If I kept it to myself - World YWCA

Young women intervene in a world with AIDS
Joya Banerjee
Young people and HIV and AIDS is by nature a highly
controversial subject as the majority of infections
worldwide occur through sexual intercourse, which is
taboo for many people...
I began working on HIV and AIDS issues
during my sophomore year at Barnard College,
Columbia University. I attended presentations by
Dr. Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the Earth Institute,
and was inspired by his work on HIV and AIDS
in Africa. At the end of one of his presentations
he encouraged the audience to become active in
the HIV and AIDS movement, and suggested that
we begin a chapter of the Student Global AIDS
Campaign.
The idea was attractive to me because I had met
so many dynamic student leaders championing
causes such as conflict resolution in Israel and
Palestine and the rights of women of colour in
New York, but no student organisation existed
that dealt with HIV and AIDS or sustainable
development. A group of students and I came
together with the mantra of “health is a human
right” to found Columbia Global Justice (CGJ), a
chapter of the Student Global AIDS Campaign.
Through CGJ, I reached out to youth on campus,
in New York City, and worldwide, to raise
awareness with events every two weeks focused
on issues such as international debt and HIV and
AIDS, microbicides, vaccine trials and research,
US funding policies, gender and HIV and AIDS,
and other issues. Our membership grew to over
250 students, both undergraduate and graduate,
and our events were diverse ranging from panel
discussions to documentary screenings to
fundraisers to letter writing and calling campaigns
to government representatives.
With CGJ, I organised New York City’s first
Student Global AIDS Walk that raised thousands
of dollars for a grassroots organisation in
Zambia, a country where 16.5% of citizens are
living with HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS: 2003). We
collaborated with New York University’s New
York City Student Initiative for AIDS to host slam
poetry and hip-hop concerts, and sell hundreds
of discount cards for students to use in local
shops. The funds raised supplied grassroots
HIV and AIDS initiatives in the developing
world. That year, I also organised Columbia
University’s first World AIDS Week.
It was during the World AIDS Week that I
met Christian Gladel of the United Nations
Population Fund’s (UNFPA) HIV and AIDS
Branch. He managed the Global Youth Partners
Initiative (GYP), which builds the capacity of
young leaders in 30 countries to encourage
their governments to scale up HIV and AIDS
interventions for young people. I applied to intern
at UNFPA and they hired me to work on youth
participation in HIV and AIDS.
While working with the GYP, I was inspired by
their spirit of volunteerism and leadership. I was
involved in the important work of assisting young
people to effectively drive grassroots change in
their communities. I became aware that funding,
opportunities for employment and participation,
technical assistance, and collaboration exist,
but that young people face many barriers in
accessing these resources due to a lack of skills
and the general mistrust that adult leaders have
for young people.
Young people also lack access to youth friendly
prevention and treatment information and
services. They are at the mercy of conservative
government agendas that dictate programmes for
them that are ineffective and unscientific, such as
abstinence only education.
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