Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2001. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Reuters NewMedia - Friday November 30, 2001
Claire Soares

Six years later, it is this memory that spurs her on as she travels the country with her braided hair and short skirts, trying to puncture the invincible shield that many American teen-agers feel protects them from the disease.

"I didn't know anything about HIV. I thought it was just like other sexually transmitted diseases--take an antibiotic and it'll go away," the 22-year-old told Reuters in an interview on Friday, the day before World Aids Day.

"I went through the whole thing of 'Well I'm not gay so how could I get it?' I had no education about it at all."

The American Association for World Health (AAWH) estimates that every hour two Americans aged 13 to 25 contract HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Half of the 40,000 new HIV infections in the United States every year are in people under 25, with women, blacks, Hispanics and homosexual men most at risk.

This year, US health organizations have zeroed in on that age group, fearing complacency may have taken hold because younger individuals have not experienced the devastating early days of the pandemic.

SAFE-SEX FATIGUE

Reasons behind this safe-sex fatigue are varied. AAWH's research showed some people believed antiviral drugs made AIDS more manageable, others resigned themselves to the fact they would get the virus and some just tired of taking precautions.

Promise, derived from the translation of her African name, is convinced the most effective way to ram home the message is to use young people as the messengers.

"If the youth can't relate to the person they're talking to, it's not going to get across to them because they'll feel like you're preaching to them, you're another authority figure telling them what to do."

Promise, born in Botswana but a US resident since she was five, helped set up TIME--Teens Introducing Matters to Each Other--in her hometown of St. Louis, Missouri. When not studying for her degree in social work, she visits schools and community centers to spread her message.

TIME has an apartment where teen-agers can hang out, watch movies, strum their guitars and get whatever information they need at the same time.

The group also sets up stalls outside a second-hand record store, handing out "safe sex packages" with condoms and leaflets about sexually transmitted diseases.

"Usually that attracts people when we say 'Free Condoms'. They run to us, they want that and then we sit down and talk to them about other things if they hang around," she chuckled.

The AIDS Alliance for Children, Youth & Families, based in Washington, launched its HOPE campaign on Friday, which aims to shine the spotlight on youth-run projects.

"Right now we are not reaching these people and we need to. AIDS is an epidemic of youth and we need to train the youth to deal with the youth problem," David Harvey, the alliance's executive director, said in a telephone interview.

But even when the message does get through, knowledge is not always translated into action, said Adam Tenner of support group Metro Teen AIDS. "We are supposed to have 30 minutes of aerobic exercise three times a week, but how many of us actually do that? There's a similar problem with safe sex."

SHARING SECRET BRINGS SOLACE, STRESS

Preventing new infections is one important aim of Promise's work, but she also works to help HIV-infected people find the courage to come forward and learn to deal with their illness.

A talk she heard in high school two months after being diagnosed convinced her to do a class presentation about HIV and she ended up spilling her secret.

"The kids weren't listening to me, they were rolling their eyes and talking. I wasn't planning on doing my own story but I got mad and I was crying so I told them," she recalled.

The decision to be open about her illness has brought her both solace and stress. "Kids taunted me and I lost friends, including one 12-year relationship with a person who could have been my sister, we'd known each other so long," she said.

But she derives a sense of purpose from visiting schools in states from Missouri to New York. "This is what I want to do. There's a smile on my face all the time I'm doing it."

Promise has responded well to drug treatment, despite suffering side-effects ranging from chronic diarrhea to sleepless nights, and is now relatively stable and healthy.

Two of Promise's fashion accessories encapsulate her positive yet realistic approach to the issue--a chunky silver pendant shaped like the Egyptian symbol for life and a color tattoo on her back of the red AIDS ribbon.

"No-one is promised tomorrow," she said as she prepared to return to meetings with other members of AIDS youth groups. "So live life as much as you can... but safely."
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