I visited a friend in hospital on Saturday who has AIDS. Since my last visit he’d had a rough week – vomiting up all his food. He looked even more gaunt and skinny, if that’s possible.
I’d taken in some prints of my work as he’d expressed an interest last week to see some of my photography. I didn’t have a lot of time to prepare anything – just took in a few of my calendars, cards and old prints that were lying around.
Somehow in that pile of images were some really great, colourful shots that brought a smile to his lips. He particularly loved any of the images of India and my parents hiking in New Zealand.
I’ve included some of the images in this list of shots that I showed him and I dedicate all of them to Rudy and the 33.4 million people living worldwide with HIV/AIDS.
Hiking the Key Summit track, Routeburn, New Zealand
In 2009, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that there are 33.4 million people worldwide living with HIV/AIDS, with 2.7 million new HIV infections per year and 2.0 million annual deaths due to AIDS.
Man in Bhumtang Valley, Bhutan
AIDS does not inevitably lead to death, especially if you suppress the co-factors that support the disease. It is very important to tell this to people who are infected.
Luc Montagnier
Ger kids and sheep, Mongolia
It is my mission to ensure that HIV-positive children and children with AIDS are no longer overlooked and that they begin receiving the treatment and care they deserve.
Mike DeWine
Grandmother sewing, Vietnam
Our meaning is to make our little planet Earth a better place to live, to stop wars, disarm nuclear missiles, to stop diseases, AIDS, plague, cancer and to stop pollution.
Uri Geller
Girl with rice, India
The heart of the security agenda is protecting lives – and we now know that the number of people who will die of AIDS in the first decade of the 21st Century will rival the number that died in all the wars in all the decades of the 20th century.
Al Gore
Dunes with footprints, Birdsville, Australia
Dare to reach out your hand into the darkness, to pull another hand into the light. ~Norman B. Rice
Camel driver with two camels, Thar Desert, Rajasthan, India
Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope… and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance. ~Robert F. Kennedy
Girls playing, Sapa, Vietnam
It is never too late to give up our prejudices. ~Henry David Thoreau
Mother and baby, Gujurat, India
If you judge people you have no time to love them. ~Mother Teresa
Mother, child and sheep, Mongolia
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