Amsterdam
Open podium
There’s so much to do these days about HIV! It feels like we hit the front page every single day. After more then 30 years!! Weird! And the media are not shy in issuing big statements! Some reports suggests ‘that a vaccine against HIV will soon be available.’ Other reports strongly deny that…
Even I get confused! And I’m supposed to be an expert on Hiv!
Well, taking it one day at the time is often the best solution.
Yesterday evening, after a yoga class, I looked at myself in the mirror. Sweaty, naked, the body a bit swollen because of the ‘warriors-positions’ I had just exercised. The body was aching… just a little…. The mind too…. also just a little… The body is the mirror of the soul, says Franck, my yoga teacher.
February promises to be another busy month. The first stories from our friends in Russia will arrive. As soon as we’ve processed these they will be published on this site. And last week we opened our OPEN PODIUM; so everyone, living anywhere, can send their film, portrait or written story to us, to become part of ATLAS.
We’ve planned an interview with Lambert Grijns, special ambassador for sexual and reproductive health rights and HIV and AIDS. Lambert is doing the hard work all around the world, negotiating with unwilling governments, trying to improve the difficult circumstances in which many in of our community live.
We expect his interview to be ready for publication early March…
And, finally, we’re preparing two major field trips to Suriname and Zambia. On the move with our complete travelling team to meet the HIV community overseas and to document as many stories as we can…
New worlds, new stories. Let’s meet, let’s talk, let’s share….
HIV being mentioned every day in the media is important, but connecting with our brothers and sisters in so many different places, to meet them, to talk to them, to share experiences with them, that, for me, is life at its best. Beating any media experience every time.
Have a brilliant month. We’ll speak again in two weeks.