World Aids Day

I am glad to see so many people posting about World Aids Day. I have little experience with HIV/AIDS. I remember seeing the quilt when I started college. It came to the BGSU campus where I was a freshmen. I made a few friends go with me. I still have a magnet on my frig from the event. That was more then 10 years ago.

For me that was the beginning and the end of AIDS awareness. I knew it existed, I know it still exists. Honestly I hadn't thought much about it until we began adopting. A friend told me they knew someone who was adopting from Ethiopia. My first question (this makes me a little ill) was, "What about HIV?". Then a few months later we decided to adopt from Ethiopia. I asked several times about what tests were used to make sure our child would be "healthy".

Now almost 2 years later I can say I have a much different perspective. I have found myself asking " if we have such great resources/medicine in the US then why not adopt a child with HIV". Our medical needs list may look quite different the second time around. At the very least I would like to educate myself on it and be more aware for next time.