Reflections on World AIDS Day 2008

World AIDS Day by stevegarfield via Flickr

Staff at the NY Center for Interpersonal Development are honoring World AIDS Day 2008. Here we share thoughts from two of our staff.

From Robert Busan, Director of Community Development

In 1992 a gentleman Living With AIDS, Carl DeVaughn and I founded an agency for individuals living with HIV/AIDS, their families and loved ones. We named it Project B.U.I. L.D. (Building, Unity, Independence, Love, and Development), a client centered, all volunteer organization that relies on its members for its continued existence.

At the time Staten Island had no safe, confidential and comfortable place for people with HIV/AIDS to gather and so we created a drop-in center to provide recreation, education, advocacy and a congregate meal to all those who chose to come looking for a place where they would feel free of the stigma and discrimination that comes with having HIV disease.

Little did we know that in those early years we would get between 40 and 80 people in attendance every Thursday evening at the First Presbyterian Church in Stapleton. People were hungry for knowledge, relaxation and a good meal. Unfortunately for Carl he would pass away in January of 03 and only got to see a small sampling of what Project BUILD would do. Sixteen years later Project BUILD continues its legacy of care with the numbers who attend a bit smaller but the need clearly prevails.

My sweet daughter Robyn has been participating at Project BUILD since she was but a few weeks old. She is very much a part of the Project BUILD family and you can say she has grown up there. Robyn knows and understands that the people who come to Project BUILD are not always healthy, are in need and we provide them with assistance and a hot meal. If you ask her what we do at Project BUILD she would say “we help people.” Robyn sometimes helps to prepare and serve the meals. She is also in charge of distributing MetroCards to the program members. All in all she is being instilled with the meaning of volunteerism, of giving of oneself to others as its own reward. When I watch her doing her thing at Project BUILD I am so proud of her. She is truly a chip off the old block….Daddy’s little girl.

Each of us in our own way has this inside of us or we wouldn’t be doing the type of work we do everyday. As I reflect about World AIDS Day, I also reflect about how amazing all of you are! I thank all of you for being part of something at NYCID that is bigger than each of us individually. It is incredible to stop and think about how we all make a difference in people’s lives each and every day.

As I did last year, I am asking and imploring all of you to think about the millions of men, women and children across this great world of ours afflicted with HIV/AIDS and anyone you may know personally living with the illness, anyone who has passed on and their surviving families. In opening up your hearts you can help by not forgetting them and standing up against discrimination in any form. Your kindness, love and attention to this issue matters greatly to me.

Thank you for spending a few moments with me as I share my thoughts on this important day. I hope all of you and your families had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday

With sincere gratitude to all of you,

Robert

From Candace Gonzales:

Although I won't be with you on Dec 1st, please know that in my special way I will celebrate the lives of those lost to HIV and AIDS and those that are still suffering. I especially acknowledge those who volunteer to do the wonderful things that you and so many others do everyday and not just on World AIDS Day.

"The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing...not healing, not curing...that is a friend who cares." ~Dutch Christian writer 1932

Candace

Share your thoughts with us in the comments section of this post.

Enjoy Our Celebrate Diversity 2008 Slideshow

These pictures were taken Nov. 9th, 2008 at Celebrate Diversity 2008! The Russian, Egyptian, Sierra Leone, Native American, and Chinese neighbors shared their culture with us through music, dance, food, stories, and games.



Thanks, Robert Busan, for the pictures.

If you have some to share, let us know.

All points around the globe meet to Celebrate Diversity

From the Staten Island Advance:

Annual event at Wagner College highlights Egypt, Sierra Leone, China, Russia and Native America

Monday, November 10, 2008

By DEBORAH YOUNG

ADVANCE STAFF WRITER

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Women draped in the warm-toned fabrics and regal headdresses of Sierra Leone; blonde tutu-clad Russian dancers; Chinese puppeteers and Native American drummers were among more than 2,000 Staten Islanders from points across the globe who reveled in their roots yesterday at the Wagner College gym.

The seventh annual Celebrate Diversity day at the Grymes Hill college encouraged young and old to learn from each other, share with each other and enjoy each other, with traditional performances and foods, art projects for children, and plenty of time to mingle under the backdrop of posters with such inspirational messages as: "In acceptance there is peace!" and "Share our similarities, celebrate our differences!"

"This is our culminating event, but it's the journey we do to get here where the magic lies," said Mike Baver of the Mosaic Coalition, which organized the event along with the New York Center for Interpersonal Development and Wagner College.

Planned and discussed during the Mosaic Coalition's monthly pot-luck gatherings, the day each year has highlighted different communities in this immigrant-rich borough. This year brought the cultures of China, Egypt, Russia, Sierra Leone and Native America to center stage.

The energy in the room was especially powerful in light of last week's ascent of President-elect Barack Obama, who, by virtue of who he is and what he achieved, brought the topic of diversity forefront in the national, and international conversation.

"Certainly, diversity is at the tip of everybody's tongue. Not just because of the political atmosphere, it's the global atmosphere. It's important for us to celebrate," said Baver. "Nobody is going to come here and not interact with somebody from another country."

Children received passport booklets to take with them from country table to table, while storytellers and puppeteers made traditional tales come alive.

"It's nice to see all the cultures here," said Lana Berenson, of Oakwood, whose 8-year-old son busily twisted a pipe cleaner to make the legs of a crafts spider, representing of the Ananasi the Spider, a legend of Sierra Leone.

At a nearby table in the children's room, other youngsters fashioned boats out of paper, to represent the ships which transported slaves across the Atlantic.

"They have been curious about it and learned, and that is what we hoped," said Pamela Williams of the Sierra Lenonen Association.

On the stage in the gym, the culture of each region took shape: the elegant precision of Russian dancers, feather-bedecked Native American dancers who moved to a thunderous, rumbling drum and an Egyptian belly dancer in spangles and gold fabric, who moved her arms to evoke the wings of a butterfly, alongside other performances.

Community leaders Chuan Teng, Dr. Samy Rizk, Christine Moore and the Red Storm Drum and Dance Troupe were honored this year for their contributions in educating others about their cultures.

Deborah Young is a news reporter for the Advance. She may be reached at young@siadvance.com.