World AIDS Conference 2012 Looking Back

How much fun to run into Scott M in the exhibits area.

It was a huge treat to run into Kim and Cait, my beloved students from Tanzania 2007.  These young women are definitely our future.  I'm so proud to be their "mom away from their mom!"

My goodness, another World AIDS Conference is over.  Though exhausted, somewhat depressed, and overwhelmed by all the information, I am also renewed in many ways.  And, not surprisingly, I find myself thinking about my highlights of the conference  and of course they were with those speakers who highlighted the populations of persons who continue to be most stigmatized.  These included the Ugandan physician who is open about being MSM and HIV-infected, (he may face some severe repercussions simply for speaking openly at the conference) http://globalhealth.kff.org/AIDS2012/July-26/Dynamics-of-the-Epidemic.aspx
On the same podium, in addition, we were on our feet as Cheryl Overs talked about Sex Workers rights.   She was amazing, and then finally Debbie McMillan gave hers and others' stories. She is an incredible Transgendered Woman who tore my heart out. 
Moving backwards:
I was proud that Bart Haynes shared the work of CHAVI, and actually helped the lay people like me to understand his team's work. http://globalhealth.kff.org/AIDS2012/July-25/Turning-the-Tide.aspx
If you watch this whole video, you will see some amazing presentations; Dr. Chewe Luo who totally blew me away as she talked about the importance of changing radically our approach to prevention of HIV from mother to infant.  We cannot afford PMTCT, we must treat women from infection onward.  I was convinced.   Linda Scruggs, rough and tough told us most of us, what we have done wrong.  Oh my, and what we must do.  And finally Geeta Rao Gupta reinforced the necessity of focusing on HIV/AIDS in women and girls, in fact just once and for all focusing on gender rights for women and girls. 
Moving back to Tuesday, check this link out and move to the speech by Dr. Nelly Mugo.  I fell in love with her over the course of the conference.  Her obvious kindness and compassion was reflected in each thing that she said, as well as in her body language and face.  Listen to her words as she struggles to encourage persons living with HIV to start treatment early when they still feel well.  She gave powerful evidence regarding the barriers to care for those are marginalized. Perceived risk... versus actually risk. Please watch her. She was the first person I had ever heard who talked about "seasonal risk"  It made a huge amount of sense. http://globalhealth.kff.org/AIDS2012/July-24/Challenges-and-Solutions.aspx
I believe that this World AIDS Conference will stand out amongst the others.  This won't just happen because the conference returned to the United States for the first time since 1990, but because of the combination of hope for cure, and the highlighting of the people left behind.  These people shared the podium with some of the world's greatest scientists. What a huge change, and they had much to share.  Much to share!

So, pardon the lack of pictures, but take the time to listen to these amazing webcasts.  It is time to turn the tide!

World AIDS Conference Day1

Last Night was the first day of the World AIDS Conference. 

Coming off of the ACTG meeting, moving to a cheaper hotel seemed to be just a little more exhausting. 
I didn't expect the thrill of the crowds to uplift my spirits (smaller meaner--from the ACTG) but in fact they did.  Partly, I felt more comfortable moving from a fancy hotel to the smaller Hampton Inn just up the road.  Here free breakfast, coffee and afternoon tea and cookies are served free!  Wifi is free!  How nice is that?  And though the issues of all World AIDS Conferences nag at the back of the brain (why do people have to travel for over an hour from their hotel, when there are a plethora of hotels in Washington proper?) In fact when John just walked up with a microwave popcorn bag, free from the lobby, I felt so bad and so good for where we are staying. So ok, I'm sorry about the travel and it sucks.!  These travel people should have their wrists slapped.

But, suffice it to say, yesterday and today have been exhausting.  Yesterday we viewed, Samantha, a woman's story of HIV. The film was made by John Waters and what a surprise to find that he helps  the John's Hopkins clinic and is friends with John G (not my husband) Bartlett as well as our friend Glenn Triesman frequently.  Wow.  It was a good start.

Saddies, John and I thought that the opening ceremony would be on TV,and thus darted out when the crowds were insane trying to get in.  And, of course there wasn't even a mention on the news that the conference had started, much less a video clip.  I remember Durban and Barcelona where that was all that was on TV.  Sigh.

We had highlights though today.  To get into the big sessions is now recognized as a feat. (what kind of planning went into this???) We stood in line for 20 minutes before the doors even opened for the Plenery session and then it was sort of like a "football" game in Spain.   I hope that Dr. Fauci, Phil Wilson and Hillary Clinton appreciate their "star power".  I cannot say that we did until they spoke. Though some people were unconvinced...those particularly are waiting for implementation of all the research done, were angry, but most of us were uplifted by the talks. 

(Dr. Anthony Fauci)

 

I love Hillary Clinton. She is a master.

 Here we see the possibility of an AIDS Free Generation... All three speakers talked about it.  Tony Fauci, Phil Wilson and Hillary Clinton.  Can it happen? Do we have the will?

I spent the rest of the day, working my way through posters and interesting presentations. Most of us pondered...do we have the will?  Will we put up the resources? I just don't know but I sure hope so.  I watched the protesters danced up in wildness....

And I went to more presentations about Co-Infections esp Hep B, Adherence and Caregiving and Ethics... I loved the condom brigade.

Let's hope that I am not the only one excited about the possibility of stamping out AIDS...Or, as Stephen Sondheim says, "Well...excited and scared..."  Somtimes I think that Into the Woods is a model for us all.  What a day.

Katrina - The Actress (a Joe Iconis Original)

Daughter Katrina uploads a dandy new Joe Iconis Song to Facebook Really awesome. Just tell me my girl doesn't have talent! ( I would be bitter of course)

Seattle Poor John Lucky Me

The end of our African months took us to Seattle Washington. It should have been miserable in our lovely Economy Comfort seats, the first leg of which turned out to not be comfort economy after all, but while John was full of meeting time, I was looking forward to reconnecting with old college friends Marilyn and Phil. So, ok, Seattle is amazing because of a surround sound of mountains, so I will get those out of the way. Though there were only two hours of crystal clear day, and Marilyn had to loan me all her warm clothes, and we have had a lovely time. These are some of the first set of mountains that we continuously saw on Bainbridge Island. Fun on the Ferry.

More mountains

These are called "The Brothers".

Mt. Ranier was only brilliant for 2 hours--just when I was working on internet in the room, but this wasn't too bad.

More brilliant mountains from Bainbridge Island.

The draw for this trip was not Roxie, though her cuteness pretty much surpasses all the humans.

Apparently, there is this famous wall near the port is just full of bubble gum. You might think this is art, or you might think this is disgusting. I lean to the latter. We did agree to be close enough for this picture.

I pretended like I own Roxie...Great friends beautiful island

So seriously, Marilyn and Phil are terrific, but with Roxie....hard to underscore the power of dogs.

These were fun birds in the water.

Not sure if I like red headed woodpeckers better than pileated woodpeckers, but this one was intense. And on the east coast you don't see many.

I have never seen this flower. Hope Judy can tell me more. It is apparently called a skunk flower.

It is pretty cool to be back in the Lord of the Rings---even in Seattle

John and Phil are pretty awesome.

There is a lot to see in Seattle, but we have enjoyed the less traveled scenes, and these locks are great. During salmon running season, you can see lots of them, of course we are not at the right time of year, but there is so much else to see (though we are freezing)

The railroad drawbridge. Thinking of how that works.

This doesn't look like much, but it is an Anna humming bird, and I have never seen one, Hard to get the pics because they move really fast because of the cold, but this is the best I got.

Wow-the old buddies get together--Diego and John. Great to catch up. So we have another 48 hours to go. I pray that Marilyn hasn't gotten sick of me, and am enjoying this meltdown from Africa. Infinitely, I feel badly for John who as usual is working his way though every day.

Kilimanjaro Marathon 2012

The pathetic start of the 5K portion of the Kilimanjaro Marathon just happened to be my first race ever. I was so excited anyway in the crowd of people. No one really knew what was going on. People were going out ahead of the others, but then the singers would move them back. At the time of the start (45 minutes late) the singers and the person in charge of the start just gave up. Yousuf and I were good participants and started right behind the "banner" and did not cut corners.

The end for the 5K was sort of pathetic as well, but I comforted myself with a fast time 32 minutes (was it really 5K?) and the knowledge that I had run the last 1K straight uphill. I have been completely unable to repeat that time, but maybe the excitement of the moment helped.

My running buddy Yousuf. He was kind to me and clearly could have gone faster except that I couldn't. For the uphill last 1K, I said go go go. And he did. I credit myself with getting him to enter even with only having practiced for 3 days, and he was just fine! Thanks for keeping me going Yousuf. We waited for the 1/2 marathoners to come in and especially to see John, Charles and Jan. It is hard to express the excitement that we all felt.

While we waited the first wheelchair entry arrived.

Unbelievably the first full marathoner came in ahead of our boys!

Charles hardly looked winded coming through the big finish sign.

John was not too winded. He said that he had kept a steady pace and finished in 2hr. 5-6 minutes.

John explained that Zuli, a really nice guy from Tanga, had helped him the most. As with all things, the organization of both the 5 and 21K were a bit chagalabagala. There was no effort to have the runners placed ahead of the walkers and that made the start awkward at best. For me, it was a constant effort to find a hole through which to run in the beginning, and then even later when the faster runners suddenly stopped and started walking. I almost crashed into two groups when I was paying more attention to moving than to what was in front of me. Poor John said it took about 5 minutes just to get out of the college gate because of the walkers and then he had to zig zag for about 1 kilometer to get space to run. That meant that he was already using more energy than he needed. And he met the same situation particularly on the way up. People who had set off too fast and suddenly stopped or started walking. He even found a man unconscious by the side of the road and, worried that it was Charles, stopped to take his pulse and shake him a little to make sure he was ok. When he saw that it wasn't Charles and saw women coming with water, he moved on. So, his time probably would even have been better if things had been a bit more orderly.

Jan was just a few minutes ahead of John.

We were pretty proud of one another. (AHHH)

Friends together--Greg ran with his son Nikoli and Niko's friend Omar. Nikoli could have easily done the half as he is really fast, but you are not allowed to enter until your bones are stronger at age 16.

The MEPI team was a bit bigger than this, but hongera sana to all of them who ran. (especially my girls Harriet and Lucy) We headed home to get cleaned up and take a break. Harriet came over to drag Charles back to the stadium (not much dragging involved)

We all hope to participate next year.

The Day Before the Kilimanjaro Marathon

Bob is preparing us for our hash in Machame. Historically he volunteers for the hash before the Kilimanjaro Marathon so that he can set something that will take us up and down hills and make us less horrified at the hills on this race. He did a great job. After the hash I couldn't walk for two days.

In addition to Bob, Phil and Sarah co-hosted the hash. Sarah made the food, and was her usual charming self. Bob made his elk spaghetti.

Simon (the 2nd fastest runner up Kilimanjaro) and Greg talk about the upcoming marathon.

After the hash the group enjoys the bites and listens to Bob

Now it is the day before the marathon and the signs are everywhere.

This amazing blown up advertisement for the biggest sponsor, Kilimanjaro Beer is right on the corner that everyone has to pass by.

Ndizi mama came early and wished John and I success for the marathon (I didn't explain that I was only doing 5K! Now we have our potassium.

We took a quick trip up to Marangu to see our carver, and found a goat out on a Saturday ride. What a delightful ride for him, though I fear that it will not end well.

These babies as well are being raised for food, but are very cute right now.

A wedding in Marangu complete with brass band on the car. I guess the bride and groom don't want to participate in the marathon.

One of the oldest hotels in the region, The Marangu Hotel, still serves many customers and provides thousands of climbers with guides and porters from it's beautiful old hotel campus. This bird of paradise is just one of the lush sights of the area.

Here is John crossing the finish line in 2008. He hopes to better his time this year after 3 years nursing his knee. He is certainly fit. Wish us all well!!