The Greenleaf buzzed with excitement on Dec. 1 as students worked on homework, the French Table chattered among themselves, and of course, the volunteers for the AIDS dinner cooked enthusiastically. Alethea Leventhal, a junior and member of the Community Aids Awareness Project (CAAP) who helped organize the Cooking Positively Dinner, bustled around the Greenleaf, pushing tables together and taking dinner out of the oven.
“I really lucked out with having the perfect amount of food for the turnout,” she said. “It is hard to plan cooking for people when the invite is via Facebook.”
Internet promotion ensured a good number of attendees at the Cooking Positively Dinner, which used recipes adapted from those found in “Positive Cooking: Cooking for People Living with HIV.”
The dinner kicked off World AIDS Week at Guilford, for which CAAP organized several events scattered across seven days.
The effort to raise awareness about HIV and AIDS continued on Dec. 2 with Martha Lang’s two-part lecture, entitled “HIV/AIDS & African Americans.” Lang began with a moment of silence after the small lounge had filled with students.
She broke the silence by asking for issues students wanted covered. Topics included the origin of HIV/AIDS, statistics about its prevalence in the community, common misrepresentations of the virus, and racial differences in disease manifestation.
Lang moved from request to request, puncturing common myths about HIV/AIDS and ways to protect yourself from it.
Dispelling the rumor that the virus came from monkeys, Lang said, “When we don’t have facts, we make up stuff. The immunodeficiency virus can be found in many animals, not just monkeys, including cats and sheep.”
Students put themselves at risk when sharing needles or engaging in sexual intercourse and exchanging bodily fluids with someone who is HIV-positive.
“People think I am anti-sex. I’m just anti-unsafe sex,” said Lang. She encouraged the use of condoms when engaging in sexual intercourse with anyone.
One student brought up the idea that using two condoms at once doubles the protection. Lang responded, “If you double-wrap it, (the condoms) just break.”
Lang went on to say that the statistics related to people with HIV/AIDS, of whom there are now over 33 million in the world, according to the United Nations AIDS programme, may be skewed due to some doctors’ reluctance to report cases.
“Doctors sometimes do not report all cases of HIV/AIDS to the government. If your doctor has known you your entire life, sometimes they may avoid putting the label on you and notifying the government,” said Lang.
She suggested that this reluctance may be due to the stigma attached to the diagnosis in many areas of the world.
“So far, microbicides are probably a very effective way to fight HIV around the world because they give power to the ‘receiver,'” said Lang. “However, there is no money to be made in the production of microbicides. It may decrease condom sales, and, most importantly, they (microbiocides) have never gotten through clinical trials.”
Microbiocides, which are gels, foams, or other forms of a developing method of HIV/AIDS prevention, have not yet been approved as safe and effective for human use, although many experimental trials are in progress.
The week ended on a high note with the Winter AIDS Walk in downtown Greensboro on Dec. 6, put on by the Triad Health Project. The walk wound in and out of neighborhoods where key sites in assisting those living with HIV/AIDS are located, including a beautiful house which offers home to those in need of care.
Quaker Leadership Scholars Program (QLSP) member Laura Herman commented, “QLSP actually raised over $400 to donate to the fundraiser, combined with the $500 that CAAP raised. Guilford seems to have a pretty good number of people here representing the college.”
As people brought their loved ones, represented their lost ones, and honored the ones continuing to fight, World AIDS Week drew to a close. The brisk Sunday afternoon air embraced the happy crowd of students and Greensboro residents walking for a cause.
HIV/AIDS remains a concern for those in the Guilford and greater Greensboro communities. According to Aids Action of North Carolina, over 40,000 people in North Carolina are living with HIV. Worldwide, AIDS takes approximately 8,200 lives per day.
Students can help raise AIDS awareness in the community by participating in teach-ins, volunteering with the Triad Health Project, and participating in World AIDS week, among other activities. CAAP, which meets Tuesdays at 7 p.m. in the Student Organizations Center, can provide students with more opportunities to volunteer.