Organizers say they hope a Dec. 1 Lakeshore campus visit from people living with AIDS will raise awareness
Chairperson Ana Gonzalez (front centre) and the World University Service of Canada committee, have arranged for guest speakers to address students at Lakeshore for World AIDS Day on Dec. 1.
KHRISTOPHER REARDON
NEWS REPORTER
Speakers from the People with AIDS Foundation (PWA) are coming to Lakeshore campus Dec. 1 for World AIDS Day to speak to students, said Ana Gonzalez, chairperson of the campus committee that is organizing the event.
The World University Service of Canada committee (WUSC) at Lakeshore, run by students from the international development program, is hoping to educate students about safe sex and AIDS, Gonzalez said.
“We wanted to raise awareness on campus,” said Gonzalez. “We thought this was how we could get more people involved.”
The event will feature people living with AIDS who will share their perspectives with students, said Ed Argo, a co-ordinator with PWA. There will also be an AIDS 101 information session about how the disease is transmitted and safe sex.
The event will conclude with a candlelight vigil to commemorate those that have died from the disease and those who are still living with it, Gonzalez said.
According to a report released by the Public Health Agency of Canada, people between the ages of 20 to 29 represent the second-highest risk group for contracting the disease.
Gonzalez said she originally came across PWA when doing volunteer work for eight weeks in Tanzania, a country hard-hit by the disease.
She said AIDS is an pandemic affecting millions of people worldwide that is often overlooked by the media today, which leaves people uninformed.
“I’ve seen it first-hand. A lot of people have no awareness of what AIDS really is,” said Gonzalez. “So we thought it would be a really great issue to get people involved in.”
The group is also promoting awareness to get past stigmas that surround AIDS in Canada, which can prevent people with AIDS from coming forward, Gonzalez said.
“That’s really what we are trying to do – raise awareness about what AIDS is,” she said, “and the stigma that people with AIDS live with.”
Discrimination and even violence against people with AIDS is very real today, said Murray Jose, executive director of PWA.
As a result people may be hesitant to disclose their health status, “because you know there is going to be a response,” which is still “primarily one of stigma,” he said.
Sarah Vickery, an international development student and member of WUSC, said she worked with children who had been diagnosed with or otherwise affected by HIV, which leads to AIDS, at a camp designed to help them.
She said she was surprised by how misinformed the staff at the camp was.
“One of the surprising things to me, specifically working with our staff who are between 18 to 25, is their lack of awareness,” said Vickery.
“I think that’s because of the education system changing and different ideas coming out about AIDS,” she said.
Vickery’s said she’s concerned that people don’t take the virus as seriously because they think there’s a cure and it’s not necessarily deadly anymore.
“What we’re aiming to do is bring awareness to the Lakeshore campus and eventually the North campus for all the Humber students about social issues [and] ways for them to get involved,” said Laura Glick, a committee member who handles public relations for WUSC Lakeshore.
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