An eclectic mix of Whitman students, staff and Walla Walla residents gathered in front of the Christmas tree on Main Street on the evening of Wednesday, Dec. 1. The crowd of about 40 people held candles and listened to performances from Whitman’s three a cappella groups: the Testostertones, Schwa and the Sirens of Swank.  In between each song, individuals stepped up and read startling facts: 157 Americans in 2009 were on the waiting list for AIDS medication, and in 2010, over 3,000 people were on the same waiting list.

The candlelight vigil was Walla Walla’s tribute to World AIDS Day: an internationally recognized awareness day that serves to commemorate people who lost their lives to AIDS, to celebrate victories of individuals and families who have learned to live normally in spite of HIV and to heighten public attention about prevention methods and lingering obstacles in the fight against AIDS. This year’s celebration marks the 30th anniversary of World AIDS day and the 20th anniversary of Walla Walla’s participation in the event. Walla Walla’s World AIDS Day is put on by Blue Mountain Heart to Heart, a local organization that provides a syringe exchange as well as testing, counseling, support and preventative education for HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C.

Every year, the World AIDS campaign consults civil society, organizations and government agencies to choose a theme and focus the direction of the AIDS cause. This year’s theme was “universal access to care and medical treatment for those afflicted by HIV/AIDS.” Aside from a new theme, Walla Walla’s observance of World AIDS Day featured several other new contributions from the community.

Senior Liam Mina has attended this event for four years and noted that only a handful of Whitman students used to participate each year.

“Since last year when the event started to include the a cappella groups, more Whitman students have been drawn to attend,” he said. “I feel like [the HIV/AIDS cause] is a really important issue among college students and especially among queer college students, it often goes undiscussed.”

Following the candlelight vigil, the group followed Blue Mountain Heart to Heart director Jill Dickey in a procession to the First Congregational Church for a nonsectarian memorial service. The service featured a number of moving presentations: a poetry reading, an excerpt from a play, vocal performances and a dance performed by Whitman students. Several people who have firsthand experience with helping others in the fight against AIDS presented their thoughts and personal anecdotes from the front lines of this fight.

Speaker Casey Burns described her safari to Kenya to work on veterinary medicine, a safari which transformed her into a soldier in the battle against AIDS. At the time Burns arrived in Kenya in 1986, the first diagnoses of AIDS were occurring; within five years, 10 percent of the population was HIV positive. In Kenya, approximately 9,100 people will die this year from the AIDS virus, but there is hope that this number will diminish with programs advocating condom use and having only one sexual partner.

Whitman senior Tumisang Mothei also spoke to the audience of his work as a peer educator in Botswana. Mothei is a citizen of Botswana and has worked to spread education and, “frank open conversation,” about AIDS on a personal level. About 17 percent (300,000) of Botswana’s citizens are HIV positive–almost five times the population of Walla Walla County. Mothei explained that he was tired of watching so many people die from a preventable cause and called upon to help educate.

Dickey presented a contrast to the two international perspectives by discussing her involvement on a local scale. She has been involved with Heart to Heart for over three years and explained that there are an estimated 33 HIV positive individuals currently living in Walla Walla, 24 of whom are supported by her organization.

Dickey had not worked with the AIDS cause before taking up her position with Heart to Heart, but in the last few years of working hands-on with people with HIV, she has witnessed the devastating effects the virus can have. Just this year, Heart to Heart lost a client to the virus and has seen other clients who are too uncomfortable to attend support groups and instead tell others that they have with cancer.

Both the Welty Health Center and Blue Mountain Heart to Heart offer free HIV testing, a crucial step towards controlling and eventually eradicating AIDS.