Sen. Obama to take HIV test in Kenya

[wicket]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060824/ap_on_re_af/kenya_obama

Sen. Barack Obama, visiting his father's homeland, will take a public
HIV test at a remote Kenyan clinic this weekend to promote
AIDS prevention in a country where an average of 700 people die each day from the disease.

Obama, the only African-American in the U.S. Senate, arrived in Kenya on Thursday.

He will take the HIV test near the western village of Nyangoma-Kogelo, where his father — a goat herder who went on to study at Harvard — grew up and his grandmother still lives, said Jennifer Barnes, a spokeswoman at the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi.

The Illinois Democrat, his wife, Michelle, and daughters Malia, 8, and Sasha, 4, was greeted at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi by U.S. Ambassador Michael E. Ranneberger, the embassy said. Two million of Kenya's 33 million people have HIV, although the number of new infections has recently declined. Around 1.5 million people have died from the disease — and western parts of the country are the worst hit.

[BootinUp]

1. Thats a smart idea.

Anything to help remove the ignorance.

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

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[Hell Hath No Fury]

4. Obama rode into town...

on the backs of "indignant" black politicians like Jesse and Al.

And with happenings like Katrina, it's evident that we -- all of us, not just African Americans -- still need leaders like Jesse and Al to stand up and tell the hard truth abotu racism in our country.

And BTW, just when the heck did Jesse or Al ever say they wanted a "free pass on everything"? Last time I checked, full participation, full equality, and a respect don't equal a "free pass".

[Name removed]

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[wicket]

8. Katrina WAS racism

If it had been an affluent white community there's no damn way it would have happened the way it did. It's just like the song "George Bush Doesn't Care About Black People" goes: "He would've been up in Connecticut twice as fast."

[Name removed]

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[pitohui]

10. lakeview was an affluent white community still utterly in ruins

it is utterly destroyed by katrina and no progress at all to be seen there

bob livingston's thirtysomething son was just killed in lakeview, because he got impatient and tried to go ahead and remove some trees caught up in electric wiring, and he was electrocuted

as in he's dead, jim, and this wasn't last year, this was maybe a month ago

it wasn't racism, *co don't give a shit about any of us

even supporters like livingston and trent lott (in mississippi) -- they are fucked, their houses are not fixed, as i've said before on this site trent lott has a slab and a lawsuit

and he's a white u.s. GOP senator last time i looked

they don't give a damn about ANYBODY except themselves

[JackBeck]

3. I was at the International AIDS COnference in Toronto last week.

Once I was able to step outside of the bubble of living here in the States, I learned a great deal of things. There were so many speeches, installations, posters and forums on the stigma that exists in Africa when it comes to HIV/AIDS. Granted, that stigma still exists here, but it pales beyond belief hearing all of these voices from Africa raging about the stigma HIV carries with it. It was a true eye-opener. Way to go, Sen. Obama! I hope you can help stimulate change.

[Kickoutthejams23]

5. Good for him

:applause:

[loyalsister]

6. Beautiful

Showing a humble connection to what is happening in the world is something that is rare.
This calls attention to facts- "it could be me, and if it were I would have first class treatment that no one would question."
It calls attention to inequities vs. mutual responsibility.

[pitohui]

11. i agree EOM

,