World AIDS Day 2008 - FLASHBACK!...and today.
One can still put an unforgettable Australian face on World AIDS Day today (December 1), even after her death 15 years ago. The face is that of Eve van Grafhorst, the first Australian schoolgirl to be infected by HIV through a blood transfusion....and who inspired the establishment of The Australian AIDS Fund Incorporated, Australia's smallest AIDS-care agency, in the mid 1980's.
This week The Australian AIDS Fund Incorporated arranged for Eve's mother, Gloria, to appear on TVNZ's "Good Morning" television show to commemorate World AIDS Day, and to share some of her thoughts and hopes...and those of Eve's brothers and sisters...with us too as a special message.
Eve's Mum, Gloria, has sent us the following message and photos to mark World AIDS Day 2008.
The two photos show Gloria pictured with Dana, Eve's oldest sister, at the internment of Eve's ashes at the Rudolf Steiner School in Hastings, New Zealand, in October 2008, and the site where Eve's ashes have been placed in the garden. This is where Eve and Dana attended school together.The remembrance plot overlooks the playground and is very near the ashes of her friend Rupert whom she married in her fantasy wedding.
Gloria writes:
"Eve's legacy and that of her family is for everyone to stay strong and to support one and other, not to be afraid and stand up for what you believe in.
"Those living with the virus are to be treated with dignity and respect and discrimination should always be resisted."
The following quotations summarise all of the above:-
- "The most powerful thing you can do to change the world,
is to change your own beliefs about the nature of life, people,reality, to something more positive....and begin to act accordingly."
Author: Shakti Gawain
- "Be afraid of nothing-you have within you all wisdom, all power,all strength,and all understanding."
Author: Eilleen Caddy
Historical Notes :
The Australian AIDS Fund Incorporated, a registered not-for-profit charity, came into being in the mid-1980's as a direct consequence of the plight of the then New South Wales toddler, Eve van Grafhorst, who was forced, along with her family, to flee to New Zealand for sanctuary when her own coastal community at Gosford decided it couldn't, and wouldn't, cope with having an HIV-infected child in its midst and banned her from a local pre-school.
Eve died in New Zealand in 1993 at the age of 11, acknowledged on both sides of the Tasman as an HIV activist heroine.
The appalling treatment meted out to Eve and her family, mirrored in so many fearful nations of the world still, through hatefulness, discrimination, stigma, verbal and physical abuse has been rightly described as one of the darkest pages in Australia's HIV history.
Determined that this candle of hope shouldn't be blown out, The Australian AIDS Fund Incorporated keeps the memory of her bravery and example both alight and alive through its works with men, women and children struggling to live with HIV/AIDS in different parts of the world...as well as inside Australia....so that others might come to know of her story and learn from the sorrow and the courage within it. The idea of a Schools AIDS Day is one such initiative in Victoria...now run by the Catholic Education Office In Melbourne.
Schools AIDS Day
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| Schools AIDS Day is an invitation for school children to
think about others struggling to live with HIV/AIDS by focussing
on what happened to Australian schoolgirl - Eve Van Grafhorst
- who died from AIDS when she was just 11 years of age. |
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Left: Flight Attendant Leeanne Langridge and First Officer John
Gray with Air New Zealand National's youngest flight attendant,
Eve van Grafhorst. |
Message From A Princess
To mark Eve's 21st birthday, her mother Gloria has released a treasured
letter she received from the Princess of Wales.
Young heroes & heroines
There have been some important rainbows that have shone out in
the global history of HIV/AIDS, young boys and girls who've not
only endured the ravages of the disease and lost their young lives
in the process but whose bravery and courage have helped governments
to alter course...to intervene...and also tackle stigma and discrimination
much more vigorously.
* Ryan White a young American boy was one such example, who finally
numbered 5 American Presidents among his friends.
For his story Click Here
* Eve van Grafhorst the first Australian girl to be infected by
HIV via a blood transfusion is another example, fighting hysteria
and apprehension with laughter and hugs (the inspiration for the
establishment of our own organisation).
* Nkosi Johnson the young South African hero who galvanised the
world by his moving global appeal for tolerance before his life
slipped away as well. For a glimpse into Nkosi's inspirational
life and what's since grown out of it, Click
Here
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Spotlight now on India
There are others too, not in the spotlight, who've added their strength
to the cause.
Now, in India, there's the present case of Bency(7) and her brother
Benson (5) who live in Kerala State. Both lost their parents to
AIDS and had been trying to join a school for the past 2 years!
Benson and Bency in from the cold, becoming faces of India's
battle against stigma and discrimination. Click
Here for the story |
APJ. Abdul Kalam
President of India
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Within a few days of receiving our request, President Kalam
kindly sent us this photograph of himself with the children and
their grandfather, for which we are very grateful. It sends a powerful
message as to how stigma on a national scale may be alleviated by
so boldly involving such targetted children in HIV/AIDS Awareness
campaigns.
We commend the President's action and the courage of those children
and their families to all nations struggling to cope with discrimination
which is so much responsible for the ongoing global spread of the
disease.
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The Australian AIDS Fund has sent special
messages to the President of India and India's Union
Minister for Health - Click
Here to read them
For the history of our earlier involvement - Click
Here |
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