Mekdim Ethiopia

I was just having a discussion with someone about the common cold. I tried to explain to them that it is more likely for them to pass the cold to another person through a hand shake as by giving them a quick hug and kiss. This reminded me of the time I walked into the offices of Mekdim Ethiopia in Addis Ababa. This organization is a non-profit that helps people living with HIV and AIDS, and is staffed mainly by those who are already infected. They do very good work with counseling, medical treatment, and education. In my opinion, the best thing they do is the home visits where they give certain patients messages (which is huge to a person who may not ever get human contact after becoming sick). Well, I knew that many in the office staff were HIV positive and was not concerned about that at all, but as I approached to say hello and then later to say goodbye I noticed that a few in the group were reluctant to shake my hand. I figured that their past experiences with people led them to expect me to be afraid and were surprised that I wasn't. I hope that with more groups like Mekdim Ethiopia people will worry more about passing the common cold with a handshake and not HIV.