Ashley Judd, a well-known Hollywood actor and humanitarian, is a Board
Member of Population Services International (PSI) and is the Global Ambassador for YouthAIDS, an education and
prevention initiative of PSI, which uses media, pop culture, music, theatre
and sport to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS among young people. Ashley Judd
will visit India during March 2007. On her visit to India, Ashley Judd will address women’s issues, which are close to her heart, and have the
opportunity to discover how families can be empowered to protect themselves
against HIV/AIDS and unintended pregnancies.

Ashley will be writing posts for the ONE Blog throughout her trip. Below is her first:

To even type “India” and “travel day” for me is an exquisite thrill. As a
kid I yearned with such poignancy to see the world! I imagined
sophisticated travels, eccentric adventures, and anthropological scrutiny of
native populations.

And now, here I am embarking on a remarkable journey to my 10th developing
country with YouthAid/Population Services International, rather than
focusing on Aruvedic spas and colorful Hindu temples I am zeroed in on the
largest slum in Asia and the largest brothel district in India, and what I
do in these non tourist destinations (unless you’re a sex tourist, a
category of person we shall address later), is reach out to poor people with
upbeat, effective behavior change messages focused on medically accurate sex
education, HIV/AIDS and STD prevention, and family planning.

A quick stat to demonstrate why: 24 million babies are born in India every
single year. Yes, the equivalent population of Australia is born annually.
80% of India’s population lives in poverty and the majority of babies are
born into devastating hardship.

Remember, the great Mahatma Gandhi was very clear: Poverty is the worst
form of violence. And, the number of HIV+ in India is greater than the
population of the U.K. The need for measurable, sustainable, immediate
intervention is utterly critical. We will have a special focus on girls and
women’s empowerment, and engaging men who go to sex workers about their
attitudes towards women.

I am often asked why in the world I do this social justice work in squalid
places filled with filth and despair, and I am, by the grace of God, slowly
learning that piece of my own story. I have always had an absolutely insane
insensitivity to sexual exploitation of any kind—overt, covert,
institutionalized, spontaneous on the street, whatever. I simply cannot
tolerate it. I know now that I was abused myself, and of course, it all
makes so much more sense. I have no need to dissemble what happened here;
for one, I have healed, and I have done that work in the appropriate safe
places with the appropriate people. The only reason I mention it is that
you’ll come across the word “recovery” now and then as I write. I could not
journal without making reference to it. It has saved my life. It has
changed my life. Today, I have recovery, and with it comes healthy
boundaries, loving detachment, and the ability to serve for the sake of
serving, not because I am unconsciously trying to wrestle my own unresolved
griefs. We are all one, and I am unbelievably moved to live this out, time
and again. We are one.

If you choose to keep reading these diaries, you’ll hear about our goals as
an ngo (non governmental organization) and our awesome programs in India.
They won’t all be so terribly intimate (I might be lying right now!). My
personal goal is to feel, just once, compassion, tenderness, and dare I say
love, for a perpetrator. To see someone who exploits other human beings and
to understand completely that the behavior is not the soul. To remember
that abused people abuse, that the definition of power with which they live
is as arid and abusive as the system in which they confine women. To truly
love just one madame or pimp—-even if only for a breath, that is my goal.
This is my prayer.

Ashley

(Photo credit: Jenny Mayfield)