What happens when you put a few moms and a powerful HIV/AIDS activist in a Google+ Hangout? ONE Mom Rachel Fox reports:
When ONE Mom Amy Graff asked Florence Ngobeni-Allen what message we could send to moms here in the United States to inspire advocacy efforts for HIV/AIDS, she responded — “straight talk” — talking with our children about sexuality and sex openly before maturity, talking to our male children about respecting women, involving our kids in volunteering and encouraging them to travel the world. When we were on the HIV/AIDS home visits in rural Kisumu during our ONE Moms trip, we were able to watch the CDC home-based counselor demonstrate how to apply a condom correctly on a very realistic model. This is done with children of all ages gathered around. Removing the shame and providing the facts — straight talk!
Florence Ngobeni-Allen discovered she was HIV-positive in 1996 after giving birth to a HIV-positive little girl. Sadly, her daughter passed away at only 5 months old. From this experience, Florence began talking with other moms and women. These conversations lead to the creation of a support and advocacy network where women were encouraged to share their stories and learn the facts.
John Tanko Bawa, RTS,S project manager and communications officer, Kumasi/Agogo, Ghana. Stay tuned to the ONE Blog this week for more stories like these for World Malaria Day.
I grew up in an environment where mishaps, including illnesses, were attributed to mysterious forces, supernatural beings, and local myths. The causes of the maladies would range from punishment by the gods or deities, to it being one’s predetermined destiny.
John meets with the village chiefs
Whenever someone had malaria in my community, people said he’d eaten too much red oil, as in my community, malaria was “caused” by red oil and sun.”Staying out under the sun causes malaria”; “the consumption of too much red oil causes malaria”; Pito, a locally brewed gin from millet, is a “malaria therapy”; and so on.
This post from Padma Kuppa is part of a larger blog series on faith and the fight against malaria ahead of World Malaria Day. Get involved in Faith at ONE’s “Shine a Light on Malaria” campaign on their website.
Om asato mā sadgamaya, Tamaso mā jyotir gamaya, Mṛtyormā’mṛtaṁ gamaya, Om śāntiḥ, śāntiḥ, śāntiḥ.
Lead us from the unreal to the real, Lead us from darkness to light, Lead us from death to immortality, Om Peace, Peace, Peace
- Brihadaaranyaka Upanishad 1.3.28
This Hindu prayer for enlightenment includes an invocation for peace. Hindus regularly recite such shanti mantras, peace prayers, from the Vedas, the Hindu scriptures. Shanti, uttered thrice at the end of most shlokas or verses, with a basic meaning “peace,” is a powerful Sanskrit word.
This post from Dr. Katharine Kripke is part of a larger blog series on faith and the fight against malaria ahead of World Malaria Day. Get involved in Faith at ONE’s “Shine a Light on Malaria” campaign on their website.
Photo credit: Dr. Katharine Kripke
“Be a treasure to the poor, an admonisher to the rich, an answerer of the cry of the needy, a preserver of the sanctity of thy pledge. Be as a lamp unto them that walk in darkness, a joy to the sorrowful, a sea for the thirsty, a haven for the distressed, an upholder and defender of the victim of oppression. Let integrity and uprightness distinguish all thine acts. Be a home for the stranger, a balm to the suffering…” -Bahá’u'lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u'lláh CXXX
They go to die. Until now. For decades, workers in South Africa’s gold and diamond mines have endured harsh working conditions, including crowded living quarters, poor safety measures, extreme temperatures, coercive labor contracts and separation from their family members.
Louisiana poet and activist Clint Smith performs a chilling spoken word poem describing the South African miners’ struggle to stay alive
This post from Gurvinder Singh, director and chief response officer at United Sikhs, is part of a larger blog series on faith and the fight against malaria ahead of World Malaria Day. Get involved in Faith at ONE’s “Shine a Light on Malaria” campaign on their website.
A guru is an individual who takes one from the darkness of ignorance to the light of knowledge. The Sikh gurus bestowed and blessed not just the Sikh faith with the light to brighten humanity, but paved the way for the world to revel in that light.
United Sikhs Director Sundeep Kaur and volunteers working in Kenya for famine relief efforts.
Mosquitoes spread and inflict malaria under the mask of darkness, spreading a terrible and crippling disease which destroys the very fabric of families and communities. In the disguise of dark, the thieving parasite attacks and claims its victims. Unfortunately about 655,000 people die yearly from this ravaging disease, and the knowledge and action to counter it must not be masked in darkness. The need of the hour is to “Shine a Light on Malaria.”
This post from Dr. Robert W. Radtke, president of Episcopal Relief & Development, is part of a larger blog series on faith and the fight against malaria ahead of World Malaria Day. Get involved in Faith at ONE’s “Shine a Light on Malaria” campaign on their website.
Photo credit: Courtesy of Harvey Wang for Episcopal Relief & Development.
When Jesus was on earth, his life was about ministering to people who were afflicted and marginalized, and bringing them physical and spiritual wholeness. This often included healing those with devastating illnesses such as leprosy, one of the scourges of his time.
Right now, some of the world's biggest oil companies are fighting to keep some of their deals with foreign governments secret. Let's tell big oil we won't be bullied.
Cuts to poverty-fighting programs won't balance the budget, but they will set back progress on Canada's development priorities and risk jeopardizing existing investments.
2011 marks 30 years since the first cases of AIDS were documented. Take a closer look at the specific, achievable goals we must hit by 2015 to make this year the beginning of the end of AIDS.
