February 2nd marked the 10th anniversary for the One campaign and a blog on their site commemorated some of the great things they've accomplished over the years. The article was first published on the Huffington Post UK website but I found it on the ONE BLOG and it was written by Jamie Drummond, a usual ONE BLOG contributer. Highlighted were many of the successes and struggles faced over the past ten years, along with a more personal story of two HIV positive Ugandan women, who without the help of the ONE campaign and its affiliates, would probably not be alive to tell their story today. I admire how they address areas where they have been at fault, including how they waited to long to invest in food security, how they haven't started working on trade in Africa and further development of African markets, and genuine support for a transparent government and lessen corruption. My favorite quote that i think really represents what this organization stands for comes at the end of the article. "There are grounds for optimism, for hope – for when we work together as one, across political divides, oceans, ethnicities, and beliefs we’ve seen we can achieve awesome results. With so much more to do forgive us if we celebrate – for it’s the best way to accelerate."
The ONE site also often posts different "living proof" videos to show real life stories of the progress being made on HIV/AIDS. This video stuck out to me after reading through some of the Shur reading. The woman in the video talks about how her husband hit her when she asked that he get tested for the virus. After he died she knew that she had to find a way to care for her family and empower herself through work and being HIV positive. She works hard in her babershop and is very open about being HIV positive and as we see in the video, even asks her costumers if they have been tested as well. I would say that this behavior is deviant as described by Shur. Shur describes a deviant situation as having two ingredients: "stigma-laden meanings, and the processes of perception and interaction through which they emerge and are applied." The stigma behind being HIV positive is often seen as embarassing and negative and the perception as one that should be hidden and looked down upon. This woman deviated from those perceptions and took a stand on virus awareness and prevention, all while being open about her disease.
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