ukhh.com | features | articles | A Different Bronx Tale by Lady Cook

A Different Bronx Tale

article 0095 added 18.06.05 words Lady Cook technical: QED

HIV is now the forgotten condition: ignored by a mainstream media more interested in persecuting teenagers for wearing hood-tops than in teaching young people that with sex comes risks and responsibilities.

Aids I probably wouldn’t be even vaguely knowledgeable about HIV and AIDS were it not for the fact that in 1999 I was invited to teach Art , in a Summer Camp in New York State, to children and young people living with or affected by HIV. Now one can, and I sure did, walk around in a bubble thinking one knows about ‘Life’ and ‘Reality’ but when one is teaching a class of 6 year olds, wonderful and amazing as of course all kids are, and you realise that their everyday Reality involves taking perhaps 15 huge pills a day - many of which bring on nausea instantly - to combat a virus they have been born with, then you start realising that Life is a very precious thing indeed. I personally realised that those of us living everyday without a life-long serious medical condition need to perhaps overcome our fear - because fear is a natural human reaction to things we don’t understand or comprehend - and get knowledgeable and be supportive.

HIV is short for Human Immunodeficiency Virus. HIV attacks the body's immune system, making it hard to fight off infections. HIV particularly attacks the white blood cells called CD4 cells, which sets the immune system in motion when infections enter the body. HIV infects CD4 cells and uses them to make new copies of HIV which go on to infect more cells. The lower a person's CD4 count, the weaker their immune system will be.

I learnt a lot that Summer about HIV, about 8 year olds that don’t know they have HIV and think the pills they are taking are for a bad stomach, about teenagers who won’t take their medication because they resent taking pills every single day, about children and teenagers who flourished in the company of their peers because home - Bronx, Brooklyn or New Jersey - was somewhere where they could not risk their neighbours / school friends / friends / teachers knowing their status (of living with HIV infection) in case it led to persecution.

6000 new HIV infections were recorded in the UK in 2002

Upon my return to the U.K. I was really driven to do something to help kids in the U.K. and organised a Benefit for the London-based Children With Aids Charity, at the Scala in London in May 2000. I drew upon my very few contacts in the U.K Hip Hop Community, ringing up strangers and begging them to contribute a set for free, resulting in a line-up including Roots Manuva, Def Tex, Gunshot, DJ 279, Disorda, James Lavelle, Gilles Peterson, Nicky Blackmarket, Storm, Kane, Shut Up and Dance, Wildeye, backdrops by Solo1 and many more (apologies to anyone I’ve forgotten): all of whom gave up their time for free to help raise consciousness and funds for CWAC’s Hardship Fund. It showed me that whilst U.K Hip Hop may not be the most financially wealthy industry there is, there is a huge wealth of love for deserving causes.

1 person is diagnosed HIV+ every 3 hours in the UK (the majority of whom have contracted HIV through heterosexual intercourse)

On Sunday 19th June I shall be taking part in Crusaid’s fundraising WALKFORLIFE and I would really like to think that UKHH’s considerable audience can take part too by sponsoring me, all my sponsorship pledges shall be shared between Crusaid (25%) and Body & Soul (75%). I have included some information below about Body & Soul for your interest.

With only a full time staff of 3 and no official funding, BODY & SOUL is desperately in need of financial support

BODY & SOUL is unique in the UK in providing support independently to young people and children. The two Centres - Adult Centre and Children's Youth Centre, allows for a holistic approach to those who access services, young and old. At present BODY & SOUL is in contact with and offering support to over 1400 adults, 300 teenagers and 6OO children under the age of 12 years. BODY & SOUL is often spoken of as 'a family', giving an opportunity to meet others in similar situations, providing a sense of relief that one is not alone living with HIV.

BODY & SOUL was formed in 1996 to address gaps in support services for children, teenagers, women and heterosexual men. These groups had found it difficult to gain support within organisations are still primarily adult focused and gay-based. They wanted a service that could meet they specific needs. BODY & SOUL started with only Ł1,000 and a dedicated team of Volunteer workers. Against outstanding odds BODY & SOUL has grown to be London’s busiest most forward thinking support centre for families living with, or closely affected by HIV/AIDS.

BODY & SOUL is very much a family-based organisation, providing a safe space where women, heterosexual men and their families can meet and gain support from others living with the fear, stigma and isolation of HIV/AIDS. Many are eager to travel from all parts of the UK to meet other families living with the same issues. BODY & SOUL’s ethos empowers HIV+ people to make informed choices for their future, supporting them through the journey of changing the devastation of their HIV diagnosis, into positive thoughts and actions. Services take a holistic approach, meeting emotional needs through peer and one to one support; physical needs through the provision of Complementary Therapies and various Health Services. By addressing practical needs through advocacy and life skills workshops, our self-help esteem of children, teenagers and adults accessing BODY & SOUL.

BODY & SOUL provides a unique range of services; including TEEN SPIRIT, the UK’s only group for teenagers who know about their HIV status or a family member's. BODY & SOUL is the major organisations supporting heterosexual HIV+ men. Adult s Services include a weekly Family Day, working with Great Ormond Street Hospital’s Family HIV Clinic; Secessions every Tuesday evening (alternating between a mixed group for women/heterosexual men and a women only group). BODY & SOUL believes that the power to share concerns and experiences is as vital for children and teenagers, as it is for adults.

BODY & SOUL supports over 600 children/ teenagers and is unique in providing support to children as primary Service Users (independently of an adult).

HIV The Children’s Service is divided into age appropriate areas—under 3yrs; 3-9yrs and The BaSe (the BODY & SOUL Experience), which is for 10-12yrs. One-to-one emotional support is available for children/teenagers experiencing behavioural problems, to those who have been told of their HIV status or a family member's, and/or have been bereaved. Counselling can be set up as appropriate. A teacher provides Study support for children/teenagers, acknowledging many of who will miss school through illness, but in their own or members/s within the family.

Within 5 years, the numbers of families registered with BODY & SOUL has grown from 200 to over 1,600 families; registering over 25 new adults and teenagers each month.

HIV affects OVER 10,000 children in the UK – more than 1,500 under 14 years old are HIV positive with another 9,000 facing or dealing with the death of a parent, sibling or close family relative from the disease. The physical and emotional pain caused by HIV and AIDS is often compounded by society's attitudes and the stigma associated with it, borne out of people’s ignorance. The fear and isolation this provokes means many children have to live double lives, terrified of their classmates and friends finding out about either their or their parent’s HIV status.

Since 1982, when reporting began, in the U.K 12,760 people were reported as having died with AIDS

AIDS stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. When a person's immune system has been damaged he or she is open to other illnesses, especially infections (e.g. tuberculosis and pneumonia) and cancers, many of which would not normally be a threat. Before effective treatments, if someone with HIV got one of these illnesses the person was said to have AIDS. However, it is no longer a widely-used term. Doctors may instead call this 'late stage' or 'advanced HIV infection'.

Okay, so now, I am really very grateful to you for reading this far, maybe you don’t want to sponsor a stranger or maybe you’re really skint? Well there is still loads of options: you could e-mail your friends a link to this article, even your parents (“Mum, thought you might be interested in this article on that Hip Hop site you moan about me going on all day long” ), you could not sponsor me but you could contact Body & Soul at the address below and support them directly or you could perhaps just realise that HIV is not confined to Africa, it is a very real condition in the Western World too and that whilst our Government are more concerned with ASBO‘s and persecuting teenagers, it is up to us, the so-called ‘Hip Hop Generation‘ to educate, respect and protect ourselves and each other.

- Ladycook

Related Links:

To contact Body & Soul write to: Body & Soul, 9 Tavistock Place, London WC1H 9SN

To sponsor me on the WALKFORLIFE click on: www.walkforlife.co.uk\kateandstephen

www.walkforlife.co.uk

(This article is the wording of the author Lady Cook, and has not been proof-read or condoned by Body & Soul, if people wish to commentate or disagree with any of the content please contact Lady Cook directly at Ladycook@ukhh.com)