Fulfiling My Life Purpose: Being an Agent of Social Change for Justice and Equity in Health and Health Care
By Candace, Member, Young Women of Color Leadership Council, Advocates for
Youth
Hello! My name is Candace. I'm a 22-year-old African American woman, born and raised in Florida, but I consider myself a global citizen! I absolutely love to salsa dance, travel, meet new people, and learn about and from other cultures and places. I graduated from college in 2004, with a bachelor's degree in community health education and a minor in anthropology. My alma mater is the University of Florida—Go Gators! I'm currently in my second year of graduate studies at the University of South Florida, focusing on maternal and child health and Africana studies.
I see my life’s purpose as being an agent of social change, domestically and globally—for justice and equity in health and health care. If you told me back in high school, that I would be actively involved in women's rights and HIV and AIDS issues—I would have hesitated to believe you. But I can attest that my days of activism are here and are thriving.
My HIV activism began during sophomore year in college, when I participated in two spring break service trips through the University's Alternative Breaks Program. I worked in HIV and AIDS service projects with three Atlanta-based AIDS service organizations— Project Open Hand-Atlanta, the Jerusalem House (for women and children affected by HIV), and the Atlanta Harm Reduction Center. To understand the impact of globalization on HIV and AIDS prevention and treatment for women throughout the world, I'm planning a study trip South Africa. I'm also involved at University of South Florida in organizing an alternative spring break trip to train and lead a group of undergraduates to do HIV peer education and outreach with Metro Teen AIDS in Washington, DC, and to become lifelong activists.
So, what propelled me to become an HIV and AIDS activist? The magnitude of the HIV and AIDS pandemic became part of my reality when my family became one of many families of African descent to experience the epidemic firsthand. I felt the pain of losing—from complications of AIDS—family members that I cared deeply for. Young people of color represent a disproportionate proportion of new HIV infections each year. So, I feel that it is important for me, as a young woman of color, to raise awareness about HIV and AIDS among my peers and to advocate for our access to information, skills, and services to prevent HIV infection.
HIV is preventable—and we each have two choices: (1) ignore the apparent problem or (2) take action, and I chose the latter. I decided not to sit by without a fight, watching HIV proliferate. Youth, women, and communities of color are hit hardest by the epidemic. I believe that these groups must develop solutions to the epidemic in their midst, identify and develop their own HIV prevention and treatment options. That is why I joined forces with Advocates for Youth and the Young Women of Color Leadership Council.
My main purpose is to arm us with information about how we can protect ourselves and our partners from acquiring this preventable disease. I want to highlight the importance of self-respect and of purpose among people of our generation. We must connect HIV prevention and treatment to other issues, like human rights, reproductive health and rights, and international development. I strongly believe that it is possible for each of us to contribute to changing the tide of this epidemic and to ensuring that our generation helps end the epidemic.
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