MSM Caribbean Horizon :-
Help Young People Understand

“Tears, tears, tears” – a burst of tears is how I can describe my experience at the office mural at Friends for Life in Port of Spain , Trinidad .

The mural is made up of photographs of many young men and women whose lives have been claimed by HIV and AIDS, most in their teens to their mid-thirties. The mural is so unbelievable that I had to ask God, “Why us with such a disease?”

I think more of our young people need to be exposed to such scenes of solemnity, so that they will come face-to-face with reality and be able to understand that AIDS is not a joke and it destroys lives regardless of who we are. It will be an opportunity for them (young people) in our society to question themselves and to think twice before risking their lives by going down the dangerous path of unprotected sex, sex outside of marriage and being unfaithful.

I am presently doing a ‘chatroom' (support group meeting) workshop, conducted by the International HIV/AIDS Alliance geared at educating myself about this type of prevention initiative. The information and experience gained will be used to educate men and women who are most vulnerable to HIV/AIDS.

I hope someone out there in Antigua can invest in our youth and sponsor at least two sets of 50 young persons to visit the mural twice a year. I believe this would create a major difference in our young nation.

Come on Antigua , let us act now.

Clyde Gregoire

TRISTAR – CHAP Antigua

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The Wall

Come wee the wall!
Come see the wall! Colours of the rainbow, Adorn the downstairs.
Friends for Life,
A welcoming smile,
That is love. Faces only faces,
Faces of you,
faces of me All in living colours Young precious faces Innocent
padded faces Transformed or real,
it's a face, A face to recon with.
Why you? Why now?
Why us? Lord, Don't let
me drink from this cup,
Of its brew, I'll never be content,
Tears of anger, grief and pain;
Grips my inner being. I am lifted to another altitude,
With a dose of reality, A reality I become to know.
What then must I do?
See, learn and action.
Keep the faith And that will do. Clyde Gregoire -
for all our brothers and sisters in the region who lost their lives to HIV/AIDS in the region

 

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