Set-up day?

What began this morning at 6am and was supposed to be a simple set-up day during which we expected to get our art exhibit ready and perhaps take in a few sights turned in to a rapid and intense kick-start to the conference. After spending about five hours super-glueing, cutting, painting and drilling, our art exhibit was finally finished and ready for display.

We then snatched a quick lunch before taking-off to our first session: Youth Leadership in the HIV Response; Realities and Recommendations for Programming and Advocacy. This two hour session offered three Young PLVHA (People Living With HIV/AIDS) the opportunity to discuss their personal experiences and struggles in their fight against AIDS and the stigmas that they face. The three speakers were all extremely charismatic and engaging with heart-breaking and powerful stories. That being said, upon leaving the session I felt a certain level of disconnect and puzzlement. I got to thinking about youth advocacy in HIV/AIDS from the perspective of a youth who is positive and one who is negative. In what ways do our statuses affect the ways we advocate, and perhaps even what we're advocating for? From what I've heard and have noticed in my own personal experiences, positive youth seem to strongly advocate for stigma reduction, treatment access and human rights. While these topics are all relevant and important for my-self as an HIV negative youth and advocate, I sometimes feel unqualified and unjustified to discuss the discrimination and harsh realities that young PLWHA face. Perhaps my inability to relate to the challenges they face makes me uncomfortable speaking on their behalf, so I find advocating from a preventative stand-point to be more comfortable.   Is there a certain level of disconnect between these two different perspectives of advocacy, and if so, are there ways to bridge them together as to address prevention and reaction simultaneously? I'm hoping to evaluate these questions and potentially find answers to them over the next week.

One of the quotes that stood out the most to me from today revitalized my way of brainstorming solutions to problems: "Let us think outside the box, or rather, let us imagine there never was a box at all". This quote got me thinking that we as youth have the world at our fingertips and immense opportunity to create significant, positive social change both here in D.C. over the next week, and in years to come as we as advocates move towards the end of this epidemic. How far we strive for successes and solutions will depend on the limitations of our box: let's eliminate it now and reach for the stars.

Happy conference everyone!
-Tracey K