According to the World Health Organization, since the beginning of the epidemic, 70 million people have been infected with the HIV/AIDS virus, and 35 million have died because of that.
Today, worldwide, 36 million people are living with HIV/AIDS even though some regions are more affected than others.
In order to make people aware of this illness and communicate the different ways to prevent it, on December 1st, the World HIV/AIDS day has been established since 1988.
On this day, all over the world, people have the chance to learn more about HIV.
Here at HHS Sunny D’s takes care of this.
Senior Margaret Nielsen says “As a tradition, Sunny D’s members wore their red shirt, and handed out candies with HIV/AIDS facts inside them.” Her favorite part was handing out candies because “it forces people to get some facts about HIV/AIDS” she said.
Margaret has been in Sunny D’s for two years and when I asked her what her goal was she said, “I want to live in a world where everyone is aware of AIDS and the spread of the virus is not a worry.”
They don’t work only on World AIDS Day. They meet regularly and prepare a lot of different activities in order to spread the information.
“We’ve done presentations to health class and I am one of the Sunny D’s who does this thing called Reach Out where we read another HIV positive person’s story,” Senior Kaila Avent said.
This is her second year in the club.
“I wanted to help educate my classmates about how to protect themselves from HIV and other STDs, and I also wanted to help end the stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS. I was comfortable talking about sexual health as well,” Avent said.
As a member of Sunny D’s, she wants her classmates to know more about AIDS, how to stay safe, and avoid risks.
“ I believe that the whole stigma around HIV is not spoken often enough. I am eager to be part of the movement that raises awareness about HIV and teaches others how to stay safe,” senior Joanna Lopez-Hernandez said. Â
This is the main issue: people are not aware of the problem and don’t know what to do. We need more people to talk about it because this could leave to save more lives in the future!
The Sunny D’s in working on projects for the students, “We plan activities to incorporate both fun and learning all in one!” Lopez-Hernandez said.
I got more details from the teacher that is in charge of the club, Chris Junker. He actually created the Sunny D’s in 1997. He believes that if the information comes from peers, students will take it more seriously.
“I wanted to start the Sunny “D’s because I thought a peer education program at the high school level could have a more powerful impact on students than an older person such as myself or a college student coming in from an outside organization would ever have,” Junker said.
On December 1st, they also hung the Sunny D’s quilt block on the landing of HHS.
“This quilt block was made by SD members back in approximately 2003 when it was decided that the SDs needed a quilt block panel of its own. Our quilt block is displayed every year in memory of all those lost to HIV/AIDS,” Junker said.
He tells me that the club grew stronger thanks to the help of other teachers such as Mr. Hepner, that allows Sunny D’s to have presentations during his health classes.
Currently, all the members of the Sunny D’s are seniors, so starting from April, juniors, and seniors will be able to apply.
“We’ll be looking for HHS students that will be a junior or senior next year that is mature, dedicated individuals that have an interest in HIV/AIDS, would enjoy helping others understand the disease and how to avoid infection, are comfortable with the language associated with HIV/AIDS, can remain nonjudgmental, are respected by their peers based on their words and actions, and want to make difference in the lives of their peers, not just add something to their resume,” Junker said.
Those are the qualities required, so if you think you have them all, the Sunny D’s needs you!! We definitely have to make people realize that HIV is a real problem, but that we can prevent it, and fight it.  And Sunny D’s is a great start!
One day this will really make a difference, and people will live in a better way.
