by Sarah Dohl

Created on: February 27, 2008

"In a small town not far from Port of Spain, the capital of Trinidad & Tobago, pastel colored wood houses perch on green hills. The networks of unpathed paths mark the gathering places for children of the village. Two of them are Natalie and Sade who lost their mother to AIDS. But until recently they had no idea if they had contracted the disease from her" (www.un.org, Kids and HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean).

And although I have never seen these colored houses, or the smiles of two little girls named Natalie and Sade, I am touched by their story.

When their mother died, they came with their brothers to live in the hills with their Grandmother. A woman who like many, is trying to support her family on nothing more than a government pension. "Despite the fact that their mother died of AIDS, Natalie and Sade have never been tested for the virus" (www.un.org, Kids and HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean).

After bravely facing the cold reality of the distinct possibility they too would be among the 6,000 young people worldwide between the ages of 15 and 24 are infected with HIV every day (www.unicef.org/aids/people.htm), they receive good news. They are negative.

While Natalie and Sade are among the lucky few in the Caribbean, there are even more young people just like them that aren't as lucky.

In 2001, 118 Bishops of the Epscipal Church stood in front of Congress and President Bush and said, "We may not be able to solve the entire problem today, but let us not be discouraged from taking the steps necessary to begin that journey."

When you consider the numbers, it's safe to say that we have not taken the steps.
We have not realized our obligation.

And we have not begun that journey.

In the Caribbean, where AIDS is one of the leading causes of death among 25-44 year olds (UNAIDS, 2007), people like Natalie and Sade are not telling a story about a path well-beaten by the footsteps of Americans trying to help them fight back.

While 1 in 7 Americans have donated to the AIDS crisis in Africa (Study Shows Americans Ambivalent About HIV/AIDS crisis), there are no statistics on how many have donated to the Caribbean. And yet, AIDS in the Caribbean is just as much a crisis. Americans should be concerned because we are connected to the Caribbean. In more ways that one.

According to a report in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Florida has the largest population of Haitians in the world outside of Haiti, and people from the West Indies make up 8-percent of South Florida's population. In fact, America

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