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I will put on a knowledge quest I am unsure of my mentor 4431 Mt. Herbert Ave. San Diego CA 92117 November 18, 2010 Dear Senior Committee, For my senior project I would like to put on a knowledge quest. I believe that society today still has trouble coping with the AIDs epidemic and treats persons with AIDs unfairly and as though they are outcasts. My knowledge quest designed to teach those without AIDs how it might feel to be avoided and feared as well. I also wish to hold a Paideia Seminar about AIDS a few days before the knowledge quest. I am unsure of a mentor at the moment but plan on finding one soon. My audience would be any students at Muir that want to know more about the disease. By putting on this project others as well as I will learn how people with AIDS might feel in society today and by knowing how they feel about being mistreated of feared, my audiance will become more simpathetic and begin treating others who are different then themselves or even people they might fear with respect and kindness. Sincerely, Sarah-Rae Brown **December 13 Photos **
 * **Ideas**
 * my value i**s diseases
 * my project** is to put on a knowledge quest
 * my audience** is everyone at muir.
 * **Proposal**

**December 14 Excel spreadsheet **

**December 16 [|Essential Questions] **

1. Why are people afraid of aids 2. What can we do to be more considerate of others' feelings 3. How can we make sure we treat everyone with aids equally

**December 17 Thesis **  We can raise awareness in the community and promote empithy by: 1. supporting local and national organizations 2. broadening your understanding of aids 3. becoming friends with someone with AIDS. **January 4 Map ** 

**January 5 Works Cited ** (at least two books, two database sources, two internet sources, one interview)

**January 7 Introduction ** (50 -100 words) AIDS stands for Aquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. Contracting the disease does not necessarily mean death. There has always been an underlying fear in society about AIDS because people are still very uneducated about it. Uneducated people can sometimes be irrational because of their unknowing and fear of something. Many people with AIDS often feel like they do't belong with soceity anymore because of the taboo that AIDS seems to be. People with AIDS are often mistreated because their disease is misunderstood. If we can raise awareness of this illness and create empithy in the community i believe that those with the disease will have a better, easier chance at life because they will be seen no longer as a threat or leaper but as human beings with nothing more than a mere sickness. We can raise awareness and empithy in the community by doing easy, simple things that can also be life changing for someone. **All we have to do is 1. support local, as well as national organizations devoted to AIDS and overcoming the disease, 2. broaden your own understanding of the illness, and by simply 3. befriending a person who has the disease and letting them know that they still matter in the world.**

**January 13 First supporting idea **<span style="color: #00b050; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 14px;"> (150-500 words) 1. Organizations There are several local san Diego organizations devoted to AIDS that need support from the community to show that people with AIDS arent alone in the world and that someone cares about them. One of these organizations is Mama's Kitchen which is a non profit volunteer organization designed to prepare and deliver food for men, women, and children infected with AIDS. Another organization would be the San Diego HIV Consumer Council which seeks to improve the quality of care and treatment services affecting the lives of individuals affecyted by HIV and AIDS by providing advocacy, outreach, support, and education. The Vista Community Clinic is a private, non-profit health care provider that offers case management, free HIV/AIDS screenings and comprehensive health care. There is also the AIDS Walk Sand Diego which is a once a year, one day fundraiser that funds and helps other local organizations provide services and programs to improve life quality for those living with HIV and AIDS. It doesnt take much to help someone or even change a life, all we need to do is show support for these organizations and try to educate others on what AIDS is and how it works. Raising awareness could change the way people live today. Giving a simple donation or making a meal can make someone else's day, just by showing them you care. People who don't really know how AIDS is contracted or how it affects the body often have a greater fear of it because they aren't educated about it so they don't know any better. A person can't get AIDS by hugging someone who has it or by holding their hand or being their friend, it's transfeered through bodily fluids but not saliva. If more people knew more about AIDS it would mean a better social life for those with the disease. There are also national organizations that are against AIDS but for the help of the AIDS infected. Helping and supporting National organizations is also a great idea thought it's probably much easier to suppot local organizations to raise awareness. NAPWA is an organization that stands for National Association of People With AIDS. Anyone wishing for more information, to help, go give back, or to volunteer may join NAPWA and can socailize and get to know other people all around the country who want to help just like they do. People can also show support to AHF which is the AIDS Healthcare Foundation which is a global organization that provides cutting-edge medicines and advocacy to over 100,000 people in over 22 countries. It is our nation's largest healthcare provider for persons with HIV or AIDS. There is also AIDS United which is dedicated to ending the HIV and AIDS epidemic in america. There are hundreds of organizations than can use support and raising awareness about AIDs also raises awareness of those organizations which means that more people will want to give back to the AIDS community and try to be more empithetic. Understaning leads to awareness and empithy which is exactly what the AIDS community needs. We are nor a primitive human race and everyone should be shown kindness and love, illness should not hinder that.

**<span style="color: #00b050; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 14px;">January 18 Second supporting idea **<span style="color: #00b050; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 14px;"> (150-500 words) 2. Understanding Having a better understanding about something can ease a persons mind and eliminate their fear of it. AIDS has just been discovered in the year 1980 which means that a large number of people world wide have unknowingly spread the disease in previous years with no way of knowing how to prevent it's spread. There is said to be a number of up to 3.3 million people world wide infected with the AIDS disease. AIDS is caused by HIV which stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus which is a virus that gradually attacks immuse system cells which are also known as white blood cells.HIV progressively damages these cells, leaving the body without any defences against infection. It can take up to several year untill HIV is so harsh that it's determined to be AIDS. With AIDS, the body has almost no chance of fighting off becteria and infection which leads to death from simple things like the common cold. Some people believe there is a cure for AIDS which may lead them to take risks but in all reality there is no cure. The only way to stay safe is to be aware of how HIV is transmitted and to take preventive actions against it. There are, however, antiretroviral drugs that HIV positive people can take to delay the onset of AIDS. Since the first identification of AIDS in 1981, more than 25 million have diesf rom AIDS and an estimated 1.8 million have dies as a result of AIDS in 2009 alone. It is estimated that more than a million people are living with HIv in the US and more than half a million have died after developing AIDS. It is also estimated that 3,992 children (13 years of age) were living with AIDS in 2007. a large amount of these children we're infected through mother-to-child transmission. In 2008, there were only 41 children diagnosed. The decline in paediatric AIDS incidence is associated with a significant increase in HIV testing among pregnant women and the use of antiretrovial drugs. AIDS is not exclusive. Every group in society is a possible subject to AIDS, theres is no discrimination. Though there are some groups that seem to have a higher rate of AIDS. These groups include homosexuals or specifically men who have sex with other men, injected drug users, as well as black americans. In2008, Black Americans made up 12% of AMericas total population, of that 12%, 48% were affected by AIDS. In the US, the states with the highest percentage of people with AIDS are located mostly on the East coast, with an acception to California, Texas, and Illinois. People with AIDS aren't anything to fear, they're regular people just like anybody else and deserve to be judged by their humanity and mirth, not by their illness. AIDS shouldn't determine how u treat a human being. Infection rates have dropped significantly throughout the years within injected drug users but rised in men who have sex with other men. Often when AIDS is discussed, people think of it as an overseas problemas in Africa rather than looking at their own country. Americans don't realize how much of a problem AIDS is in their own country, maybe that's one reason why we have the highest rate of AIDS out of all the other industrialized nations. **<span style="color: #00b050; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 14px;">January 21 Third supporting idea **<span style="color: #00b050; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 14px;"> (150-500 words) 3. Befriend Friendship is one of the easiest gifts to give. All it takes is a kind heart and you could change a life for the better. No person should be looked down upon or feared because of something they couldnt help or an illness they may not have. AIDS does not discriminate so why should we? We can raise awareness and create empithy in our communities about AIDS by befriending a person with AIDS. Doing something as easy as being a friend can show people that AIDS isn't something that should determine a human's worth. Treating people right has nothing to do with what conditions they live through, it has everything to do with acknowledging a person for the being they are and try to be. If a person with AIDS walked up to you on the street, you would't have the slightest idea that they were positively diagnosed. They're still the same person they were before the disease so what changes now that they have been diagnosed? Be a friend, lend a hand and be there for someone who could use the friendship. People with AIDS are treated like animals, as if they didn't have feelings; all because some people are ignorant of the facts and refuse to get educated on the matter. They are treated with in fear and anger and no person deserves the disrespect and out right hatred they have been shown. Your companionship toward someone with AIDS can mean the world to them, it could mean that they still have a place in society and give them hope of possibly living a normal life again. Having someone to talk to could lower the suicide rates in people with AIDS. Though today the general attitude towards AIDS has relaxed somewhat, there are still problems among society. People still don't know as much as they should about the subject. It's up to you to show the people around you that it's ok to be firends with someone with AIDS without fear of contracting it yourself. Show those that you surround yourself with that everyone needs to feel another human's companionship and that it's ok to give that companionship to someone that needs it. Don't live by misconceptions and fear, be a friend when a person needs it, no matter who that person may be, no one should be left alone to deal with something as large as AIDS by themselves. Be the wiser man and walk the high road of acceptance and knowledge, you may change lives. Everywhere there is someone in distress because of this illness, there are thousands infected and there are thousands more that end their lives because they can't bear to live with themselves because they are treated differently thwhen it comes to the subject of AIDS but it might take much more to change how others around you may see the subject. But if we keep in mind that if we just support organizations devoted to AIDS, learn as much as we can about it, and care for someone who has it, then we can create empithy and awareness in not only our communities but some day maybe everywhere. Make a change in how you see the world today and don't forget that there is always someone who could use friendship, no matter who they are.
 * <span style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">**Resources (formatted on easybib.com)** an everyone else. Don't be the cause of someone ending their lives, make a change and save a life instead.

It doesnt take much to change your own perspective of things
 * Conclision **
 * <span style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">**Language of the Experts**