Doctor Mehret

President Obama recently held a town hall meeting for young African leaders at the White House. I had the chance to meet one of the young Ethiopian leaders, Salsawit Tsega Ketema, that attended the town hall and spoke with her at length about women and entrepreneurship.

Salsawit is impressive. At 30 she is an entrepreneur, designer and businesswoman who started the Sel Art Gallery, a handicrafts business which employs 35 women in the making of home accessories. She also manages TAF plc, an import/export business with over 100 employees. Ms. Salsawit is a member of the Core Team of the Women Entrepreneurs Group (WEG) in Ethiopia and also happens to be the mother of a five-month-old baby boy. We talked about many things but what impressed me most was her keen insight and sharp grasp of what women need to succeed as entrepreneurs in Ethiopia.

In case you missed the town hall, I have posted it below:

Thembi Ngubane was a brave 24 year-old HIV positive young South African woman who passed away last week. She recorded an AIDS diary in 2006 that was broadcast by NPR to over 50 million listeners in the U.S., Canada, Australia, U.K. and her native South Africa. The themes she touched on in the diary are about profoundly common human experiences. “She was smart and perceptive and self-reflective in a way that many people aren’t,” says Mr. Richman, who won an Overseas Press Club Award for the broadcast. Her story galvanized many to act in the service of others in South Africa and around the world. She is a great example of how one person’s story can inspire others to serve. For more about her, please check out the WSJ article “Young South African Women’s AIDS Diary Touched Millions of Listeners”, 6/13/09.

The connections between social issues and health are wide spread. But mental health is an incredibly important crossroads.

I recently came across a free PBS documentary that poses the disturbing question: Have America’s jails and prisons become its new asylums? Check out the following link to see the full documentary: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/asylums/view/

As many of you know, I have been working on a new documentary, David the Piano Player, which tells the story about trauma and HIV. Trauma is the mental health issue that often gets trivialized or ignored. In “All of Us”, trauma was where the ‘all of us’ argument completely fell apart. For the past two years, I have been studying trauma and men to complete the story I started about HIV in urban communities.

It’s impossible to tell that story without mental health.

The TruthAIDS family of artisans is growing. These artisans use their craft and talents to teach about lessons that heal. The newest addition to the family is Lily.

Lily wrote me about three months back after seeing the film All of Us. She sent me a copy of her book and shared many kind words about how the film made her feel like “keeping on keeping on.” Like me, she had grown weary, and needed to be re-inspired. I think we all need a recharge from time to time which is why it’s so important to stay connected with each other. In any case, Lily’s book is a great tool for TruthCircles. It has some adult language and content so parental discretion is advised. However, it is a great way to delve into some of the issues related to abuse, being a girl, and coming into your own womanhood. Please support her work and use it to heal.

TruthAIDS will be running empowerment workshops for National Women and Girls’ HIV Awareness day in a West Philadelphia community center. I am using Lily’s book of poetry to help run the TruthCircles. To learn more about her, please read below.

lily(like the flower), grew up in Compton, California and began writing poetry, songs and short stories at the age of ten. lily spends much of her time writing, promoting her first book girl Child (The Transition in Poetic Form) and hosting poetry/ self-expression workshops for at-risk youth. lily is currently working on her first spoken word album and a second collection of poetry.

As an author, poet and lyricist, lily’s strong voice holds true behind the powerful message of acceptance and self-love that she promotes in her poetry and music.

About the book girl Child (The Transition - In Poetic Form)
girl Child puts into poetic verse a young woman’s journey from adolescence to adulthood. girl Child’s message is as honest and witty as it is empowering. For more information visit www.lilyliketheflower.com or www.amazon.com.

First and foremost, thank you Atlanta and SisterLove Inc. for the wonderful World AIDS Day screening of All of Us as well as the awards ceremony.  I was overwhelmed with the love, no pun intended.  I have no doubt that bringing our voices together to create tender spaces like the one we created in the Shrine of the Black Madonna last night is the key to how we begin to have difficult conversations amongst ourselves. I would also like to say thank you to the “hostess with the mostest” Debra Mlambo for feeding us wonderful food, housing us, and catering to our every need. I already miss you!!

I would also like to thank Orange, NJ and the First Presbyterian Church for showing warmth to Chevelle and I the day before.  We both agreed that these last two events have been our favorite to date.  Chevelle and I are both committed to the outreach work we started in All of Us and feel blessed that churches have extended their arms to us.

It is not easy to share personal matters. Trust me… I would know.  What I have learned is that it takes the support of community to do it.  Women supporting women, men supporting men, and then vice versa. None of us can do this alone.  The emails from the Showtime airing are starting to pour in and I can see Chevelle and I have our work cut out for us. We are up for the challenge and the best part is there are many of you out there that are ready to help us.

I have started a free online “class” called the Truth About AIDS that will be answering all the questions that have been coming in. You can register for it for free by subscribing to the TruthADS iTunes podcast or by registering at www.truthaids.org.  Please keep your questions coming.  The first of six lectures is posted below: