Source: Carol Kennedy, 785-532-6595, carolk@k-state.edu
Friday, Nov. 16, 2007
WORLD AIDS AWARENESS WEEK AT K-STATE TO FEATURE AIDS MEMORIAL QUILT DISPLAY, MEMORIAL WALK, SPECIAL SPEAKERS
MANHATTAN -- Several organizations at Kansas State University and in Manhattan are sponsoring a variety of special events for a local observance of World Aids Awareness Week, Nov. 26-Dec. 1.
Among the week's activities will be one of the largest AIDS Memorial Quilt displays since 1992 in the K, S and U rooms at the K-State Student Union, Nov. 26-29. The display includes 20 quilt panels, each measuring 12 feet by 12 feet. It will be available for viewing from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
According to Carol Kennedy, director of health promotion at K-State's Lafene Health Center, the Names Project Quilt was first displayed in 1987. It is a way to memorialize people who have died from complications associated with AIDS. The quilt display also serves to teach about preventing new HIV infections.
Kennedy said the AIDS Memorial Quilt remains the largest ongoing community arts project in the world. The quilt is made up of 48,000 panels with more than 91,000 names representing about 19 percent of all AIDS-related deaths in the United States. If all pieces of the quilt were laid out, it would cover 1,293,300 square feet or 185 basketball courts. The quilt weighs more than 54 tons.
"This is a unique opportunity that our community has to view such a large display of the AIDS Memorial Quilt," Kennedy said. Area teachers, instructors and professors are encouraged to bring school groups to view the quilt; campus classes also are welcome. For a more formal program, call 785-532-6595 to schedule a speaker.
AIDS Awareness Week sponsoring organizations include the Sexual Health Awareness Peer Educators, Inspiring Community Awareness Now, Student Governing Association, Lafene Health Center, Regional AIDS Project and the Riley County Health Department.
Along with the quilt display, activities, all free and open to the public, include:
* Jane Fowler, the founder of HIV Wisdom for Older Women, will speak at 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 26, in the Union's Cottonwood Room. Her presentation will follow the AIDS Awareness Week opening ceremony.
Fowler, a Kansas native who graduated from the University of Kansas with a degree in journalism in 1957, has worked as a reporter for the Kansas City Star, an associate editor for Bon Appetit magazine and a freelance writer for other publications. She is now an advocate, an educator and a role model for older people with HIV. She founded HIV Wisdom for Older Women in 2002 to educate older people about HIV. Through the national program, she helps seniors, especially women, learn about the risk of HIV and how to use precautions to prevent it. "I had the opportunity to hear Jane speak at an AIDS conference in Kansas City," Kennedy said. "She had a unique message about HIV infections in older people. Of the U.S. AIDS cases, 13 to 17 percent occur in Americans over age 50."
* Edwin Ndum, a K-State graduate student in statistics and a researcher, will present "AIDS in Africa: The Data, Myths, Awareness, What Should Be Done" at noon Wednesday, Nov. 28, in the Union courtyard. "In the early days, AIDS was called 'American Idea to Discourage Sex,'" Ndum said. "Some thought the Western world had reached a population boom and wanted to discourage population growth in Africa. But, today, it is a different story, a story of real mystery and misery. Today, from the streets of Soweto-South Africa to the slums in Algiers-Algeria, from bars in Banjul-Gambia to Kumi in Uganda, AIDS is as well-known as it is feared."
Ndum said by the time his presentation ends, 240 people in Africa, including women and children, will have died from an AIDS-related cause. "It would take about five days for the size of the K-State population to perish if this epidemic was in Manhattan, he said. "It's time to do something."
* Comedian Mike DeStefano will discuss his personal story of addiction and disease, "Wise Words from a Wise Guy," at 7 p.m. Nov. 28 in the Union's Union Station. DeStefano grew up in an abusive family from a rough area of New York. He turned to drugs and alcohol to ease the pain in his life and began to follow unsafe sexual practices. After overcoming his addictions and becoming a substance abuse counselor in New York, DeStefano was diagnosed as HIV-positive in 1988. In 1993, he got married and moved to Florida to start a new life. He became a professional health educator with the Florida Department of Health and hosted a radio talk show.
* An AIDS Memorial Walk will be 3:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 1, starting in Triangle Park in Aggieville. The walk will end at the First Congregational Church on Poyntz with a memorial service to follow.
More information about AIDS Awareness Week event dates, times and locations is available at:
http://www.k-state.edu/lafene or by calling 785-532-6595.