Dear Readers:
It's me Robbie Brown, along with my Friends. If anyone out there has been keeping up with Robbie Brown and Friends, you know that I've been out of commission. I came down with a touch of the flu and am just getting up and about now. I would like to take this time to express my deepest and sincere apologies and hope that all is forgiven. As promised, Robbie Brown and Friends will be giving weekly updates and true and courageous experiences from some truly inspirational people.
So again, I extend my apologies and I know you will enjoy this week's column as well as the column with the upcoming column in the future.
Thank you for reading and enjoy!
Sincerely,
Robbie Brown and Friends
A Letter from - Ida Byther-Smith
Ida Byther-Smith
"There's an assumption that women over 50 aren't having sex anymore and don't need to hear messages about safer sex," I often sees the impact of this assumption in my advocacy work. "A lot of women over 50 say AIDS doesn't happen to us.' Half of ours husbands are dead, and the other half is sleeping with men, and so are we. But since we are passed the childbearing age and we've gone through menopause, we feel, we don't need condoms." Women over 50 need protection also I'm here to tell you HIV/AIDS do not care about ages. We are worrying about the Youth; we need to educate our seniors also.
Education is just the first step. Denial is all too common among my peers. "I often hear; 'what I don't know won't hurt me,' or 'Well, I'm going to die one day anyway,''' they tell me. ''Then I remind them I didn't go out looking' for HIV.HIV came home and got in bed with me.'' Ms. Ike
Ida Byther-Smith
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Dear Readers:
Hello, my name is Robbie Brown and I am a Forty-five year old black woman from the heart of Bedford Stuyvesant in Brooklyn, USA. After all my years of witnessing and even being a part of all the insanity of the Ghetto including enduring the pain and heartaches of watching some of my relatives and closest friends pass on from the disease of HIV and AIDS I decided to educate myself in order to help others both infected and affected by this devastating and destructive enemy. So here I am today along with my friends, guest speakers and professionals forging ahead to engage in combat against what may look as if it is an impossible victory with incredible odds stacked against us.
So to all of the readers out there we would like to introduce and welcome all that are about to read this column, which by the way will be online weekly along with our chat line where you will actually get to chat with myself, my friends as well as a group of professionals. The chat line will be made available to everyone (infected and affected) isn’t that great!
Some of the topics we will be tackling are: Brothers on the Down low, Where are the Heterosexual Males afflicted and Why are they in the closet, Living as a PWA, and Male versus Female, Health, Medical, Holistic Medications, and Reentry into the Job Market, just to name a few. Any questions, suggestions and opinions are greatly appreciated and will be welcomed with open arms. For further information and or suggestions you can
E-mail us at: vmanboogie1@aol.com
“Thank you and we hope that you will enjoy the column as well as our chat line.”
Sincerely,
Ms. Robbie Brown and Friends
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Insight from Ms. IkeOne day I ran across an old article in Essence Magazine and I would like to take a quote out of it. which I believe it to be ultimately true.
"We thought it was White boys' disease. Now 22 years after AIDS was first diagnosed,
there's virtually no Black family that's been untouched by it."
I am 54 year old and I never thought at the age of thirty-eight I would have contracted the
HIV virus from a man I thought I was extremely in love with. (my husband) But it was in the cards. The first thing crossed my mind, was God has given me my death sentence, so I anticipated my death. I stop living waiting to die. I shut everyone out and if I could not cut the person out of my life, I kept them at an arms distance including, my immediate family and closet friends.
This was no way to live. Only until December, 2000--- January, 2001 did I learn and began living a positive lifestyle instead of just being HIV positive. I was literary on my death bed and the doctors had done all they could do. My family was preparing my will and my obituary. I was going on a date with death, so I thought. Then something happened. I looked toward my spirituality for some relief, but more so, some life! I prayed continuously and kept saying to myself and my family that I am going to get better. They ware skeptical, especially since I lost 35 lbs. in 18 days. I could not hold down any food and I was given nutrients through an IV.
I changed my mind first and only then did my physical health began to change for the better. Out of faith did the miracle happen. To this day, all my doctors, friends and family are truly amazed. Hell, I am amazed every day I open my eyes.
I say to you today, first be tested to know your HIV status. If you are positive, seek medical attention, to receive the medication that best works with and for your immune system. If you are not HIV positive, try your damdest to stay that way always. Making love is the best thing in the world, but right now, it is proving to be one of the deadliest things you can do without protection. So be careful in all of what you do your life and health depend on it. Ms. Ike
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