Ambassador of Hope

I have always been a big supporter of my brother. He has made some choices in life that haven't been the best, but I will always be there for him. That is what family is for. 

This post is a little long over due, but its better late than never! 

For my birthday I made the decision that I wanted to give back instead of receive. I would much rather d something for other people than to do something for myself. I have spent quite a bit of time researching different organizations trying to find something that would fit me and work with my schedule. I finally found an organization that couldn't fit me any better. Dabs the AIDS Bear Project. 

I contacted the founder of the organization Dab Garner to get a little more information and to become an Ambassador of Hope. 

A little bit about the program: 

The Ambassador of Hope program began in 1990 when Dab was battling non-Hodgkin's lymphoma for the first time. He knew that he might not survive, but wanted to train other men and women to be activists to serve, protect and help people with HIV and AIDS. When the program began only HIV positive individuals could join the program. In the mid 1990's, HIV negative individuals were approaching Dab to become an Ambassador of Hope. Even though the individuals were HIV negative they in some way were effected by HIV and AIDS, whether a friend or family member lost their battle or provided services for their community. The program was then opened to HIV negative individuals who wanted to support those living with HIV and AIDS.  

There are over 400 active Ambassadors of Hope in 27 countries. 

Being an Ambassador of Hope it is my pleasure to take Dab the AIDS Bear around with me and take photos everywhere I go to spread his message. 

My Dab the AIDS Bear arrived on my door step on December 10, 2012 and I couldn't wait to get started taking photos. Before I share a few of my photos with Dab, if you would like more information about this program please visit www.dabtheaidsbearproject.com. 

 Dab's first photo 

Dab got hungry at the hotel 

Waiting in line at Samurai of Tokoyo 

Hanging out by one of the displays at Samurai of Tokoyo 

Hanging out with our Chef after he cooked out food

How one gets HIV/AIDS

So After reading My Mission now the questions is how exactly does one get HIV/AIDS? HIV is found in specific bodily fluids and if any of those enter your body you can be infected with HIV. 

HIV can be transmitted through...

• Sexual Contact
• Pregnancy, Childbirth and Breast Feeding
• Injection Drug Use
• Occupational Exposure
• Blood Transfusion/Organ Transplant (rarely) 

Bodily fluids such as blood, semen, pre-seminal fluid, breast milk, vaginal fluids and rectal mucous contain high levels of the HIV virus. These bodily fluids are were HIV lives and reproduces. 

Not all bodily fluids contain enough of the HIV virus to infect you unless they are mixed with blood and you have a significant or direct contact with them. Feces, nasal fluid, saliva, sweat, tears, urine and vomit don't contain enough of the virus to infect someone with HIV.

AIDS is the late stage of the HIV infection. Once a person's immune system is severally damaged and has difficulty fighting diseases and certain cancers they move from having HIV to AIDS. Before the development certain medication people living with HIV would progress into AIDS in a few years. Many life changing medications have been developed and they are allowing people to live much longer with HIV before it develops into AIDS.

After reading the facts above, this goes to show that there are more ways to get HIV than being gay. I loathe stereotypes and I wish they could be thrown out the window. I have found people will search out any kind of stereotype they can find before they search out the truth. 

(Facts reviewed from www.aids.gov) 

Will you stand up and take the stand with me against this stereotype? 

My 13 for 2013

For 2013 I decided that I wanted to set goals for myself instead of resolutions. Every year I have made resolutions for myself and by February I never remember what they are. I want this year to be different. I want to set goals for myself and be able to carry through with them. 

Resolution -  formal expression of intent

Goal - the result or achievement toward which effort is directed; aim; end.

A resolution is saying that you plan to do something, whereas, a goal is something that you accomplish when an effort is made. I am going to keep my word to live by "focus." 

My goals for 2013: 

1. To blog on a weekly basisI enjoy writing and it has become a great stress relief for me. I want to work on getting into a better routine. Feel free to comment or email me to hold me accountable :) mandapandaabear@gmail.com 
2. Take 7 photos a week with Dab the AIDS Bear (About Dab post coming soon!)I don't want to set a goal of taking a photo a day with Dab because I know some days that would be impossible for me. By setting the goal 7 photos a week I will get the same outcome as if I took one a day. 
3. To eat healthier and include exercise in my lifestyleEating healthier and including exercise into my routine is better than saying I need to lose weight. By eating healthier this will also effect my husband and my roommate because I do all the cooking, so this will benefit all of us. The end result of eating healthier and including exercise into my routine will be losing weight (fingers crossed!). 
4. Complete one random act of kindness a weekThis goal can be as simple to leaving a candy bar on a co-workers desk to buying someone lunch that really needs it. 
5. Try to make a dent in our debt
6. Work towards ending the stigma of people living with HIV/AIDS
7. Make mistakes (hopefully not to bad of ones!) to learn from and make my life better
8. Avoid petty drama
9. Enjoy the relationships I have formed and work on making those connections even better
10. To visit my brother at least 2 times and get better at writing him on a schedule. I am keeping my prayers going that he will get the transfer he requested and he will only be 5 hours away instead of 8.
11. Get my house more organized 
12. Enjoy life to the fullest and never go to bed upset 
13. Be more social

I know that some of these goals seem easier than they should be, but I know that I have a lot of things already going on in my life and I want to be able to accomplish the goals I set forth for myself.