AIDS ministry in Kansas reaches out to Hispanics
At a Spanish-language radio station in southwest
Kansas, Arturo Ponce answers questions from callers on HIV/AIDS and
safe-sex practices. Ponce is the AIDS outreach director for United
Methodist Mexican-American Ministries.
UMNS photos by Reed Galin.
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By Reed Galin*
Nov. 4, 2008 | GARDEN CITY, Kan. (UMNS)
It's 60 miles between the small Kansas towns of Liberal and Garden
City, and there’s not much to see as Arturo Ponce drives the stretch in a
small white car that he's dubbed his "AIDS-mobile."
Ponce gives a new supply of safe-sex kits to Tonda Tabor for distribution in her liquor store in Garden City, Kan.
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Endless furrowed fields fan out beyond the flat horizon, muddy from recent rain, as Ponce ponders his life-and-death mission.
Every week, he adds another 500 to 600 miles on his odometer in the
fight against HIV and AIDS. He is the AIDS outreach director for United Methodist Mexican-American Ministries, an outreach of the church's Kansas West Conference.
Ponce is an educator first, an AIDS tester second and, finally,
an AIDS counselor when he has to tell someone face to face that a test
has returned positive.
Asked about such times, his usually serene face clouds over and all the energy drains from his voice. "It’s
really hard, hard," he says. "I hate this part of my work because I
don’t even know what this person is feeling when they receive this kind
of information. But we are trying to help these people, trying to tell
them, 'OK, we are here to support you … to live longer, healthier … and
basically you are not alone with this infection.'"
Free counseling and medical care are available at Community Health Clinics for those who test positive for the virus.
A growing Hispanic concern
Hispanics are 9 percent of the state population, but account for 14
percent of all AIDS cases in Kansas. In southwest Kansas, where
immigrant labor finds employment in the fields and a half dozen large
meat packing plants, Hispanics are more than half the population—and 75
percent of all AIDS cases.
Ponce speaks about prevention at schools and wherever else he can
find an audience. He sets up testing events and private appointments and
distributes safe-sex kits containing condoms and HIV information at
cantinas, stores and other businesses. One of his offices is in a United
Methodist church because, he says, people find it comforting there.
On a Spanish-language radio station where Ponce is a frequent guest,
the host takes an oral AIDS test while Ponce answers questions from
callers. When asked why many people struggle even to talk about AIDS,
Ponce explains using words like "le stigma," "machismo" and "superman."
For eight years, Ponce has worked to break down cultural
sensitivities that stifle open discussion about risky sexual behavior,
and he sees progress. After the radio show, he’s back in the
"AIDS-mobile" to deliver more safe-sex kits to a liquor store that has
run out.
In rural southwest Kansas, Hispanics make up more than half the population but 75 percent of AIDS cases.
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"Eight years ago, I would go into clubs and cantinas and leave the
safe-sex packs, and the same number would be in the basket when I
checked two weeks later. But now there’s more and more people involved
with this program," he says. "In 2000, I tested only 62 persons—whole
year, only 62 persons. And now the average is about 500 tests a year."
Contacted by the store owner about the need to restock, Ponce stuffs a
hundred packets into the nearly empty basket next to her register and
asks who takes them. All ages, she replies, but mostly men.
Progress.
Haunting Memories
Things don’t change quickly enough for Ponce, however, because he
carries around the terrible moments he has shared with strangers.
He remembers the mother of three who wailed in his office for three
hours, and the relief he felt when the children tested negative.
He wonders what happened to the 17-year-old boy who denied his test
results. His mother in Mexico told the teen this could be a ploy by U.S.
authorities to scare people away, and sent him herbal tea in case he
didn’t feel well. The boy didn’t show up for appointments at the clinic,
and their last conversation still haunts Ponce.
"He said, 'I’m young and I’m strong and I don’t feel anything.' But I
say, 'You are HIV positive and, you know, this is forever.'"
He never saw the boy again.
Ponce will end the day administering an oral AIDS test to a
middle-aged man who has long resisted addressing the possibility of
HIV/AIDS. Another small moment of measurable progress, he feels.
This evening, Ponce will make his rounds to the small-town cantinas
where hardworking, often lonely people congregate, looking for
distractions from difficult lives led far from home. He will be a
familiar face to some.
"You know many people know me as the condom man. It’s funny, but to
me it’s OK because I don’t want to see them in the clinic," he says.
*Galin is a freelance producer based in Nashville, Tenn.
News media contact: Fran Coode Walsh, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
Video Story
AIDS Help for Hispanics
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Resources
United Methodist Mexican-American Ministries
Kansas West Annual Conference
Global AIDS Fund
AIDS: Overview
National Plan for Hispanic/Latino Ministry
Commission on Religion and Race |