The Nu Rho Omega Chapter of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority recognized World AIDS Day Saturday by holding a two-hour WAD program featuring local youth performers, including the Silent Praise group from Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church, the Midway Chorus and the Midway Step Team.
Attendees, mostly teenagers who filled the Dorchester Academy auditorium to capacity, were also informed by special guest Cedric Wherry about the growing number of young Americans between the ages of 14 and 25 becoming infected with HIV/AIDS and how they could protect themselves from the disease.
“(The spread of HIV/AIDS) is happening because of this word: T-R-U-S-T,” Wherry told the crowd. “The problem is (young people) trust too fast.”
The national American Red Cross faculty HIV instructor and host of Huntsville’s “Outside the Boxx” radio talk show explained many young adults are too quick to become sexually involved with each other and rarely ask questions about a partner’s sexual history, often trusting outward appearances.
Wherry reiterated that abstinence from sex was the best method to combat contracting HIV/AIDS, but said for teens who choose to become sexually active it is time to take more responsibility for their sexual health and to make better decisions about their partners.
“To my ladies in the room, don’t let just anybody (be with you) that you don’t know anything about and don’t even know,” he said. “And fellas, don’t get it twisted. You don’t (be with anybody) if you don’t know them or anything about them.”
Attendees, mostly teenagers who filled the Dorchester Academy auditorium to capacity, were also informed by special guest Cedric Wherry about the growing number of young Americans between the ages of 14 and 25 becoming infected with HIV/AIDS and how they could protect themselves from the disease.
“(The spread of HIV/AIDS) is happening because of this word: T-R-U-S-T,” Wherry told the crowd. “The problem is (young people) trust too fast.”
The national American Red Cross faculty HIV instructor and host of Huntsville’s “Outside the Boxx” radio talk show explained many young adults are too quick to become sexually involved with each other and rarely ask questions about a partner’s sexual history, often trusting outward appearances.
Wherry reiterated that abstinence from sex was the best method to combat contracting HIV/AIDS, but said for teens who choose to become sexually active it is time to take more responsibility for their sexual health and to make better decisions about their partners.
“To my ladies in the room, don’t let just anybody (be with you) that you don’t know anything about and don’t even know,” he said. “And fellas, don’t get it twisted. You don’t (be with anybody) if you don’t know them or anything about them.”