My parents moved to Canada when I was just entering senior kindergarten. I’ve grown up with clean water, a bed and electricity. I’m lucky. When I was in grade 6 I went to the Philippines, where my family is originally from, and I saw people who are not so lucky.

We were riding along in a jitney, a colourful cross between a taxi and a bus, and I am just minding my own business when I feel a rough cloth scrape across my foot. I looked down to find a small child, who was maybe 5 or 6, cleaning my sandals. At first I was surprised and then I just started to feel awkward. I felt awkward because this kid was cleaning another kid’s sandals, my sandals. Then I started to feel guilty, I wanted to give him anything that would take that look out of his eyes but my 11 year old self had to settle with having my parents give him a few pesos so that he could carry on his way.

I think that was my turning point in life when I realized that those kids you see on TV are real, they are in the streets, they are cleaning shoes, they are eating left over McDonald’s fries left on restaurant tables and they’re just kids- kids who are just minding their own business, just like I was minding my own business on the jitney.

I believe that the first step to alleviating poverty is through understanding. An understanding that we are in this world together; after all we all feel the heat of the same sun, all gaze up at the same stars and sleep under the same moon so why can’t understanding and overcoming poverty be something we all do together? It's time we open our minds and realize that poverty affects us all.

Children and Youth Facing HIV/AIDS
August 4, 2008
International AIDS Conference 2008
Jo Anne Tacorda

The session opened with Stephanie Raper, of Australia, a young person born HIV+ and Peter Laugharn, of the Netherlands. During the session similarities between panelists emerged such as their findings related to the discrimination and stigma youth living with HIV face in their daily lives. Adriana Gomez, of Brazil, spoke about a magazine called “Living as a Young Person,” this magazine featured workshops conducted in March – August 2007 and was first published in 2004. During those workshops, youth shared their feelings, fears and hopes. Similarly, Christabell, from Kenya, representing a group called Stay Alive Group support (SAYG), spoke about the wide gap between non-infected and infected youth, young people’s reluctance to get tested, and the lack of commitment young people have to support infected persons. Panelists also touched upon the double standard between adult and children disclosure; adults are told about their status via well trained health care providers while children and youth are often told their status via parents or caregivers who are not properly trained to support them. Discussions also focused on a growing body of evidence that suggests that while orphan hood in Africa is an important factor, it is not the only factor. Research has shown that orphans do not necessarily suffer greater deprivation so, including factors such as orphan hood, we must consider poverty, regional factors, and gender disparities as more effective measures.

Panelists showed that without education youth can perceive HIV+ status as a ‘death sentence’ and untreatable, they feel shame and exclude themselves from society. Those not infected and uneducated about the subject often use derogatory language, play ‘the blame game,’ and excluded HIV+ persons from society; as Christabell noted “discrimination leads to stigma, whether knowingly or unknowingly”. However, with proper support and education youth who are living with HIV have a better outlook on life and can see the possibilities for a brighter future.

In the future Panelists would like to see more effective strategies to combat reluctance to get tested and hold youth accountable to know their status. Panelists recommended that health care workers and parents receive training to properly support young people, take them through the testing process and also to communicate status disclosure with youth appropriately since “trust in [your parents] is key, if you can’t trust your parents who can you trust?... Keeping an illness from a child, a child who has their own body and their own mind, is devastating and should not happen” as Stephanie Raper noted. Best practices include those exemplified by SAYG who provides psychological support, opportunities to form partnerships on health issues and information for peer education. SAYG uses effective approaches including community asset mapping, programs and interventions and community resources. Developing disclosure guidelines and best practices is also important. There is also a strong need for youth friendly services so that youth feel comfortable about being tested and are open to receiving support.

Children and Youth Facing HIV/AIDS
August 4, 2008
International AIDS Conference 2008

The session opened with Stephanie Raper, of Australia, a young person born HIV+ and Peter Laugharn, of the Netherlands. During the session similarities between panelists emerged such as their findings related to the discrimination and stigma youth living with HIV face in their daily lives. Adriana Gomez, of Brazil, spoke about a magazine called “Living as a Young Person,” this magazine featured workshops conducted in March – August 2007 and was first published in 2004. During those workshops, youth shared their feelings, fears and hopes. Similarly, Christabell, from Kenya, representing a group called Stay Alive Group support (SAYG), spoke about the wide gap between non-infected and infected youth, young people’s reluctance to get tested, and the lack of commitment young people have to support infected persons. Panelists also touched upon the double standard between adult and children disclosure; adults are told about their status via well trained health care providers while children and youth are often told their status via parents or caregivers who are not properly trained to support them. Discussions also focused on a growing body of evidence that suggests that while orphan hood in Africa is an important factor, it is not the only factor. Research has shown that orphans do not necessarily suffer greater deprivation so, including factors such as orphan hood, we must consider poverty, regional factors, and gender disparities as more effective measures.

Panelists showed that without education youth can perceive HIV+ status as a ‘death sentence’ and untreatable, they feel shame and exclude themselves from society. Those not infected and uneducated about the subject often use derogatory language, play ‘the blame game,’ and excluded HIV+ persons from society; as Christabell noted “discrimination leads to stigma, whether knowingly or unknowingly”. However, with proper support and education youth who are living with HIV have a better outlook on life and can see the possibilities for a brighter future.

In the future Panelists would like to see more effective strategies to combat reluctance to get tested and hold youth accountable to know their status. Panelists recommended that health care workers and parents receive training to properly support young people, take them through the testing process and also to communicate status disclosure with youth appropriately since “trust in [your parents] is key, if you can’t trust your parents who can you trust?... Keeping an illness from a child, a child who has their own body and their own mind, is devastating and should not happen” as Stephanie Raper noted. Best practices include those exemplified by SAYG who provides psychological support, opportunities to form partnerships on health issues and information for peer education. SAYG uses effective approaches including community asset mapping, programs and interventions and community resources. Developing disclosure guidelines and best practices is also important. There is also a strong need for youth friendly services so that youth feel comfortable about being tested and are open to receiving support.

I found this really cool interview with Dr. Coleman, a professor of Political Communication and Director of Research at the University of Leeds, that was posted as part of this E-Festival I am a pannelist for. (Interesting fact: Dr. Coleman was actually my professor at the University of Leeds when I did an exchange program during my undergrad! And he was awesome!)

In the interview Dr. Coleman gives a good description of what e-participation is, its implications with politics and more, I recommend giving it a listen:

part 1: http://www.vibewire.net/efestival/videos/efestival-professor-stephen-coleman/
Part 2: http://www.vibewire.net/efestival/videos/efestival-professor-stephen-coleman-part-2/

A lot of people say that e-participation in democracy and global issues is a utopian dream, that online participation is not really meaningful participation that makes a difference. It may be a utopian dream but it makes a difference, I know this because I see the difference everyday here at TIG, I see how the dream has affected me and my daily life and I know how I have affected the people, my family and friends, around me.

Currently I am taking part in the E-festival of Ideas http://www.vibewire.net/ and am a panellist for a forum titled "E-participation: fad or future." I just wanted to share my response to a post that was in a thread about e-inclusivness that stated “Ideas of e-participation and democracy are utopian dreams. Modern Western technology is profoundly shaped by 'digital capitalism' privileging narrow goals of production and profit over genuine human development. This has not shown any signs of changing. The internet and technology in general are the ‘cause and effect’ of capitalist expansion. A capitalist society means there will always be a leading market supported, demanded even, by the wealthy. For this reason divides will be perpetuated. Then again, you never know. Maybe one day everybody will have a computer, like everybody has a bed today? Oh wait...”

Here is my response:

A world without people believing in their utopian dreams sounds pretty empty to me, after all without these utopian dreams the world would have never experienced great historical figures like Martin Luther King Jr. or Ghandi. By pursing those dreams a lot of positive things can be accomplished even if the dream is never fully realized, as the saying goes “reach for the moon, even if you miss you will be among the stars.”

I feel that e-participation and democracy are gaining popularity (or else we wouldn’t be having this online discussion in the first place!) Even the act of us participating in this E-festival is a sign of times changing, in fact by participating we are ‘demanding’ to have a space where this kind of dialogue can exist considering that in our daily lives we are consumers too. Even 'the capitalists' are joining in on the act with sites such as Think.MTV.com Other sites such as TakingITGlobal.org (a not-for profit charity) has grown to over 190,000 members from all over the world. As the office manager at TakingITGlobal I receive phone calls from people from Nigeria to Italy to Canada so I find it hard to believe that people around the world aren’t demanding a space where they can get involved in global issues.

I understand that there is a digital divide but e-participation and democracy also means engaging those who have access to equipment and technology but are just not active or interested. Social networks are growing incredibly fast; as of July 10, 2007 Facebook reached 30 million members! So there have to be people (or consumers-which ever way you want to look at it) who could potentially be involved in e-participation related to democracy if only it was more appealing and interesting and I think that creating more interactive and engaging sites is one of many avenues to do this. I realize that interactive websites aren’t going to be the mother of all solutions to this challenge and that many critics will say that this kind of participation isn’t really meaningful participation, I still think that the mere exposure to e-participation in global issues and democracy is a good start to get youth thinking about the world around them, a world that they are becoming even more connected because of our informational society. By reaching out, networks, interest and demand will start to grow and not-for-profits and companies alike will notice and respond to this trend and hopefully more resources can be allocated to bridge the digital divide.

It is really important to try and focus on the things that we can do and not on the things we can’t; the world is such an imperfect place that focusing on the negative would be absolutely overwhelming. We forget that small things make a difference too especially if we do them together and while doing the small things may seem tedious at times it is then we need to remember our utopian dream, a dream that is a source of hope and inspiration for us to continue to do positive work.

This is a pretty exciting day for me as it is my first day as the Communications and Administrative Assistant at TakingITglobal. I'm fresh out of McMaster University and have just moved out of my student house in Hamilton. It was so strange because a few weeks ago I was telling my friends that I wanted to get involved in NGOs and look at me now! I'm really excited to meet the people who work here, I've read some profiles and they have accomplished so much in such a short amount of time. I think that is really great and I'm excited to get involved, to learn and be inspired!