What Is World’s AIDS Day? It’s A Chance at Brotherhood.

My friend Jena Nardella sent me this letter, which she sent to friends and supporters, on a day that is very vital to her field of work: humans.

I remember sitting in my medical microbiology class at Whitworth University as an aspiring nursing student, trying my best to understand the path and patterns of science and the way diseases affect the body.

I was struggling as a student, primarily because my passion for caring for the sick was unmatched by my inability to walk into a hospital without passing out at the sight of blood and needles. For that reason, the medical microbiology class would be the last course I would take toward a nursing degree, but it was certainly the most important because the most poignant thing I remember about that class was learning about the effects of HIV on the body.

[AIDS] was vicious. It was merciless. It had the malicious ability to attack the weakest parts of the immune system. It felt like if evil could fit itself within the size of little cells, then this virus was its vehicle.

Jena went onto remind me that today is World AIDS day.

Today, she conceded, there is no cure for AIDS, but there is life with it.

You wouldn’t believe the transformation that happens when:

• a person is given the medication that will keep them alive
• an HIV positive mother can prevent the transmission to her baby
• the provision of clean water brings the security of healthy living to those who are positive
• communities soaked in stigma are standing up and showing the world that they are HIV positive and THRIVING
• rural healthcare providers work day in and day out to serve and love their neighbor like I’ve never seen anywhere else.

And then, Jena shared this video of her friend Leah, for whom AIDS is a very real part of everyday life.

Some Practical Things You Can Do to Express Brotherhood Today

• I thought you might like to watch the video above and maybe donate to Jena’s work as a way for you to stand in brotherhood with other world citizens on World AIDS Day.
• Something else you could do, if you know someone with AIDS (or even if you don’t), is leave a little note of hope and support for those who do by clicking the Comments link by the title of this blog.
• Also, if you’re interested in receiving other blog posts like this–just my posts about brotherhood–to raise your awareness on other ways to bless the people who share this planet you can subscribe via RSS feed here. Or, you can enter you email into the box in the sidebar to subscribe to all my posts.
• In addition, if you’re interested in joining the campaign to act on these brotherhood blog posts in 2012, you can do something small and practical (and free) to join forces against human trafficking here.