PLEDGE OF SILENCE.

Signed up with 800 fellow NP students for the POS. Ten other educational institutions took part in it too.

It's a campaign against the silence of HIV/AIDS. Society needs to recognize that there is still silence surrounding HIV/AIDS which is caused by stigmatization and discrimination. This will in turn impedes public awareness for HIV/AIDS and dis-empower infected individuals.

In an effort to combat the stigma, I pledged EIGHT hours of silence on 30th October, 2009. When the pledge ends, I will actively remove myself from the cycle of silence that only drives HIV/AIDS further underground.

Signing on the pledge card, I look through the contents. There were choices for the pledgers to choose. We have to strictly adhere to the conditions, limited by our own comfort zone.

Besides pledging absolute silence, we could also choose to limit our speech to 5 words or be in silence without hand gestures to anyone / without eye contact with anyone / without the use of mobile and wireless communication. I didn't had enough determination to choose the latter few choices.

Sadly, there were a countable number of times where I broke my silence too. I still continued to see through the rest of my pledge though. To me, the significance behind this pledge is great. Even IF there was a disqualifying condition, I would still stay mute for 8 hours. Courage and perseverance were essential to this campaign. If I had given up mid-way deliberately, I'll probably never forgive myself.

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Initially, I was afraid that I would face discrimination. How would others view me? Then, a thought pushed away all my worries. "I cowardly hide away from the crowd, because I don't know how others view me. Then, for our fellow sick friends, how would they feel having to shy away like this, for life?"

Thankfully, my classmates and lecturers were supportive too! haha...besides the guys' occasional disturbing, I managed to last til the end of the last lesson! It's not the end yet. There's still more to do until we eradicate this silence in our society.

To those out there who are ill because of HIV/AIDS, please know that there are many of us supporting you!! Don't give up! :D

she said he is confused. confused by my actions. he isn't sure how to love me now.
i don't even dare to think abt it. can't you see we are the same?
i'm scared to love you.
you will be hurt, because I dunno how to love you well.