David McRaney  |  Journalist

Activists rest in Hattiesburg

When they arrived, members of the Campaign to End AIDS “Waves Across the Nation” responded to applause from members of the Hattiesburg AIDS Services Coalition, the Trinity AIDS Assistance Fund and volunteers of Haven House with a fanfare as they parked their cars and made their way inside for homemade jambalaya and equally nourishing fellowship.

The group is one of 10 caravans originating in San Diego and zigzagging their way across America in an attempt to gather support before arriving in Washington on Nov. 5 to place 8,000 pairs of shoes in front of the capital to symbolize the number of people who die from the disease each year.

Many of the people traveling in the group are not just activists, but they are also afflicted with either HIV or AIDS, and see this trip as an effort to find a voice for their plight.

The caravans will stop in over 100 cities and towns before converging in Washington for a five-day event that will include a rock concert and a march.

The caravan idea was chosen by C2EA because they believe that HIV and AIDS are becoming diseases of color and of poverty, and the caravans draw inspiration from Martin Luther King's 1968 Poor People's March on Washington Hattiesburg was the last of three stops in Mississippi for the group after lunch in Vicksburg and a rally in Jackson.

“Our wish is to educate more than anything,” said Joey Cash, who traveled from Arkansas where he said AIDS patients must register as sex offenders, to join C2EA.

Before coming to Haven House, Cash said his group had stopped six times to rest since leaving Oct. 25, and they plan to arrive in Washington Nov. 4.“People still treat us like lepers,” said Cash. “But, this is a disease that is almost impossible to catch casually.”

Cash and the other members of the caravan were eager to get their message across, holding their heaping plates in their arms as they gestured with their free hands and spoke about why they decided to take on this mission.

“I'm an African-American heterosexual single female,” said Andrea Green, who came from Ocean Side, Calif., to join the group. A mother of four, she contracted AIDS from a man who had been infected in prison and did not tell her. She said AIDS cases are higher among black women than any other group because black men are reluctant to admit they have the disease, and those who have engaged in homosexual acts while incarcerated don't want their loved ones to know. “I've been on my own since I left Detroit at the age of 15, and I've been cautious all my life. But, now I've got the boogeyman living at home, and my greatest fear is that when I get frail and feeble, my kids are going to go into foster care.”

Almetha Williams joined the caravan when it stopped in Jackson. She said she wanted to be a spokesperson for the group because as a homeless person with HIV she felt as though she was part of a community that rarely has its opinion heard.

“We are already ostracized,” said Williams. “So, many of us think that there's no point to being tested. That kind of thinking has to change.”

Hattiesburg Mayor Johnny Dupree, who was on hand for the event, said he believed in what the C2EA stands for and supports the mission of Haven House.

“The AIDS Services Coalition fills a void in Hattiesburg,” said Dupree. “This is an organization that not only gives those with AIDS dignity, but also gives the city another resource along with heightening awareness. The public has to realize that individuals with AIDS are just people.”

According to AIDS Services Coalition Director Kathryn M. Garner, Haven House was formed in 2003 by the late Bruce Van Noostrand, an Episcopal minister who wanted to form a place for homeless people stricken with HIV and AIDS. Since then, Haven House has been constantly evolving in an attempt to serve a part of the community that Garner said was invisible to most.

USM alumnus Hunter Ruffin is a board member of the AIDS Services Coalition, and a volunteer at Haven House. He said he joined the organization because he wanted to be part of something that could create change. He sees AIDS as a completely preventable disease that could be snuffed out one day through education. Ruffin is proud of the Coalition, and he believes if they can make such an organization successful in Hattiesburg, it could be done anywhere.

Ruffin said, “We face a lot of adversity here concerning AIDS and gay issues. But, if you grew up in the South as a minority of any kind, then you know what it takes to change.”

Originally published in The Student Printz on November 1, 2005