I just returned from Vienna and I am happy to be back to my paintings, chicken, and dogs! It was an amazing trip. I was concerned about performing in front of an international audience but it all worked out. I thought for sure that once I started, the audience that filled the auditorium would look confused and make their way to some of the many other options offered at the 18th International Conference on HIV/AIDS. Fortunately they were in the mood for my brand of irreverent humor and soon the isles and floor were filled with people looking to laugh and maybe cry, just a little. I feel blessed to have been chosen to perform as well as have the premiere viewing of my film, A Positive Life: Portraits of Women Living With HIV.

International conferences can be daunting and I had stopped going to them a few years ago, okay, a decade ago, because most the information I can get online and sometimes it just feels like too much AIDS talk! I live with it so it is always lurking in the back of my mind and to be hit with 4 days of fun packed AIDS activities can be a little much for my small brain! But this time around was great because I saw many old friends and met so many new people from around the world.

I’m always fascinated about how other countries deal with this disease and what it is like to live in different cultures, I met people from the Middle East, Russia, Nepal, China and it was fascinating, though often sad. Especially in the Middle East where women barely have the right to exist let alone have the right to protect themselves from STDs or even get treatment without prosecution.

There were some brave women from this region of world, who found their way to the conference and are persevering, even with the threat of death, to fight for women's rights as well as prevention and treatment of HIV. I was in awe of the work they do as well as so many others from around the world.

Below are websites of some of the people and groups I met. The websites give you perspective on the breath and depth of this epidemic as well as the effort to find ways to deal with it. Take a look, buy some stuff or make a donation. The smallest amount from each us can make a huge difference in the lives of many.

http://www.payvand.com/news/10/jul/1192.html

http://www.aidscaretrust.org/act/ Namibia

http://www.alcsmaroc.ma/ Morocco and MENA (Middle East, North Africa)

http://www.network.org.ua/home-en/ Ukraine

http://kyrgyzlabrys.wordpress.com/ Kyrgyzstan

http://www.hivtri.com/istanbul_09/team.html Istanbul

http://www.jazas.rs/index.php?change_lang=en Serbia

http://www.ysauganda.org/default.aspx Uganda

http://www.saveindianfamily.org/ India

http://www.icw.org/node/459   International

http://swannet.org/node/238   sex workers of Europe, Eastern Europe and central Asia

http://www.mh-center.org/en/ Kazakhstan

http://www.plusnews.org/Report.aspx?Reportid=84385   Global group

http://www.nswp.org/ UK

http://www.flosjewelleryandgifts.org/Project%20Kenya%202010%20-April%20Newsletter.pdf Kenya

http://www.yabonga.com/site/index.html South Africa

Here are some groups raising funds through jewelry and crafts. They are absolutely awe-inspiring in the work they do:

http://www.beadforlife.org/indexS.html

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=272461024730#!/group.php?gid=272461024730

http://www.facebook.com/GlobalGiving

http://www.orphanbracelet.org/   (really nice bracelets)

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=172301434668 Cool bags

Oh if you want to read about my encounter with a Nazi go to:

http://www.thebody.com/content/news/art57866.html