White Party fills O Bar to promote AIDS awareness

(l-r) Joanna Humphries, a member of CAF, Jennison
Nunez, founder of CAF, and Mary Cooper, the Lions
Club of Grand Cayman representative to CAF, greeted
guests at the White Party at O Bar

by Brian Buckley

Thursday, July 29, 2004

The Cayman AIDS Foundation (CAF) hosted its, first annual White Party last Monday at the O Bar in Queens Court on West Bay Road to promote increased awareness of AIDS.

At White Parties, which have also been held in Los Angeles, Miami, and New Orleans, all guests are supposed to dress in white.

The O Bar event was held to increase AIDS awareness in the Cayman Islands and to generate funds for further education here. Prior to the doors opening 180 tickets at $20 each had already been sold, and the club filled during the evening.

Both members of the foundation and its supporters were thrilled to see the crowd for this the first White Party in the Caribbean. Jerry Mixon, the local organiser for the event, expressed his satisfaction with the turnout: “This feels great to see so much support. We did this event with not much publicity and lots of people came out. Next year the second annual White Party will be bigger and better.”

The number of non-foundation members attending the event to support the cause impressed Raquel Solomon, CAF’s Vice-President. She said: “It means so much to have someone besides members of CAF come forward to help out. This means more people are appreciating our efforts and we are not alone in terms of thinking of HIV in the Cayman Islands.”

The Programs Manager of the Red Cross, Carolina Ferreira, shared similar sentiments. “We think this is fantastic. It’s a tremendous evening, as nothing like this has ever taken place in the Cayman Islands.”

No one was more appreciative of the work behind the event and the night itself than the Founder of CAF, Jennison Nunez. “Tonight is great. We are getting some exposure to the young people. While they’re here having fun and enjoying themselves, we get to educate them on the basics of HIV/Aids with our displays and materials,” he said.

Mr Nunez had just returned for the event from Cuba where he was finalizing arrangements for the return of Cuban National Symphony Orchestra for a benefit in January. He continued: “In Cayman the perception is that HIV/AIDS is not a problem. While we do have a low rate of incidence, if we do not continue educating the public, this can become a problem for our society.

“We all know the safest way to protect oneself is to be faithful to one partner. But reality tells us differently. Not all will be faithful. We must educate on this issue to encourage people to take as much precaution as possible.”

Two supporters of the cause from Cayman Kai, Karen Vulcani and Jim Bohne, eagerly attended the party to support the cause. “We have gay friends and this is an issue in that community. We also know the organiser and wanted to help him out.”

Back...