIDS Day with Witness and Action

On December 1, World AIDS Day, UUA President William G. Sinkford will meet in Washington, DC with David Gartner, Policy Director for the Global AIDS Alliance. The UUA is a member of the Global AIDS Alliance, dedicated to mobilizing the political will and financial resources needed to slow and ultimately stop the global AIDS crisis, and to reduce its impacts on poor countries hardest hit by the pandemic. The UUA has long opposed institutionalized discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS and upheld their rights to affordable medication and health care. The UUA has also advocated for medically-accurate, practical, and comprehensive sex education to prevent the spread of AIDS and has raised a liberal religious voice speaking against the homophobia and racism that often underlie the stigma inflicted upon people living with HIV/AIDS.

In 2002, Canadian Ambassador Stephen Lewis spoke to the UUA General Assembly on the challenges facing the global community – including HIV/AIDS. His electrifying speech spurred UUs to begin formation of the UU Global AIDS Coalition. Recognizing that the crisis has reached unprecedented proportions and will continue to do so until major economic and social structures are changed on a global level, the General Assembly of 2003 issued an Action of Immediate Witness to bring attention to the issue and encourage our member congregations to take action.

Today, the UU Global AIDS Coalition connects members of over 80 UU congregations working to address global AIDS issues. The organization began as an action group of the First Unitarian Church in Portland, OR, and now has a national board which includes adult and youth representatives from around the US.

Since the AIDS epidemic began twenty years ago, over twenty-eight million people have died and an estimated forty-two million are living with HIV today. Although antiretroviral medicines have dramatically extended life for some, there is still no cure, no vaccine, and no short-cut to accessing effective healthcare for the millions affected who live with poverty, stigma, and little care or support.

To Get Involved:

Join the work of the UU Global AIDS Coalition (UUGAC). Contact: Ann Pickar. Read the UU Global AIDS Coalition Newsletter to keep current with the group's activities. If you are a UU youth interested in involvement in this effort, contact the Youth Division of the UU Global AIDS Coalition by emailing Erica Lindegren. Read the Youth Division's flyer on their activities for further information.

Become a "Red Ribbon" Congregation! Congregations so designated are active participants in positive actions to address the Global HIV/AIDS pandemic. A "Red Ribbon" Congregation shall be so designated after providing evidence of at least two of the following: an active process for ongoing education about the HIV/AIDS pandemic, an active process for taking actions relevant to ongoing government programs (e.g., www.one.org and www.data.org ), an active program involved with a community or project that is in direct action with affected people in Africa, an active fundraising project that is in support of relevant projects and programs found to be effective in the fight against HIV/AIDS, undergoing an annual reassessment of what the congregation is doing to refocus and re-energize the congregation as a "Red Ribbon Congregation." For more information on this program, contact Lyle Smith of the UU Global AIDS Coalition.

Media Coverage:

Singing in the Shadow of AIDS : In 2004, UU journalist Jonah Eller-Isaacs spent six months traveling alone through sub-Saharan Africa. While living with local families and working with newfound friends, he recorded music of a surprising nature. He found that residents were using music as an effective tool in fighting HIV and AIDS. Hear Eller-Isaacs' reports from Malawi, Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda in this absorbing presentation from Minnesota Public Radio.

Congregations Taking Action:

Communities Without Borders is a program of the First Unitarian Society in Newton (MA) and First Parish in Lexington, UU (MA). The program has partnered the two congregations and other US groups with women's groups in Zambia to support education for 260 AIDS orphans. This past summer, nine adults and nine teenagers from the two UU congregations traveled to Zambia for two and a half weeks to join Zambian friends in working side-by-side on service projects. Read their November newsletter. Contact: Peter Smith

The Social Responsibility Inclusion Task Force of First Unitarian Church of Rochester, NY , is sponsoring PeaceArt International's 5th Annual World AIDS Day Benefit Concert "REMEMBER THE CHILDREN" on Thursday, December 1, 2005, at 7:30pm at First Unitarian Church in Rochester. The event is a benefit for SOS Children's Heaven of Hope in Mamelodi, South Africa, aiding over 500 orphaned and unemployed youth affected by AIDS. Contact: Doug Evans.

The Unitarian Universalist Church of Annapolis, MD, through church member Suzie Ochs (RN/PA) and minister Fred Muir, started a program called "Our House" for people who had been recently-hospitalized with AIDS-related infections and who were ready for outpatient care. The program offered housing for three individuals with a live-in caregiver. Diane Goforth, former President of the Anapolis congregation who was instrumental in starting the program writes, "Our congregation had been looking for a social action program that could be supported by the whole congregation. With some trepidation, a huge insurance premium, and the promise that the outgoing president would become the project manager, the church voted yes! We created a Housing Advisory Committee, rented property, got it completely furnished with donations, hired the care-giver, and took our first client, all within two months." Read more about the Annapolis congregation's story.

The Carbondale (IL) Unitarian Fellowship has partnered with Hospice of Southern Illinois to connect to the Ranchhod Hospice and Orphan Care Program in Kabwe, Zambia. Through several fund raisers they have been able to send approximately $8000 to Zambia, helping to build an addition onto the hospice building. On December 11, 2005, the congregation will have its 2nd annual benefit concert/silent auction of African Art; a group from the congregation plans to visit Zambia in the summer of 2006. Contact: Carla Feldhammer.

The Unitarian Universalist Society of San Francisco will be involved in the Twelfth Annual World Aids Day Observance at the National Aids Memorial Grove in Golden Gate Park on Thursday, December 1st at noon. Rev. John Robinson will be involved in the commemoration. Embracing Life - Honoring Those Lost and Those who Loved Them is the theme of the program of remembrance, hope, and renewal.

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Resources for Children and Youth:

• SIECUS' "Families are Talking" newsletter
• Facts from UNICEF: on children and AIDS, Childhood Under Threat
• From Tolerance.org: "The Changing Face of Aids"—a moving story about young African-American men and AIDS with good links, good for teens.
• From Tolerance.org: A story about a college age artist making a difference in the lives of people with AIDS

For Further Information:

• The UUA offers information on AIDS/HIV and social justice action that can take root in our congregations.
• Review the Global AIDS Fact Sheet for statistical information and talking points.
• The UUA Committee on Socially Responsible Investing has prepared a briefing paper, "Corporate Responsibility & Global HIV/AIDS," which articulates the major issues around HIV/AIDS facing the world investment community and a rationale for action.
• The UU-United Nations Office has issued material in support of Global AIDS Day observances.
• Read the text of HR 1409, a bill passed by the U.S. House and Senate on November 9, 2005, "Assistance for Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children in Developing Countries Act of 2005."
• Results.org, a non-profit dedicated to ending world hunger, offers the Global AIDS Alliance's comprehensive information packet on World AIDS Day, "World AIDS Day 2005: Keeping the Promise." Results.org also offers an editorial information packet: "World AIDS Day 2005: Only the Poor Die Young."
• You may wish to purchase "Global Health: Today's Challenge and America's Response," a PBS special program in its acclaimed NOW series.