When Red AIDS becomes PINK

I was invited by the AIDS Society of the Philippines to present my organization’s experience in implementing an innovative approach to reach the men-who-have-sex-with-men (MSM) for HIV prevention during the 9th National AIDS Convention held at SEAMEO INNOTECH in Quezon City on October 23-24,2008. Having implemented a model project, I presented “LIVE CHAT”: Online Education Counseling for MSM. This project with support from ASP-UNFPA and the Friends of WAVES in Northern Ireland used the internet, particularly live chatting to interact, share information, counsel or refer chatters to appropriate reproductive health services such as STI diagnosis/treatment and HIV testing. Under Session Six, my presentation came after Dr. Enrique Tayags’, the head of the DOH National Epidemiology Center and Dr. Jose Narciso Melchor Sescon, president of ASP.

Well, this blog is not really about my presentation. I’d like to talk about Dr. Tayag’s presentation. His task was to answer the question “Why Philippines needs to intensify MSM programs?”. To get his message accross, he flashed a couple of slides showing the data from the AIDS registry. What was startling about his data was the sharp increase of confirned HIV infection among MSM for the last three years. The latest cases are mostly MSM which constitute 69% of the total HIV infections since 2005. This trend comes as a big surprise because in the past, MSM just represented less than 30% of the total recorded cases. If this trend continues, it looks like MSM will dominantly characterize the HIV epidemic in the Philippines in few years time. And Dr. Tayag warns that this could be dangerous because of the broad inclusion of the MSM population. While there are so many “obvious” MSMs - the effeminates and the cross dressers, there are an unaccounted number (probbly double) of “discreet” MSMs - those who look and act so manly. The latter is difficult to reach for education because we don’t know who they are and their sexual activities are done so covertly as well.

With the current absence or very minimal effort and investment for MSM-targeted interventions, there is a big possibility that the color RED of AIDS campaign will turn PINK (supposed to mean here gay) in the coming years.

The Man who Inspires Me

I’ve never been so interested about politics in the USA until the advent of the 2008 presidential race. The reason for the sudden turn around is unmistakably obvious - Barack Obama. His name and his color were enough reasons to stimulate my curiosity about the person. First, his name. Barack Hussein Obama doesn’t seem to sound a conventional American but more of a middle-east, Arab name. What makes it even more intriguing is that, Obama almost sounds like (with only letter “b” that spells the difference) “Osama” - the man responsible for tearing down one of the important landmarks in the USA, the World Trade Center and killing thousands of unsuspecting economic workforces. Secondly, his color. History tells us that black people in the US had terribly suffered decades of oppression and maltreatment from their white lords. Although the situation has considerably changed in these modern days, the divides between them still manifest from time to time. Obviously, possessing those two undeniably notable attributes make dreaming the US presidency sounds very ODD for him. Furthermore, being young by age and stint in the political arena made his experience looks substantially inferior compared to the rest of the presidential hopefuls.

But this guy with an unusual name in a dominantly white nation possesses the guts, the wit, the self-worth and the audacity to believe in the possibility of his dream, coupled with his mesmeric charisma to convince millions that he embodies their collective desires for change, for a sustainable progress, and for a better world.

True enough, his oddity gained countless of smear campaigns against him - linking him to terrorists, to communists, to opportunist lobbyists, to extremists, etc.. but his charisma prevailed. He successfully engineered the best campaign machinery ever, raised the biggest campaign fund ever, organized the most numerous volunteers ever and pulled off the ‘modernest’ campaign strategy ever. In the process, he was touching and inspiring millions of Americans, regardless of color, profession, religion and age and another millions of non-Americans across the globe, regardless of faith, region and race.

Starting from the primaries, I have been an avid follower of Obama. Almost every day, before I open my e-mails, I read about the progress of his campaign and sometimes listen to his speeches. And I have been so inspired since then - amazed by his eloquence in speech, amused by his pragmatism in views, convinced by his sincerity in spirit and subscribed to his reasonable liberalism.

Obama for me is an epitome of a person who pursues his dreams despite all odds; sees the rays of the sun behind the dark raging storm; perseveres the coldness of the night ’til the beautiful sunny morning comes; and never ceases to inspire others to believe in their capacity to do great things and receives the same inspiration in return.

Playing God?

I often admire people who are good at writing short stories which are very moving and inspiring at times. I guess over 90% of these stories are carrying some religious or spiritual themes. Presumably, the writers are people of deep spiritual conviction who are so eager to share their faith/beliefs, whether solicited or otherwise. And stories of this type flood our inbox everyday.

How good the stories might be, it always iritates me when at the end part, the writer would ask you to forward the message to your friends with a promise of “miracles” or “blessings” if you do and some “curse” if you don’t. What a ___! Isn’t it obvious that these people are playing the role of God? What is more disturbing is that many seemingly logical and sane people (whom we call friends!) are more than willing to participate in the “Playing God” scheme. What I usually do when I get these mails in my inbox? Go to the end of the story first and if the “forward instructions” are there, delete the mail without reading the story. Tell me bout your story, of course, related to this post, hehehe. ‘Til next…

Singing her own songs

Ever since i’ve learned to play the guitar (that was about 1.5 decades ago) , I’ve always wanted to compose a song. I made a lot of attempts but for some reasons (mostly, the lack of talent, hehehe), i terribly failed. Until now, i haven’t successfully completed a single sensible song, huhuhu. That’s why i was like overwhelmed when i learned my girl Jani (I mean my daughter) wrote a couple of songs already. And she was only 13 years old that time. So, seing my dreams unfolding through her, i managed to motivte her to record her work of art. And I was teary-eyed when I watched her SINGING HER OWN SONGS. She has a nice voice too. Amazingly wonderful! These are two of my favorites. I would really appreciate if i get feedbacks. ’Til next time. Tusen takk!

Enchanted: Lyrics and music by Jani (please click on the link)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pLsUGv98m4

Broken Promise: Lyrics and music by Jani (please click on the link)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOIBBexe_Qg&feature=related

Wildflowers in the city

If you want to find out how Davao City looks like at nighttime from a distance, there’s no better place to go but Shrine Hills or Hilltop. Visually scanning the numerous lights illuminating the metropolis, one could easily conclude how fast the city have developed over the years. It is now home to around 1.4 million people. This is 33% (http://www.census.gov.ph/data/census2007/index.html) of the entire Region XI population. Besides offering a spectacular panoramic view of the city and the Davao gulf, Shrine/Hilltop also affords you a refreshing breeze of clean air.

WIth an intention to breath some fresh air, I decided to drive up to Shrine Hills one fine morning. The experience was so rewarding, I did not only savor the cool morning breeze, I also captured the beauty of the wildflowers still perched by the crystal clear morning dew. Here are few of my phone-cam shots. Hope you like them. Let me know…

The BiGgEST Butterfly I’ve seen!

One afternoon i went out to our backyard to say “hi” to my newly planted baby durian trees . But something else caught my attention. This magnanimous beast-turned-beauty living organism we fondly call butterfly. Besides the perfectly balanced design and its loud color, I was exceptionally drawn to its size - an eight inches wing span. Amazing! Using my K800 mobile phone, I tried to capture the moment and this is the best that I got with a low-resolution camera of 3.2 mega pixels. Lovely, isn’t it?