Ashley Mwanza

As the year comes to an end, it’s time to really stop and reflect on the past 12 months. Did I get everything done that I wanted? What am I grateful for in my life? What did I want to do, but really never did accomplish?

As I think about these questions, I also think about my goals for the new year. Am I going to call them my New Year’s Resolutions? Nope. See, to me it seems most people make New Year’s Resolutions at midnight on 31 December. Then probably go full force with them for say 2 weeks. Then they start to slip away from our minds. Oscar Wilde once said: “Good resolutions simply checks that men draw on a bank where they have no account.”

Mine are solid goals. Why? What makes them different? I am starting now. As I said, I am reflecting on 2010 and seeing what I loved, liked and yes disliked throughout the year. I am seeing what I want now, which many call dreams, but I call them my goals. I am not only writing them down, I am making a plan of action to achieve them. I am starting today (actually, I already started) so that they are not my New Year’s Resolution, but they are what I will accomplish in 2011. And, I’m just getting a little bit of a head start on them.

Yes, the clock is ticking so fast that before I know it, I have turned a year older. Year 2010, like the last few years, had its fair share of ups and downs. As I make my entry into another age of wisdom and maturity in 2011, there are many things that I have to learn to LET GO.

The final days of 2010 have a bittersweet feel about them -- just as the look to the future gives us much optimism. It's hard to believe that the year has come and is almost gone. It seems like only yesterday that we were talking about the dawning of 2010, it's always a good opportunity to take stock of the past year.

As this year draws to a close, we can look back with pride and enumerate our accomplishments. We are well poised to make significant strides in the year ahead as the preeminent assessors and ‘managers’ of risk for a better world.

Again, we are only at the beginning; those with the right skills, the right temperaments and the right opportunities will offer a glimpse of the promise and potential our world has to offer for many years to come.

Let everyone be reborn on the 1st day of January 2011 AD. Start with a fresh slate. Take up the challenge, risks will be necessary to achieve greatness; on the 1st of January gird yourself, with your face to the front, and take no interest in the things that were and are past. Don't let 2010 keep you down. Learn from it and reach for 2011. MOVE ON. START AFRESH. MAY EVERY BLESSING BE YOURS IN 2011.

Ashley Mwanza

“Never, never give up because I can always see the coast and it brings me courage all the time.” This is what the girl who swam across the English Channel successfully answered when the reporter asked what had made her reached her goal. She said that she chose a very sunny day to make sure that she can see her hope and just went for it. To be able to see the goal helps us a lot when we feel frustrated somewhere and even almost lose our confidence. In the long term to success, hope is our belief and it can make us be very strong when we face great difficulties and even want to quit. Some people failed simply because they lost their sight of their “coast” although they are very qualified and capable.

Glendalough, County Wicklow, Ireland.

I'm getting pretty tired of trying to make the best out of what, for all intents and purposes isn't good news. I think this is what I've been trying to do, not always successfully. Continuous exertion may sound very exhausting and thus, it is understandable even if some people suggest it should be better to give up sometimes. It is true at some points because the human race is not an almighty creature. However I would say it is not about giving up, but just changing a goal. Recognizing life events as a sequence, I think even when giving up something, it is just adjusting the goal to more reachable levels and processes for previous goals always play a role in reaching the next goal.

From what I have mentioned above, there is no doubt about favourable influences of continuous exertion. Whether you agree or disagree with the intellections in this ‘write-up’, people keep trying by nature and it does make us alive. When I have no energy left trying, I simply keep it on my mind so as not to miss any possibilities. In other words, it is possible to keep trying even when feeling like giving up. Thus, I strongly believe that we should never give up.

We may fail sometimes but that absolutely does not mean that we will fail every time. Thomas Edison, one of the most famous inventors in the 20^thcentury, tried more than one thousand times before he found out that tungsten was the right material for the electric bulb, and so as most of the great scientists in many fields. When you face failures never give up and always tell yourself to stick to what you are doing. You are not likely to achieve a great success by the first try. The real success is always based on a great deal of failure. It is good for me to write on this blog and share these tough times with people an offer some kind of hope. It’s funny, I don't actually feel like I'm writing for an audience, but somehow feel more connected through this form of communication.

All I can say is; keep trying no matter how hard it seems.

Ashley Mwanza

TODAY (1 December 2010) marks the twenty-second anniversary of World AIDS Day. Though we should be working to bring attention to the global AIDS epidemic more than one day per year, I do encourage you to take some time today to educate yourself and those around you about AIDS in today's world.

As we mark World Aids Day once again, it's worth us each stopping to consider the scale of this tragic disease - and to consider what we as individuals might be able to do to alleviate the problem. But when the headlines reflect such a massive worldwide problem, it's easy to feel overwhelmed; it's easy to raise our hands in despair and say, "What can I possibly do to alleviate a problem that's become so huge?" This is one of the big challenges of our time and history will judge our generation.

A new UNAIDS report claims the world has finally “turned the corner” on the AIDS epidemic, citing a downward trend in new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths over the past decade and stabilization of the number of people living with HIV globally. But Brian Pazvakavambwa of the World Health Organisation said, “a lot of work still needs to be done, we need to continue expanding and linking all parts of the response; if we can link our programmes better we can do better in terms of all health outcomes.”

The theme for World AIDS Day 2010 is 'Universal Access and Human Rights'. Global leaders have pledged to work towards universal access to HIV and AIDS treatment, prevention and care, recognising these as fundamental human rights. Valuable progress has been made in increasing access to HIV and AIDS services, yet greater commitment is needed around the world if the goal of universal access is to be achieved. Millions of people continue to be infected with HIV every year. In low- and middle-income countries, less than half of those in need of antiretroviral (ARV) therapy are receiving it, and too many do not have access to adequate care services.

The protection of human rights is fundamental to combating the global HIV and AIDS epidemic. Violations against human rights fuel the spread of HIV, putting marginalised groups, at a higher risk of HIV infection. By promoting individual human rights, new infections can be prevented and people who have HIV can live free from discrimination. World AIDS Day provides an opportunity for all of us - individuals, communities and political leaders - to take action and ensure that human rights are protected and global targets for HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care are met.

The stark reality is that when AIDS first started, no one could have predicted how the epidemic would spread across the world and how many millions of lives it would change. There was no real idea what caused it and consequently no real idea how to protect against it. Now we know from bitter experience that the HIV virus is the cause of AIDS and that it can devastate families, communities and whole continents. We have seen the epidemic knock decades off countries’ national development, widen the gulf between rich and poor nations and push already stigmatized groups closer to the margins of society. We are living in an 'international' society, and HIV has become the first truly 'international' epidemic, easily crossing oceans and borders. Orphans and other children from households affected by the AIDS epidemic frequently experience negative consequences. Many encounter stigma and discrimination. One of the most tragic consequences of the epidemic for the children is the way it deprives them of their childhood and of their right to happiness. Child after child watches helplessly as AIDS snatches both of these away. It transforms many amongst them into adults before their time - juvenile adults who must care for the sick, generate income, head households, and assume responsibilities beyond their years.

In 1990, the World Summit for Children proclaimed that childhood should be a time of 'joy and peace, of playing, learning and growing’. But for millions of children, the reality of childhood is altogether different because of the way the AIDS epidemic deprives them of their right to rest and play. It deprives them of their right to happiness. When children enjoy that right again, then we will know that we have conquered AIDS.

When the sound of healthy, happy, laughing children fills homes, schools and villages, then we can be certain that we are entering a world without AIDS. That is their right. We still have a long way to go. Much has been achieved but the momentum must be maintained or the hard-won achievements of the past two decades risk being reversed. Let us be involved.