My name is HIV

Hi, my name is HIV, I am a business person.

The world over, I am renowned to the extent that a day has been set aside to recognize my business and its impact on humanity.

I am very synonymous with AIDS. Sometimes we are confused as one entity.
I enable AIDS, without me AIDS can not be in business.

The final outcome of my business is may be death. Death by it’s self isn’t new to the world, so what is all the fuss about what I do you’d probably ask.

Please take a seat and listen.

I am very predominant in some areas of the world than others but that doesn’t matter. As long as I exist there, nobody is safe. As long as people can move from place to place, I am mobile. A funny thing is my business partners never really know when they engage my services because ordinarily, you can not notice my presence with the naked eye.

My business puts pressure on health care, education, the family and the economy.
I have been very successful in poor economies, destroying the fabric of the family units, crippling their economies and making orphans of children.

All these years, I have watched my business grow enormously. Unfortunately, the business of sadness, sorrow and death yields no profit. After all these years, there are no dividends to declare. People shudder at the mention of my name; so much grief.

I quit.

Quitting, I know isn’t going to be easy, the behavior of human society is going to make it very difficult for me to just close shop and go.

Unsafe habits, religious doctrines, unawareness and sheer carelessness create a huge demand for my services.

Society must change and I must re brand.

From today, I must introduce myself like this:

“Hi, I am HIV, put me out of business, protect yourself, and protect others.”

This piece was judged the best essay on December 1, 2006 in the MTN Nigeria World AIDS Day Essay Competition. It was submitted as an entry from this blogger.

You're stupid! So very stupid! stupid!

The figures are familiar: > 40,000 people die each year in car accidents, the leading cause of death for people under the age of 35. Safety belts can prevent death in about half of these accidents. If you know this and are still not wearing a safety belt, you may need to ask yourself why not. But first, let's look at what happens when a car crashes.

The Human Collision
Imagine running as fast as you can - into a wall. You'd expect to get pretty banged up. Do you think you could stop yourself if the wall suddenly loomed up when you were two feet away from it? This is exactly the situation you face when the front of your car hits something at only 15 miles an hour. The car stops in the first tenth of a second, but you keep on at the same rate you were going in the car until something stops you - the steering wheel, dashboard or windshield - if you're not wearing your safety belt.. Bad enough at 25km an hour, but a 50km you hit "the wall" four times as hard as you would at 25. Or to put it another way, with the same impact you'd feel as if you fell three stories. A properly worn safety belt keeps that second collision - the human collision - from happening.

Wear It Right
"Properly worn" means with both straps snugly fitted to transfer the impact of the collision to the parts of your body that can take it - your hipbones and shoulder bones. With just the shoulder strap on, you can still slide out from under it and be strangled, while the lap belt alone doesn't keep your face from hitting the steering wheel.

What's Your Reason For Not Wearing One?
"I'm only going to the shopping center."
Actually, this is the best time to wear a safety belt, since 80% of traffic fatalities occur within 40km of home and under 80km an hour.
"I won't be in an accident: I'm a good driver." Your good driving record will certaily help you avoid accidents. But even if you're a good driver, a bad driver may still hit you.

"I'll just brace myself."
Even if you had the split-second timing to do this, the force of the impact would shatter the arm or leg you used to brace yourself.

"I'm afraid the belt will trap me in the car."
Statistically, the best place to be during an accident is in your car. If you're thrown out of the car, you're 25 times more likely to die. And if you need to get out of the car in a hurry - as in the extremely tiny percent of accidents involving fire or submergence - you can get out a lot faster if you haven't been knocked unconscious inside your car.

"They're uncomfortable."
Actually, modern safety belts can be made so comfortable that you may wonder if they really work. Most of them give when you move - a device locks them in place only when the car stops suddenly. You can put a little bit of slack in most belts simply by pulling on the shoulder strap. Others come with comfort clips, which hold the belt in a slightly slackened position.

"I don't need a belt - I've got an airbag."
Lucky you! An air bag increases the effectiveness of a safety belt by 40 percent. But air bags were never meant to be used in place of safety belts, since they don't protect against side impacts at all.

You are a very stupid parent or adult if you wear your seat belt and neglect to strap on the child or children in the car as well. The reason you wear a sit belt is for safety right? Then why not the kids too? Kids are seen in moving cars jumping around like it's their school play ground.

Think about it, what's your excuse?

No excuse is good enough when you put the life of a child at risk.

Oh yes! you are stupid and I wish I could throw you in jail for stupidity and carelessness!

Aaaargh!

Highway AIESEC

http://www.aiesec.org/

Memories of my earliest AIESEC days includes a 3 day Local Training Seminar where participation did not guarantee immediate membership.Ten years ago, AIESEC in Port Harcourt in the mind of a new undergraduate was an organization which provided the cutest girls and guys on campus opportunites for socializing. Like a number of people I met during my AIESEC years, I joined AIESEC for social reasons.

Passionate engagement began for me when tasked with accommodation responsibilities for a regional program hosted by my LC. From that time onwards, it was difficult to let go. Being able to learn from the everyday challenges and also seeing the value added through my participation, AIESEC became the focus of my university life. Several years after, I still run into people who ask me “Are you still doing AIESEC?”

I challenged and developed myself over a 6-year period by pursuing roles such as Organizing Committee Vice President, Member Committee President, Regional Chair, International Facilitator and Trainee.

Personal development came from the learning experiences shared with other AIESEC members and trainees. It makes me glad every time I interact with AIESEC members these days to see that though these learning experiences have evolved, their benefits have not changed.

AIESEC provides two types of learning.
Formal learning experiences shared with members and trainees within a structured environment such as a conference or a classroom,. The other type of learning is informal learning, which though most times shared; its value adding potential is subject to individual perceptions and receptiveness.
It is within the formal learning environment in AIESEC that I found my personal values change.
As a delegate, facilitator or conference chair, I learnt to be open minded and receptive to perspectives different from mine. Informal learning came from the challenges I had to deal with and the opportunity choices I had to make.

My high points in AIESEC were the good and bad times. I learnt from every good and bad experience, because AIESEC teaches continuous learning.

As part of leadership teams at various levels of the organization, I became more skilled at thought leadership, people management and strategy building.

The values of AIESEC gave me some of the foundations on which I am building my professional and personal life today. My attitude in any situation I find myself is defined by my enthusiasm to demonstrate integrity and seek excellence in everything I do.

I look back to my active AIESEC years and know that I could not have lived those years any different if I got another chance.