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ACAS NewsletterVolume 1: 12

Give Something More Meaningful This Christmas

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ACAS proudly presents its ‘Peace’ GreetingCards Set, featuring 5 unique lotus paintingsof Lai Tak Ki, local Asian-Canadian artist ofToronto.

All occasion, greeting cards depicting five 5”x 7” lotus paintings of Lai Tak Ki, printed onlinen paper with wisdom words promotingpeace at the back of each card. The wisdomwords were written by Grace Ng Listkowski,ACAS President’s Board of Diretors

Wisdom words:

When we give unconditional love to allbeings, we find peace. We see ourselves in all beings and all beingsin ourselves. Harmony is synchrony between nature andthe self. In unity lies humanity’s greatest strength. As the blossom fades, serenity remains in itsfragrance. Each set contains ten 5” x 7” peace cards,consisting of 2 cards each of 5 original lotuspaintings, and 10 white envelopes. Theinside of the cards are left blank for your ownmessage. The cards are printed on linenpaper

Cost: $20/set plus $4 shipping

All proceeds go to ACAS program services

Years of Community Service

12122 President’s Message3 World Aids Day4 ACAS Program5 Banquet of Joy6 - 7 International AIDS

Conference

8 ACAS Launches new Logo9 Volunteering at ACAS11 Reflection on Transformation12 ACAS Greeting Card

www.acas.org

About the Artist: Vitoon Punjanun (Lek)

"Vitoon Punjanun (Lek) is a web and graphic designer.He grew up in Bangkok, Thailand, lived in New York foreight years. He completed a certificate course inadvertising design at Parsons School of Design in NewYork in 1996 and received his MS. from the prestigiousPratt Institute in Manhattan in 1999 and came to Torontoin 2002. His career in design includes experience inwebsites, animation, print material, and new media. Hecurrently is working as an interface and graphic designerin an e-commerce marketing business. Lek startedvolunteering with ACAS in 2004."

ACAS Launches New LogoAfter the 10th anniversary banquet, everything seemed to turn a new leaf. Wewere talking about branding ACAS, and naturally a new logo was suggested. Alogo design contest finally occurred in the early 2006. Among the many entries,

Vitoon Punjanun's was picked as winner by thecommittee. His original design was a lotus, but

after discussing with the board and thecommittee, he altered the design with ourinput.

The new logo now features seven heart-shaped petals, because "Love" is themajor element of ACAS. Each petal is in adifferent color which represents the ACAS

values - Health, Asian HIV Support,Sincerity, Harmony, Advocacy, safe

environment, and leadership. The heart-shapedpetal also looks like a person with hands together, and all seven of them pointingtowards the center is a symbol of "Togetherness", and joining hands togethertowards a common goal.

The official logo is in its full color, with or without the text. When text is used, wealso make it official to use a font named "London Between", either the full name"Asian Community AIDS Services" or just "ACAS". Also on occasions, we mightjust use the logo in a monotone color.

The Wayson Choy banquet gave methe inspiration to strengthen mycommitment for ACAS. The astoundingsuccess of the banquet hasstrengthened my believe in ACAS'ability to pull off such a wonderful eventmeant to serve the community.

On May 26th, 2006, Wayson Choy'scontribution to both Asian and literarycommunities was recognized in a jointeffort by CelebrAsian and ACAS. Thiswell-attended event, hosted by ArielVente and Florence Heung, gatheredmore than 350 guests in Bright Pearl'shall pampered by great food, greatentertainment and taste of genuineAsian culture.

As the event unfolded right before myeyes, I knew that the hard work pitchedin by dedicated volunteers and staffhad paid off. The Raging Asian Women(RAW) gave us an electrifyingperformance impressing the audiencewith their strength to operate thedrums. Sze-Yang Lam provided as aglimpse of the beauty of Chinese

Dance - his every move wasspectacular. I was one of those wholaughed and cheered during theauction hosted by Olivia Chow.

But it was the touching speeches of thespecial guests, including AntanasSileika and Kerri Sakamoto, gave me asense of pride of "our" community anda hope to become successful as animmigrant in Canada.

As I walked through the hall of BrightPearl, Icouldn't helpbut be proud atACAS' busyvolunteers, thepeople behindthis event, alleager to makethis eventunforgettable.At the end ofthe show,volunteersgathered onthe stage,equally belong to them, for a photoshoot. I managed to capture all of theirsmiles on video.

I can say that ACAS is now part of mylife. And Wayson Choy's successful,joyful event just made me more proudof this organization.

Banquet of Joy by Jorge Lee

www.acas.org

www.acas.org www.acas.org

World AIDS Day, which falls onDecember 1 each year is dedicated toraising awareness of the globalpandemic caused by the spread of HIVinfection. The concept of a World AIDSDay was initiated by UNAIDS in 1998.In 2005 UNAIDS handed overresponsibility for World AIDS Day to anindependent organisation known asThe World AIDS Campaign (WAC).

AIDS has taken more than 25 millionlives, making it one of the mostdestructive epidemics in recordedhistory. Despite recent, improvedaccess to antiretroviral treatment andcare in many regions of the world, theAIDS epidemic claimed an estimated3.1 million (between 2.8 and 3.6million) lives in 2005 of which, morethan half a million (570,000) werechildren.

This year's theme, "accountability", isdesigned to inspire citizens around the

world to hold their political leadersaccountable for the promises they havemade on AIDS. By supporting a broadmovement of civil society organizationsin their campaigning around this theme,the World AIDS Campaign hope todevelop a sense of joint identity andcommon purpose and ensure that morepeople are made aware of the AIDSepidemic this year than ever before.

Asian Community AIDS Services(ACAS) recognizes that people livingwith HIV and AIDS encounter stigmaand discrimination in their everyday life.Thus, accountability means workingtogether to eradicate HIV/AIDS as wellas social stigma and discrimination. Wehope that on World AIDS Day andevery each day, you will join hands withus to fight against AIDS stigma anddiscrimination.

Whatmotivatedyou to startvolunteeringat ACAS?

Lilla Watson,an AboriginalElder inQueensland,

once said, "If you have come to helpme, you are wasting your time. If youhave come because your liberation isbound up in mine, we can worktogether." I participated actively inACAS because I believed that all thesocial justice and communityempowerment issues addressed byACAS were issues connected in oneway or another to my own life andthat of my loved ones, my friends andmy community. My liberation is boundup in the liberation of my brothersand sisters in the ACAS community.

What were your reasons forcontinuing to volunteer at ACASfor 10 years?

I always see myself not so much as avolunteer but as a member of theACAS community where I was giventhe opportunities to be inspired, tocontribute, to learn, to share the goodtimes and the rough times, to get myblood boiling at times and to be calmand peaceful at others.

Volunteer: Josephine Wong

What motivated you tostart volunteering atACAS?

ACAS is a special placethat is close to my heart.Volunteering at ACAS wasan opportunity to makevaluable community

contributions in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Ifirst became involved at ACAS as a service-user in 1996. As a young, queer asian PHA Iexperienced multiple forms of discriminationand life challenges. Each time I felt down anddefeated, ACAS was always there to provideme with unconditional support. ACAS taughtme the value of giving back to the community.My involvement in various committees (boardmember-2000-2002) was an empoweringprocess. I learned valuable life lessons fromother PHAs, developed professional skills, andmade life long friendships. The stigmaattached to HIV/AIDS is enormous and cannegatively impact PHAs, often resulting in direhealth outcomes. ACAS provides a safe placeto continue to do work to de-stigmatize thedisease. I will never feel alone again. I feel itis important to be visible in the community andto extend a helping hand to those livingwith/affected by HIV/AIDS anyway I can.

What were your reasons for continuingto volunteer at ACAS for 10 years?

Despite new developments in medicine thathave prolonged life for PHAs, there is still nocure and a lot of work needs to be done toensure equality of access to these life savingmedications, treatment and care. Until there isa cure for AIDS and until there is universalaccess to treatment and care for all PHAs, mywork with ACAS will continue….

Volunteer: Riz Quiaoit

www.acas.org

Support programCoordinator: Patrick Truong Women Support Worker: Eva Sin

Membership: a 15% increase in clientele

Highlight of the year: Twinning project withThai National AIDS Foundation; TempleStreet Cabaret at IAC 2006

Looking ahead: a new woman supportworker to help expand the support program

MSM program Coordinator: Daniel Le

Membership: 25% increase in the number ofcontacts (outreach, presentation, andworkshop)

Highlight of the year: iRice presentation atIAC 2006. Asian bathhouse events.

Looking ahead: working with VISA studentsPeer educators

Youth programCoordinator: Yaya Yao

Membership: 20% increase in participants insocial events

Highlight of the year: launch of QAY Zine,Pride Cabaret - QAY Born to be

Looking ahead: HIV testing for youth

Women ProgramCoordinator: Jin Huh

Membership: With 1 staff and 4 peers, didover 30 outreach activities

Highlight of the year: got grants fromLesbian & Gay community appealfoundation, to do queer Asian womenproject, and is underway since June.

Looking ahead: Women program is now afull program, many new plans and activitiesfor 2007!

Volunteer ProgramCoordinator: Lisa Wong

Membership: 30 new volunteers recruitedlast Spring.

Highlight of the year: New volunteer trainingin May, the group was dynamite.

Looking ahead: new volunteer recruit inNovember and the new programcoordinator.

GenerAsians UnderstandingChi-Ching Hui

An extension of GenerAsians Together from1999 and 2005.

Highlight of the year: Some targeted youthshowed up and found the events helpfulmake this worthwhile.

Looking ahead: The project is done now.We certainly hope to see similar discussionevents continue to run in the youthprogram.

ACAS Programs at a Glance

Newsletter Committee:

Tong ChongDuncan LauJorge Lee

Phuong NguyenRhonda Pantilinan

Noulmook Sutdhibhasilp

Whatmotivatedyou to startvolunteeringat ACAS?

As a memberof TorontoChineseHealth

Education Committee, I am workingwith the former Sexuality for OverSea Students, and also supporter ofthe formation of GAAP, naturally avolunteer of ACAS.

What were your reasons forcontinuing to volunteer at ACASfor 10 years?

I am working in the Sexuality field,ACAS provides the opportunity tooutreach to needy but invisiblegroups, through them I can contributemy skills. I also can see how ACASbenefit the community, that keeps mecontinue....

Volunteer: Anda Li

Volunteering at ACAS

What motivatedyou to startvolunteering atACAS?

ACAS is like myfamily. I had areally hard timeand ACAS alwaysprovide goodsupport,

commitment, and was always openfor me. I was sitting outsidedepressed one windy afternoon.Leaves and paper were flyingaround, and I was kicking them awayfrom me. There was this flyer justkeep coming back in front of me. Ieventually picked it up and it was aflyer about an event at ACAS. I went,and that's how I started with ACAS.

What were your reasons forcontinuing to volunteer at ACASfor 10 years?

Now, I like to give the knowledgeback to someone who might havebeen in my situation before, to givethem my view and experience, togive them support.

Volunteer: Suchang Kim

www.acas.org

INTERNATIONAL AIDS CONFERENCE TORONTO 2006by Rhonda Pantilinan and Noulmook Sutdhibhasilp

ACAS stepped up its leadership role atthe XVI International AIDS Conference(IAC) which was held in Toronto inAugust 2006 to raise awareness thatAsians are also infected as well asaffected by HIV/AIDS. To prepare for thisglobal scale event, ACAS mobilized agreat deal of time and resources.

ACAS fully participated at the IAC byorganizing the following activities

A reception party to welcome Asian andinternational delegates, organized inpartnership with Asian Express ofToronto, and the Society for theIntervention of AIDS of Vancouver. Theparty was held the night before theofficial opening. Many local supportersand Asian conference delegates attendedthe party at 5ive.

Satellite Meeting - a plenary session onLeadership of Persons Living withHIV/AIDS in the AIDS Movement in Asiaand North America. ACAS co-organizedthe session with Alliance for South AsianAIDS Prevention (ASAAP) - Toronto,Asian Society for the Intervention of AIDS(ASIA) - Vancouver, Asian and PacificIslander Wellness Center (API WellnessCentre) - San Francisco, USA,Therapeutics Research, Education, andAIDS Training in Asia (TREAT Asia),

Coalition of Asia PacificRegional Network onHIV/AIDS (Seven Sisters),and Asia Pacific Networkof People Living WithHIV/AIDS (APN+). Thepanel discussion focusedon knowledge andexperience on thechallenges faced by PHAs,including comments on howthings have changed sincethe Bangkok Declaration;

Effective models fostering PHAleadership and empowerment; andexamples of strategies that led to policyand service changes. The session waswell-attended with approximately 90participants.

The Southeast and East AsianNetworking Zone at the Global Villagearea which was open to the generalpublic, conference delegates, community-based organizations from around theworld, local and national groups. Muchlike the world-famous "Temple Street"night market in Hong Kong whichprovided the inspiration for the backdrop-- from the design, colour, furnishingsdown to the ambience -- the NetworkingZone exuded a joyful and welcomingfeeling for curious onlookers andpassersby who were drawn to thenetworking zone by an eclectic mix ofperformances, workshops, presentationsand Q&A panels. Speakers are not onlyfrom Toronto and Vancouver but alsothose belonging to ACAS' internationalAsian partners in Thailand, Indonesia,Hong Kong, China, Vietnam. Focusing ona population theme daily--women, menhaving sex with men (MSM), TreatmentAccess for people living with HIV/AIDS(PHAs), and youth--the dynamic range oftopics showcased included sexual health,empowerment models, PHA stories,

treatment access inequities, affectedorphans, and various comparisons onregional realities both locally and abroad.

An exhibition booth at the Global Village

to showcase the HIV/AIDSprevention/education, and supportservices for persons living with HIV/AIDS.ACAS volunteer and staff were on handto answer queries about our work toreduce infection rate and help those whoare infected and affected by HIV for theEast and Southeast Asian communities.

Publishing the Asian Program bookletshighlighting all Asian-related activitiesand programs at the IAC.

The Basic Interpreters Training forvolunteer from AIDS serviceorganizations in Toronto and the IACLocal Host. Our volunteers were able toput their interpreter skills to use at theACAS exhibition booth and theNetworking Zone by assisting staff toconverse with international delegates andthe media from different parts of Asia.

'My Colour Cabaret' featured sexuallydiverse Asian youth from Toronto at theYouth Pavillion in the Global village drewhuge crowds and was well-received byvisitors. Youth volunteers from ACASand the Alliance for South Asian AIDSPrevention joined hands to organize this

eclectic performance.

The 'Temple Street Cabaret', a varietyshow as part of the IAC CulturalProgram. The Cabaret was put together

with The Little Pear GardenCollective, and the PanAsian Canadian ArtistsAgainst Aids. Theypresented stories of peopleliving with HIV/AIDS throughdance, music, spoken word,reading and otherperformance art. Theperformances alsocelebrated and recognizedthe powerful voices from the

marginalized communities.

When it came time to deliver, a total of 35volunteers doing 83 shifts (orapproximately 300 volunteer hours) forthe ACAS exhibition booth as well as 28volunteers (as speakers, performers, orpresenters) for programs and activities at

the Networking Zone, the dedicated andhard-working staff and volunteers ofACAS, led by its Executive Director,delivered at the XVI International AIDSConference.

Photographs courtesy of Henry Fanuago

www.acas.org

The accomplishments of 2006 for ACAS and the HIV/AIDScommunity were gratifying. In August 2006, Toronto was host tothe XVI International AIDS Conference. This conference broughttogether a community of over 20,000 participants and delegatesfrom around the world coming to share and to explore researchresults, personal experiences and innovative ideas. Thisopportunity allowed individuals to come together to form oneglobal community with one single quest -- to combat HIV/AIDSon the largest scale ever seen.

ACAS was the first and still is, the only non-profit, charitable, community-basedorganization providing HIV/AIDS education, prevention, and support services to theEast and Southeast Asian Canadian communities in Toronto. As ACAS approachesits 13th year, we can look back at our journey and reflect on the many transformationsthat took place. ACAS is now well positioned both locally and internationally to takeon a leadership role in the areas of:

1. Collaborating with other HIV/AIDS service organizations locally and globally toexplore opportunities for partnerships and exchange programs;

2. Expanding support & treatment programs for women whose infection rates areincreasing at an alarming rate because of the changing landscape of HIV/AIDS;

3. Expanding education and support programs for the trans community;

4. Promoting and encouraging the leadership role of PHAs within Asian communitiesto effectively contribute to the decision making process of both government and non-government bodies; and

5. Combating stigma, discrimination, and homophobia.

I would like to invite you to welcome World AIDS Day on December 1, 2006. This daywill offer all of us an opportunity to reflect on the past 12 years, on how far ACAS hascome, and to also ponder about the future ahead of us…

Grace Ng ListkowskiPresident, Asian Community of AIDS Services

Message from the PresidentReflection on Transformation(in Memory of Marcelo)by Grace Ng Listkowski

As you kissed the stillness good night,You left such fragrance of serenityAs you let out your last breathe,You gently walk into your Eternity…Oh, such Purity and Peace of your Being…You become again…you transform...in the Beauty of your Blossom…

Just as water calms both good and bad,And cleanses all impurity and dust,Just as the thought of love for friends and foealike…Only when we give unconditional love for all beings,Will we find happiness,Will we find peace…

In our interactions with others,Gentleness,Kindness,Respect,Are the sources of harmony.

Lovingkindness is to giving others happiness,Joy is to removing others' fear and sorrow,Compassion is to freeing others from suffering…

Selflessness is a healing herb that brings alltogetherIt is the love for others that is tenderest…When it's experienced,We see ourselves in all beings, all beings in us…

Marcelo passed away early this year... He was an ACAS Board Member.Photograph courtesy of Henry Fanugao

www.acas.org