On Medicine

"It's the humdrum, day-in, day-out everyday work that is the real satisfaction of the practice of medicine; the million and a half patients a man has seen on his daily visits over a forty-year period of weekdays and Sundays that make up his life. I have never had a money practice; it would have been impossible for me. But the actual calling on people, at all times and under all conditions, the coming to grips with the intimate conditions of their lives; when they were being born, when they were dying, has always absorbed me."

William Carlos Williams

I find many similarities between the long journey of medicine and the act of bicycling across the country.  The gratification comes from the slow accumulation of miles, the people met along the road, and the realization, weeks or months later, that you have made progress, have gone somewhere unexpected.  I look forward to the day-in, day-out practice of riding, as I do the gradual process of becoming a doctor and caring for patients.

The Pin in Action-Donata

Has youth empowerment ever looked better?

The Reason for FACE AIDS

FACE AIDS was founded in 2005 by three Stanford University students — Jonny, Katie, and Lauren — who were working in a refugee camp in Zambia. While there, they met Mama Katele, a grandmother living with AIDS.

In a community of over 20,000 refugees, Mama Katele was the only person willing to speak openly about her HIV+ status, and she told Jonny, Katie, and Lauren about the devastating effects of HIV/AIDS on her community. An inspiring leader and advocate for the rights of those affected by HIV, Mama Katele died shortly after the three students met her, having never received a single dose of anti-retroviral treatment.

Through Mama Katele, the students realized how little their generation knew about the human costs of the pandemic. Determined to make a difference, the students developed a plan in which individuals affected by HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa could gain life-changing income by making beaded AIDS awareness pins. The pins, in turn, would help launch a broad-based movement to mobilize, educate, and inspire young people to turn the tide against the AIDS pandemic and fight for global health equity and social justice.

In the first two years, FACE AIDS worked with HIV+ individuals living in two refugee camps and neighboring communities in rural Zambia. These individuals used their income from making the beaded AIDS pins to establish sustainable local businesses. FACE AIDS also grew its operations to include community sensitizations, a voluntary counseling and testing center, and an HIV education through sports program.

In 2007, Partners In Health, one of the world's premier social justice and health care organizations, invited FACE AIDS to expand our operations beyond Zambia and join them at their new site in Rwanda. FACE AIDS now works in poor, rural communities in Rwanda's Eastern Province, focusing on HIV-affected youth. Our programs address the factors that make young people vulnerable to HIV/AIDS and poor health outcomes more broadly. Specifically, we provide youth with a social support network, empower them through income-generating activities and youth-led savings and credit cooperatives, and encourage them to become leaders in the health and development of their communities.

In the U.S., FACE AIDS has established chapters at over 205 colleges and high schools. Each year, thousands of students design and lead campaigns, events, and other initiatives to promote education and awareness of HIV/AIDS and raise funds to combat the pandemic. To date, they have raised $2 million for Partners In Health to provide comprehensive health care to HIV-affected communities in Rwanda. Students involved in FACE AIDS become powerful leaders and change makers, going on to win Rhodes and Marshall Scholarships, earning admission to medical, law, and business schools, and working in government, non-profit, and the private sector on the front lines of global health and social justice.

Where your donation goes

A core component of the FACE AIDS model is the FACE AIDS pin. The pin represents not only the men and women affected by HIV who make them, but also the global movement of students dedicated to combating the AIDS pandemic.


The Story of the Pin


In 2005, Jonny, Katie, and Lauren were working in a Zambian refugee camp when they met Mama Katele, a grandmother living with AIDS. Through Mama Katele, these three Stanford students realized how little their generation knew about the human cost of the AIDS pandemic. Determined to help Mama Katele and to engage their peers in the fight for global health equity, these students developed a program in which people affected by AIDS in Africa could earn an income making beaded AIDS awareness pins. The pins, in turn, would provide the basis of a movement to inspire students to stand up against the pandemic and raise money to support those working to overcome disease and poverty.
FACE AIDS began as a series of week‐long campaigns devoted to selling pins and raising awareness about the AIDS epidemic. The funds raised from these pins went to support the pin‐makers in Zambia. As it became clear that a more sustained effort was needed to distribute pins and build a student movement, FACE AIDS transitioned to a chapter model, recruiting heavily at high schools, college, and universities from 2006 onward. In 2007, as members of the refugee camp in Zambia began to return home, Partners In Health invited FACE AIDS to join them at their site in Rwanda. In September 2007, FACE AIDS began pin‐making projects with 100 men and women affected by AIDS in Rwanda, working in cooperation with Partners In Health.
Today, FACE AIDS continues to employ associations of individuals affected by HIV in Rwanda to make beaded AIDS awareness pins. We pay pin‐makers a salary and enroll them in a structured savings program, enabling them to start or strengthen small businesses and begin to move out of poverty. And, at high school and college campuses across the United States, FACE AIDS chapters continue to sell pins. All proceeds go to Partners In Health, to support the delivery of high‐quality health care in the communities where our pin‐makers live.


To date, the pin has helped to raise over $2 million for Partners in Health. 


Please donate today at:
http://www.citizeneffect.org/projects/face-aids-ride-against-aids-2012-alice

The Route

San Francisco to Boston

Why I Ride

Because I love a good adventure.

Because it pains me to see people dying from lack of health care.

Because the people I meet along the Ride will become allies in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
Because change must occur on the community level, by raising awareness and encouraging action.
Because I believe that through our combined efforts we can slow the destruction caused by this horrible disease.
Because together we can FACE AIDS.

Cycling as medicine for Rwanda, because the $5,000 that you help me raise will provide essential HIV/AIDS services.