AIDS Panel talk life

Anna Hee begins speaking nervously into the microphone.

"I had HIV for nine years, and full-blown AIDS for two," said Hee. "I was infected by my boyfriend in my freshman year of college."

The audience at a packed McKenna Theatre Wednesday listened intently as she told her story of what it's like living with AIDS.

Hee and eight other speakers were part of a multicultural panel brought from different organizations, including Health Initiative for Youth, The Living Well Project and The Black Coalition on AIDS. The HIV-positive men and women shared their stories of how they cope with the disease each and every day.

The event, called "Living with HIV," was sponsored by the Student Health Center and the AIDS Coordinating Committee.

Student Health Center's Kamal Harb was responsible for getting all the SF State speakers.

"People hear about this disease and never really know anyone with it," Harb Said. "The panel brings a reality check to students, and it puts a face on this disease."

According to Harb, HIV is the leading cause of death for people between the ages of 25 and 44.

A study done by the Centers for Disease Control in 1993 on 35 U.S. college campuses said that one in 500 students tested positive for HIV.

"The highest number of people infected today are women of color and youth, and this number is increasing rapidly," said Harb.

Panelists told personal stories of heartache and triumph, which got both applause and gasps from the nearly filled theater.

Wayne Davis revealed his life of pain, from the time his uncle molested him to when his mother beat him.

"At nine years old, I became a prostitute to get money and to find the affection I never got from my mother," said Davis. "I lived on the streets and did drugs so that I could sell myself for money so that I could buy more drugs."

Davis said that one night after doing a fist-sized amount of cocaine, he injected ten units of his HIV-positive customer's blood into his veins.

"All I knew about AIDS was that you get it and you die, and all I wanted to do was die -- I truly did not want to live anymore," he said.

Davis has been HIV-positive for seven years, and is living his life to the fullest now.

Many on the panel said they were surprised at the rising number of youth and women with AIDS, and that something has to be done.

"There is no reason that anyone should let themselves be infected," Hee said.

Synara Jones contracted AIDS from her husband of 23 years, and stressed that you cannot tell by looking at someone whether they have AIDS.

"I have learned that you cannot trust anyone, so when someone you love says they do not want to get tested or they do not want to use a condom, they do not love you," Jones said.

Jones is a native San Franciscan, has three children and was diagnosed with full-blown AIDS in 1993 after her husband's death.

"My husband knew he had AIDS, but he never told me," Jones said. "He didn't die from AIDS -- he died from denial."

Jones is very involved with the political and social aspects of the AIDS/HIV movement because she believes communication must grow as rapidly as the rate of heterosexual women becoming infected.

"I have learned that there is life after diagnosis, and I am living mine," she said.

[ Golden Gater Online December 12, 1995 ]

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