Community members brave the rain for annual AIDS walk

“We know that, HIV AIDS is not a death sentence anymore, but still, fear of stigma and misinformation still holds communities so back,” added Positive Living North’s Education Manager Vibusha Madanayake.

Among the key goals of the walk are destigmatization of those with the disease, as well as creating more awareness and education.

“There’s still a lot of misinformation around if you get it from a hug or a kiss or sharing dishes, where that’s not the case. HIV can happen to anyone who is a human and who has blood,” West said.

“Some people think still HIV AIDS is an airborne infection, which it’s not. It’s only a sexually transmitted infection. It only can transmit through sexual intercourse or especially with injection drug use with with people who share needles and some other harm reduction supplies,” Madanayake added.

While this walk, as the name implies, is focused on AIDS, Madanayake adds it also hopes to highlight and address other societal issues like poverty, addiction, cultural sensitivity, and more. This is because Madanayake says all these issues are interconnected with AIDS, and raising education about AIDS also means discussions around these topics too.

“We are actually providing lots of education, from intergenerational trauma to harm reduction to gender based violence to HIV AIDS. We are trying to be like an integrated model, and being supportive for so many communities who are struggling,” she said.

The walk has been going for decades, and Madanayake says the growth of the event has really boosted its effectiveness in further reaching Positive Living North’s goals, as more exposure has led to more community partnerships, which then creates more exposure, so it’s a positive snowball effect.

“We have so many education institutions involving us, especially school districts and higher education institutes such as colleges and universities are now collaborating with us, and also First Nation communities, because with our funding we are actually doing HIV 101 education for a First Nation community,” Madanayake said.

Among the other organizations involved with the walk was the Crisis Prevention, Intervention, and Information Centre for Northern BC, which was both supporting the cause and also letting other people know what types of services it can provide.

“Any crisis that anyone is having, whether that’s AIDS, or a bad breakup, or if they’re having thoughts of suicide, they can call us and get an empathetic listening ear. We can also try and find resources for them as well,” said Cianna Wtterlind, a Community Education Assistant with the Centre.

Positive Living North adds the walk was also a fundraiser for a 50/50 draw to support all of its operations, and tickets are available until the end of November or when they sell out. You can buy these tickets at the Positive Living North building, or when you see them on select days at Canadian Tire and Superstore.

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by Tommy Osborne

Community members brave the rain for annual AIDS walk

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