Atlanta Event-Unlocking the Red Door

National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day Conference: Unlocking The Red Door Hosted by The SAVED SISTA Project (The SAVED Sista Project is a faith-based, peer-led substance use recovery and HIV prevention program that targets African American homeless, substance using women.)

Date: 3/10/2012 - 3/10/2012 Time: 9:00AM - 2:00PM
Partner organization(s): Dekalb County Board of Health, Absolute Care, and Red Pump Project Atlanta
Location: The Loudermilk Center40 Courtland Street, NE Atlanta, GA 30303

 Description: The premise of “Unlocking the Red Door” is that each door holds a specific issue that makes women and girls vulnerable to HIV transmission. We will have sessions on self-esteem, body image,HIV education and prevention, and decision making, to name a few. Participants will be engaged, educated, and empowered through this one-day conference. This is a public event and is open to the general public.

Fee: This is a free event
Event activities/topics: Prevention of HIV; Free or low cost HIV testing;  Where/how to get tested for HIV; Living with HIV/AIDS; Treatment for HIV/AIDS
For girls and women

For more information about this event, call:  Phone: 404-289-0313 extension: 227
For more information about The SAVED SISTA Project: Address: 3423 Covington Drive Decatur, GA 30032 Phone: 404-289-0313 extension: 227 *********************************************************
I'll be there! I am so proud that my church, Circle of Grace Community Church, will have a table there. Many churches, especially in the early days of HIV awareness, judged, ostracized, and stigmatized people who contracted HIV. And still today, many conservative churches are against safe sex education, even though wearing condoms are the most effective way to prevent HIV/AIDS. As my minister said on Sunday, we are there to show people that there are religious people out there that do not judge people with HIV/AIDS. We are there to show compassion and solidarity towards those who have HIV/AIDS and we believe that having safe sex is an important way to honor one's self. Whether you think one should wait to have sex until marriage or not, the truth is that people have sex and it is far better to teach safer sex than to pretend that nothing is happening. Because something is and that something is 290,000 women in America are living with HIV.  One thing I really like about this event is it is the first of its kind targeting girls-the conference offers classes to girls aged ten to seventeen, which I think is fantastic!  Many people seem to think that teaching girls about prevention will inspire them to do immoral activities, but to me, that makes no sense-teaching girls how to protect themselves teaches them how to honor their bodies and how to be assertive.  Really, it is just the opposite, for a girl that knows all her options and who knows that it is up to her to make her own decisions, is a girl who has freedom.
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