International AIDS Candlelight Memorial

Overview
The International AIDS Candlelight Memorial Campaign (aka AIDS Candlelight March, AIDS Candlelight Memorial, AIDS Candlelight Vigil) is organized by the Global Health Council, is the largest and oldest grassroots HIV/AIDS campaign. This 12-month awareness campaign encourages communities and individuals around the world to become involved in HIV/AIDS work by participating in an annual worldwide memorial. The Candlelight Memorial occurs on the third Sunday of every May and is led by volunteer coordinators who host memorials for their communities worldwide. Now in its 24th year, the Candlelight is meant to honor all those who have been affected by the AIDS pandemic.

The Candlelight Memorial Campaign involves all sectors of the local community including NGOs, government, faith-based groups, and community members in the fight against HIV/AIDS. From the beginning of this movement, the Memorial has served as a forum to honor the memory of those lost to AIDS, show support for those living with HIV/AIDS, raise awareness of the disease, and mobilize individuals around a common goal of responding to the local impact of HIV/AIDS. The Global Health Council provides all registered communities with the framework to effectively organize a Memorial in their communities and supplies the materials necessary to produce a successful impacting event including the official poster, Coordinator's Manual, and other materials.

The International AIDS Candlelight Memorial is a unique event that promotes discussion, education, and action around HIV/AIDS with the following four objectives:

* Honor the memory of those lost to AIDS; * Show support for those living with HIV and AIDS; * Raise community awareness and decrease stigma related to HIV/AIDS; and * Mobilize community involvement in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

In 2006, over 900 Candlelight coordinators planned memorials in 110 countries, reaching tens of thousands of people. The Global Health Council works with international partners to recruit and counsel community Candlelight coordinators. The Candlelight began in 1983 in the United States, at a time when little was known about HIV. Today, an estimated 25 million people have died as a result of AIDS and 40 million are currently estimated to be infected with the disease.

How the Event Works
The mobilization campaign begins officially on World AIDS Day, December 1, and ends with the Candlelight Memorial in May. In December, the Global Health Council unveils the Memorial’s theme and poster and throughout the remaining six months, works with its partners to promote the event, recruit coordinators in communities around the world, and guide them in planning their community memorials. Following the Candlelight in May, coordinators submit a brief final report describing what happened at their events, which the Council uses to publish its own annual report on the Candlelight Memorial.

Anyone can be a Candlelight coordinator. Coordinators represent a diverse group of community leaders, including community health workers, doctors, nurses, students, teachers, researchers, business people, faith and organization leaders, and concerned individuals. They also represent a diversity of organizations, including health-care facilities, foundations, universities, charities, businesses, governments, religious groups and private organizations. Once you are registered, the Global Health Council mails packets to coordinators that include a coordinator manual, posters, and other information to assist you and your team in planning the events.

Memorials can also take many forms, ranging from a gathering of students in a schoolyard to a march of thousands in city streets. Coordinators have held memorials in fields, parks, squares, buildings of faith, universities, and more. Coordinating a memorial often requires building a team of helpers to divide the labor in making a plan that fits your community, finding resources, choosing activities, inviting important guests, marketing and media coverage, and mobilizing the community. Evaluation is the final part, so that you understand the impact of the event not only on your community, but on yourself as a coordinator.

History of the Event
The first International AIDS Candlelight Memorial was held simultaneously in New York City and San Francisco in 1983, when the cause of AIDS was unknown and no more than a few thousand AIDS deaths had been recorded. The organizers wished to honor the memory of those lost to this mysterious disease and to demonstrate support for those living with AIDS. That remains the focus of the event today.

Since beginning of the pandemic AIDS has claimed more than 28 million lives, with over 42 million now living with HIV and AIDS. As AIDS continues to ravage communities around the world, the Candlelight has become a way for communities to take action by publicly mourning loved ones lost to AIDS, and by strengthening local and national commitments to fighting the pandemic. In small communities, it can help to increase awareness, understanding, volunteerism, and fundraising. In large cities, it brings together a diverse spectrum of people who care about HIV/AIDS. In all cases, the event creates a sense of global solidarity, and generates worldwide attention.

Local observances of the Memorial vary from community to community. Each Coordinator has the opportunity to tailor the framwork of the Candlelight Memorial to meet the particular needs of the people they are serving. Events can vary from a few friends gathering at a park or a place of worship to thousands of people marching through town holding candles and singing songs. There is not "right" way to organize a Memorial.

The Nature of the Event
Each local coordinator has the opportunity to tailor the Candlelight to the particular needs of the local community.

Events can vary from a few friends gathering at a park, or a place of worship to mourn the loss of their loved ones to the mobilization of several hundred people marching through town. Here are a few examples from past years:

The Malaysian AIDS Foundation launched a 10-day-long event in Kuala Lumpur, including AIDS awareness exhibitions, forums, performances by nationally famous actors, and outreach in the Central Market, a popular youth hang-out, culminating in a rally in Kuala Lumpur's Independence Square.

In Lansing, Michigan, USA, an AIDS Memorial Grove was dedicated, the Edgewood Sacred Dance Group performed to the African-American spiritual "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child," and participants sang "Lift Every Voice and Sing" while marching to the edge of the Grand River, where they placed their candles on the water.

In London, England, a coalition of 32 AIDS organizations led several thousand people in an Act of Remembrance in the church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, followed by a candlelight vigil in Trafalgar Square.

In Portland, Oregon, USA, event participants listened to musical groups including folk singers Lynn Anderson and Richard Columbo and the Portland Gay Men's Chorus. Activities in Portland included the reading of proclamations from the Governor and the Mayor, Taiko drumming, the presentation of AIDS Memorial Quilt panels, the tolling of a bell for those who have died, and a Dixieland-jazz funeral procession led by dancers who draped a casket and performed a symbolic dance for hope.

In Caracas, Venezuela three choruses accompanied a candlelight procession from the Lutheran Church to a public square, where balloons bearing the names of the dead were released. The planning of the event led to the creation of a Network of all HIV/AIDS organizations in the Caracas area.

"La Caminata Nocturna Silenciosa," the Silent Night Walk, proceeded from El Angel de la Independencia to the Plaza de la Constitucion in downtown Mexico City, Mexico. Organizers chose the slogan "With the Voice of Life, Death Silence will be broken." Participating organizations staffed information booths, and the event included theater, dancing, singing and music.

Resources
http://www.candlelightmemorial.org http://www.aegis.org