Speeches

Remarks at Unveiling of HIV/AIDS Awareness Junkanoo Quilt

by U.S. Ambassador John Darrell Rood

at the National Art Gallery of The Bahamas
November 21, 2006

 

Minister Nottage, Mrs. Christie, Camille Barnett, Director of the AIDS Foundation, Distinguished Guests, good evening and welcome.

I appreciate everybody coming out for the unveiling of this wonderful quilt  -- a quilt designed to build understanding and appreciation for those who have suffered because of HIV and AIDS.  I would like to thank our friends at the AIDS Foundation -- and especially Bahamian artist Lillian Blades -- for their work and craftsmanship.

This quilt is a wonderful example of the right response to fight the stigma of AIDS.  The quilt does three things:  it commemorates those Bahamians who have died from AIDS, it moves us to think of those Bahamians living with HIV/AIDS, and it reminds us that the fight is still on against HIV and AIDS. 

Each year, the Department of State gives every ambassador in the Caribbean funding to help support local efforts to prevent and respond to HIV/AIDS, to raise awareness and reduce stigma.  When I heard about the AIDS foundation's proposal to assemble an AIDS awareness quilt, I thought it was a great idea.  Then I heard it was going to be designed by children, and that made it even better.

I would like to give special thanks to the 200 children who worked on this beautiful and compelling work of art.  I applaud them for their creativity.  As many of you know, I spend a lot of time visiting schools in New Providence and the Family Islands promoting literacy.  I see a lot in the young faces of the Bahamian students.  I see optimism and hope for the future.  I see the love they have for their family and teachers and the bonds they have with their fellow students and friends.  I see a hunger for learning.  All of those elements are reflected in the quilt in front of us. 

I understand that the children learned about HIV/AIDS before working on the quilt.  Then they took what they learned and created the tiles of the quilt.  In the tiles you will see messages to combat HIV/AIDS.  Everything from "don’t share needles" to "don’t be afraid of HIV."  The quilt reminds me that children can often see things more clearly than adults.  Their messages are simple, straightforward, and powerful. And I am very pleased that the quilt will be around for a long time, so many people can see it and absorb these messages.  

We have all heard the statistics of HIV: approximately 40 million people are living with HIV.  An estimated 15 million children have lost one or both parents to AIDS.  Of the 3.1 million people that die from AIDS every year, 570,000 of those are children under the age of 15. 

That is one child per minute.  In the Bahamas the efforts of Minister Nottage, Dr. Perry Gómez, and the staff at the AIDS Secretariat, and the local NGOs have reduced the rate of mother to child transmissions to less than 2%.  Every person tested in the public health care system has access to medicine.  HIV can be contained.

The one obstacle that seems impossible to overcome, not just here in the Bahamas, but everywhere, is the stigma and discrimination surrounding HIV and AIDS.  The negative perception of people living with HIV/AIDS creates a world in which people become more afraid of the stigma and discrimination associated with disease than the disease itself.  We can have all the medications, we can have all the information, but if we do not solve this obstacle, we will never reduce the infections.

Tonight, I stand here proud to be a part of this project.  Through the efforts of Lillian Blades, the AIDS foundation, and over 200 children here in the Bahamas, this quilt is one small -- but powerful -- piece in reducing stigma and discrimination.

First lady Laura Bush, recently called on people at the UN to promote World AIDS Day as a day of national HIV testing. 

To keep the U.S. promise to fight stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS, I will be tested for HIV on December 1.  I hope my example inspires others to do the same. 

 

Thank you.