In honor of AIDS awareness Minority Student Health promoted AIDS/HIV awareness through spoken word, dance, musical selections and other forms of art, during the Faces of Aids event.

The event included individuals from the Charleston and Champaign communities as well as the Eastern, showcasing their various talents, in an effort to save lives.

This is the third year this has occurred. It’s a part of a week series called Red Week. The point of the entire week is to engage the community in the effects and prevention of HIV/AIDS. The production team wanted to let the community know that we need to be responsible in what we do and remove the fear of being tested because being tested saves lives.

Among the production team for this event was sorority Delta Sigma Theta, Inc. This sorority is a community-based organization that has five things that they stand behind, called the Five Programmatic Trust. Among The Five Programmatic Trust falls physical and mental health, which leads to their contribution.

Delta Sigma Theta’s own Cindy Owusu, a junior health studies major, said she felt this was a very powerful demonstration and made participants realize that the time is now, not when you or a loved one becomes infected.

“We’re big on topics and issues pertaining to our community and society as a whole; others need to get on board and support the cause”, said Owusu.

Cordy Love, the assistant director of new student programs and coach of red week, stressed that every nine and a half minutes someone is infected.

“AIDS is a silent disease and you want the students to have the awareness and the education, said Love, “if only one person shows up, it makes all worthwhile.”

Lillian Williams, a senior health studies major, attended the event and left in tears.

“I know people who are dealing with this disease and it’s sad because they see it as a death sentence,” Williams said. “They lacked the proper education of sex and it’s a mistake they’ll pay for, for the rest of their life.”

Shatierra Parks can be reached at 581-2812 or sjparks@eiu.edu.