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Many of you have heard me rant about Teen Club. If you haven’t, then I have failed you: either as a friend or as a frenemy. Teen Club is a support group for HIV positive kids and teens; a support group that I have had the luck to be able to work with for the last two years here in Swaziland.
In my two and a half years in Peace Corps service, I have had nadirs and peaks in dealing with this world; I have had traumas and blessings. Working with Teen Club has been the richest and most satisfying work that I have ever done... that I probably will ever do... and it is with that in mind that I write to you today.
Nothing has changed either me or the content of my character as Teen Club has. I am forever indebted to them, all 1000 or more of them, for the way in which they have affected my life. They took a ragged, broken part of me and made it whole. They showed me that it doesn’t matter than I am goofy or weird, or that I like science too much; they showed me that as long as I act like an idiot, that I can make someone smile. They made me remember that as we walk through our bland adult lives, that the colours and the tastes and the loves and the hopes of the days jejune that we had once still exist around us. They showed me more about myself and the world than I ever thought I would know. They made me see the brilliance of the human condition, the spirit that embodies hope, and the reasons I really have to live and love and learn and lose and long and every other thing that makes life great. They have done for me more than any other.
These kids have changed my life. Now it is my turn to change theirs.
On July 22nd, 2012 the 19th annual International AIDS Conference will take place in the District of Columbia, in the good old United Stated of America. For the last five months, I have had the pleasure of working with Darryn Crocker, Allie Bailey Hughey, Kimberly Johnson, and Rachel Piper to pave the way for some of our teens to take part in this conference.
These teens are the future of Swaziland. I owe it to them to help give them what I can; to help build a brighter future for them.
As of last week, Baylor Texas Children’s Hospital [the organization that Baylor Clinic gets its funding through] put up a comment tab on their donation site. It was then that we began raising money to bring some of our bright, smart, outspoken teens to Washington D.C. to contribute in an international dialogue on what the future of HIV treatment, care and support will and should look like. As of last week we started making our dream a reality.
I stayed for them. I stayed because I believe in them. I stayed because I will make sure that they get to tell their stories at the XIX International AIDS Conference.
I want you to do two things right now: Step one, look at the picture above. I owe the kids, at least enough to ask you for five bucks to help them get to this conference. Step two, tell two people about this. It isn’t crazy to dream of being able to bring our kids to America. Even if it was, I would think it otherwise. This is doable. With your help – with the help of your families and co-workers and nephews and former room-mates – I can show some of these kids the Washington monument on my birthday, July 22nd, 2012, and know that I can die happy.
How to donate:
1. Go to this page (or swazilandteenclub.wordpress.com, which will link you there)
2. Click on “donate now”
3. Enter your donation information.
4. Click on the drop-down bar and select SWAZILAND TEEN CLUB. In the comments section you MUST write “AIDS CONFERENCE”. If you do not write that, your donation will go to other Teen Club activities. That is still nice, but it won’t help us get our kids to D.C.
5. Feel absurdly satisfied with your life as a whole. You are amazing. People love you. Hell, I think you are the coolest person I know. Go outside. You feel that sun on your face? Bet it feels pretty good. That’s good-karma sun right there. Need some coffee? No worries, hit that Starbuck’s down the street. When you roll into that drive-thru and throw 8 bucks at a cashier for two kinds of chocolaty drink, you are going to feel like a boss.
If you are a visual learner... then here you go!
From here you make it look like this.
Then like this. Do it like the pretty pictures say to.
This is all I want for Christmas. This is all I want for Hanukkah. This is all I want for my birthday next year (he said, begrudgingly, knowing he wouldn’t have a job in 2012 when he returns to America) and for Valentine’s Day and for Labour Day and for Secretary’s Day (that one seems a bit dated to me... is it still called Secretary's Day?) Don’t send me more packages. Don’t send me sweets. Just take that money and put it into this fund.
Do this for me and I promise that when I welcome these kids at the causeway next summer, that you will feel better than you have ever felt in your entire life.
Thank you kindly and happy holidays,
Cameron Price
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