World AIDS Day in Dublin

The 1st of December has been declared World AIDS Day, a day dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection. It is common to hold memorials to honor persons who have died from HIV/AIDS on this day. Government and health officials also observe the event, often in the form of speeches or forums on AIDS-related topics. Since 1995, the President of the United States has made an official proclamation to commemorate World AIDS Day. Governments of other nations have followed suit and have begun to issue similar announcements. This is when stakeholders of HIV/AIDS in different countries take stock to see how far we have gone in fighting HIV on all fronts and establishing what needs to be going  forward for the coming years.

On World AIDS Day this year, there were HIV updates in the headlines in Ireland stating that there has been a 20% rise in new infections compared to the previous year. This is not good for Ireland’s youth, who are sexually active with high risk behaviour and lack knowledge about HIV and STIs.

My day began when Neema arrived at my house at 7. 45am so that we would walk to the bus stop in Maynooth. Patsy Toland would collect us here to travel to Carlow to do another full day of Development Education workshops. We were collected, and off we went. We gave the usual HIV/AIDS quizzes to secondary school students. It came to my realisation that this time, some of the children actually had their facts, and this prompted me to ask them the source of their knowledge. It was really interesting to run workshops with such a group because it became more interactive; interestingly, they were more attentive and would ask questions spontaneously. I actually found out that their Bible teacher usually takes time to educate them as far as HIV is concerned on a regular basis, rather than the once a year, 30-minute talk which seems to be common in secondary schools and is easily forgotten.

The workshop culminated by raising the red ribbon for HIV to commemorate World AIDS day as a symbol of commitment to fight against AIDS.