AIDS 2006 letter blog
In mid-August, we (Larry Loyie and Constance Brissenden) were cultural presenters of our children’s book The Gathering Tree at the AIDS 2006 XVI International AIDS Conference in Toronto (Aug. 13-18, 2006).
At the conference, amidst 30,000 delegates and Global Village visitors, we experienced the incredible feeling of being part of the ebb and flow of humanity. The atmosphere was exciting, invigorating, never stressful. There was an unshakeable sense of working together for health, happiness and freedom from HIV/AIDS worldwide.
It was due to the encouragement of Melanie Rivers and Lucy Barney of the Chee Mamuk program, BC Centre for Disease Control, that we learned about the conference. It was the opportunity to let the world know about The Gathering Tree, which we wrote with Chee Mamuk last year. Such a book, promoting HIV awareness for children and families, is rare. The First Nations storyline, beautiful illustrations by Heather D. Holmlund, and 15 questions and answers about HIV and AIDS at the back of the book, were enthusiastically embraced by the many people who took the book home with them.
We applied to AIDS 2006 as cultural presenters and were invited to take part in the cultural activities wing of the conference (one of only 11 writers thus invited). Jacquie Carpenter was the helpful Cultural Activities Coordinator.
Our travel was supported by the conference, Larry on a scholarship and myself, Constance, as a cultural presenter. We were impressed with Nick Carkner and his volunteers and staff who were so kind when we arrived at registration.
Larry and I did two readings at the conference, one at the Dundas Street outdoor stage (at Yonge Street) and a second at the Global Village stage in the convention centre. As well we were onstage with the Skills Building session for aboriginal peoples. Chee Mamuk educator Melanie Rivers joined us in the first two sessions and we joined her in the last.
Presenting with Melanie is a delight and very reassuring. She is a knowledgeable and experienced public speaker with a caring approach.
The response to our presentations was inspiring. We were able to present the book in a variety of milieus and to people from all over the world.
Larry and I sat ourselves down daily in the Literary Lounge in the throes of the Global Village, a huge international area that was free to anyone to enter. When we weren’t presenting, we promoted the book, handed out flyers about the book as well as Chee Mamuk brochures. We talked and talked with dozens of the delegates. Many sat with us for a while, from Canada and elsewhere including Iran, Sierra Leone, Sweden, Holland, Denmark, South Africa, Australia, Ghana, Costa Rica, Brazil, Kenya, and many more countries.
We are sure that copies of The Gathering Tree are now in libraries, schools, hospitals and personal collections around the world.
The Gathering Tree was featured in The Daily Voice, the newsletter of the conference, with a photograph of the cover of the book from our reading at the Global Village as well as a caption explaining the content of the book.
The Daily Voice caption read: “The Gathering Tree uses a storyline based on Canadian Aboriginal culture to educate children about HIV/AIDS prevention.”
We were honoured that the book was featured when there was so much to report in this daily newsletter.
To all our new friends, we support you and thank you for sharing your stories with us. Thank you again to Melanie and Lucy and the AIDS 2006 conference and cultural coordinators. We will never forget our incredible experiences there.
