Know your status

This flyer was handed to me and my cousin during our visit to Harlem, NY.

We were walking along Malcom X Boulevard on a wintery March day - 23rd to be exact, when we saw 2 white young men dressed in plain clothes attempting to hand out flyers to their darker fellow street wanders.

As we approached, minding our own business, I wasn't too interested to see what they were promoting, one man approached us to hand us each a flyer. We both took one, mostly out of politeness (well at least on my part) and I was quite interested after glancing at the flyer.

I think that flyer's such as these are a great initiative, especially in an area such as Harlem.
(The flyer is promoting free HIV testing clinics in the Harlem area for that day only - on the reverse saying 'free HIV testing and screening, 20 minutes testing, results within an hour, confidental' in both English and Spanish).

Although I do wonder how many people, who the flyers are aimed at, would actually go and visit one of these clinics?

Would an elderly, sick man visit? Or would he not be concerned about as issue such as this at his age?

Would a late teen boy or girl visit after practicing unsafe sex for a few years now? Or would the fear, embarassment and consequent denial lead them to ignore the lifesaving opportunity?

Would a mother take their child, if they themselves had the disease prior to giving birth? Would they understand the importance of the test for their offspring?

These were the questions that ran through my mind as I slipped the flyer into my bag as a souvenir and continued to walk along the street. Along with a distant thought in the back of my mind, "am I really the target of a HIV testing flyer?", but I know that sounds very pretty little white girl.

These pictures I have above where taken from a book I read whilst spending an hour on my last day in NYC in the NY public library - the book was a series of photographs taken from Harlem within the past 5 years. I felt they really captured the simple beauty of Harlem and made me forget about the socioeconomic status that overwhelms the area.

And if anyone in Harlem reads this - Don't be afraid to know your status.

Peace.