Please remember World AIDS Day (Dec 1) as you pass through this marvelous season of giving thanks. It is a special opportunity to ask what one can do to  help. Consider having the conversation with friends and family as you gather. How can abundance in one place translate into aid where there is a lack of abundance in another? We believe that it can be translated, and paid-forward.

With the marvelous introduction of treatment, many people feel that HIV is no longer a major concern. From the frontlines, I have an entirely different image. Over 33 million people are living with HIV/AIDS today, 97% of them in sub-Saharan Africa, and infection rates are increasing (aids.gov).  We must not forget. We must press on.  We can only do so with your support.

In addition to our grander efforts, I will also be doing something simple: I will be selling red ribbons to friends and colleagues in the week leading up to Saturday, Dec 1.  At $2 each, if I can sell 200, I will have raised $400, a powerful amount in our village budgets. Sometimes, it’s the little things that add up the most quickly.

Please consider what you can do.  All my thanks, –Nathaniel