World AIDS Day - 14 yrs old w 3 kids living in a shelter

From Facebook 14 years old with 3 kids living in a shelter infected w/AIDS!!!!! To fuzzyteknews.blogspot.com Read, be aware, be active - do something in the world that is uplifting and positive. If you do nothing more than share a story, make it one that counts. The following story was post on Facebook by Felicia Tolbert. Click here to view on Facebook. Imagine: Being 14 years old with 3 children living in a shelter and infected with the AIDS Virus! I volunteer for an organization every year on World AIDS Day and several times during the year to help raise awareness about the disease! Well, about 3 years ago, a young lady walked up to my table to get information and to be tested! During the 20 min wait for her results she explained that had just turned 14 (looked 22) and that she had 3 children, and living in a shelter! I gave her information to help her get out of her circumstance and she broke down in tears! When I asked her why she was crying, she stated that I reminded her of her mother until she was about 8 yrs old! She said that her mom got hooked on drugs when she around 9 and that she didn't have a father in the house so it was up to her (@ 9) to help take care of her 6 brothers and sisters! So she became mom and at the age of 11 social services cut them off, and no money was coming in! So since she was always tall for her age, she decided to dress herself up and turn to men for the cash! NOBODY ever taught this young woman how to protect herself, and now she has 3 children and a history of STD's! Then the results came back and the counselor pulled the young lady into a small room, in which she emerged 15min later in tears! Because of privacy laws I couldn't see her results, but it was obvious! The young lady clutched the handle of the stroller, looked at her babies and burst out in tears again for about 2min and then walked out the door! I was devastated, for the next several days because as a woman and mother, my heart bled for her and her children! I am passing this story along, because the statistics don't lie and as African Americans the odds are stacked against us! We continue to complain and ignore the problem, when it is right here continuously slapping our community in the face! Blacks are disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS. While making up only 13 percent of the U.S. population, we account for more than 49 percent of AIDS cases. AIDS is now the leading cause of death for Black women ages 25 to 34, and the second leading cause of death for Black men ages 35 to 44. Young people in the United States continue to be at risk for HIV and AIDS. At the end of 2007, in 45 states with reporting, almost 46,000 young people ages 13-24 were living with HIV, comprising about sixteen percent of all HIV infections. 62% of these new cases in the youth group were African America. GET TESTED AND IF YOU HAVE A SEXUALLY ACTIVE CHILD, GET THEM TESTED! TEACH YOUR CHILDREN ABOUT SEX EDUCATION....ARM THEM WITH KNOWLEDGE! WISHING, HOPING, AND PRAYING IS NOT GOING TO PROTECT US OR OUR CHILDREN!!! Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity. -- MLK HERE ARE SOME MORE STATS: From 2001-2004, 62 percent of HIV/AIDS diagnoses in young people aged 13-24 were in males, and 32 percent were in females. In 2005, blacks and Latinos accounted for 84 percent of all new HIV infections among 13- to 19-year-olds and 76 percent of HIV infections among 20- to 24-year-olds in the United States even though, together, they represent only about 32 percent of people these ages. Asian and Pacific Islanders (APIs) and American Indians and Alaska Natives account for about one percent of new HIV infections among women ages 13-24. Young women of color suffer disproportionate rates - in 2004, black women and Latinas accounted for 83 percent of new infections in 13- to 24-year-old women in the United States, even though, together, they represent only about 26 percent of U.S. women these ages. In addition, black women account for 62 percent and Latinas for 19 percent of cumulative AIDS cases among women ages 13-24.