Hafa Adai!  The GUAHAN Project is Guam’s only AIDS service organization and was established in 2003 by Guam AIDS activists.  It is the home for the Guam AIDS Memorial Quilt and the Pacific Resource and Training Center.  The GUAHAN Project provides free and confidential OraSure HIV counseling, testing and referral services and urine-based testing for Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) and hepatitis A and B vaccinations in collaboration with Guam Public Health. 

Significantly, the GUAHAN Project addresses other health issues such as tuberculosis, smoking cessation, cancer, diabetes, obesity and hemophilia.  It also is known for ground-breaking and pioneering work in advocating for the end of violence against women and girls in the community.  This is done through community outreach and events and through the mobilization of the community in culturally sensitive empowerment opportunities for women and girls.

The GUAHAN Project provides free educational workshops and training sessions for the community.  It also provides support groups, home and hospital visits and personal care items to people living with HIV/AIDS on Guam and the neighboring islands.  The GUAHAN Project also offers capacity-building assistance to local and regional community-based organizations.  It also features a strong community volunteer foundation.

All materials and resources are free, including internet access.  The GUAHAN Project also develops educational materials in Asian and Pacific Islander languages relevant to the region.
International, U.S. Federal and local funding sources support the GUAHAN Project’s operations.  The GUAHAN Project also successfully collaborates with the Guam Public Health Department, the University of Guam and various community-based organizations and corporate partners in the fight against AIDS.

(Click here for Chuukese translation)
(Click here for Pohnpeian translation)

Director’s Notes:  The Normal Heart
“The human contribution is the essential ingredient.  It is only the giving of oneself to others that we truly live.”  These are the words of Ethel Perry Andrus.  Words that truly represent the work you are about to witness tonight.  The Normal Heart was just another job I auditioned for as a professional actor.  I played the role of Mickey Marcus.  But I did not realize the impact and the importance of this work as a theatre piece and a message piece.  We learn a great deal about each other based on our histories and actions.  This play is a history on the plague we know as AIDS and is one of most important examples of getting to know what we are up against as activists and people living in the age of this disease. 

The presentation of this play is not as unorthodox as you might think.  Plays go through processes of evolution known as staged readings.  The directors, producers, and playwrights need to see the play “on its feet” and more importantly the actors giving the characters a voice.  We as actors kindly and graciously give you this work as an expression of our dedication to educating the public about AIDS and the prejudice that surrounds it.  The work itself is presented in the simplest form possible – bare stage, uniformed costumes, and basic lighting.  It is now your job to use your imagination to create the scenarios and situations.  We hope to help you in the images you create. 

Now we ask you to contribute and to give of yourself for this cause we feel so strongly. 

Ricky Vergara, Director, The Normal Heart (Read More)