Jermita Kimbrough (on right in photo) said she was speaking “from the heart” in saying the names of her twin brother, mother and father, who all died of AIDS. She was one of many who called out the names of departed family members and friends at the 19th annual AIDS Interfaith Network Service of Healing and Remembrance on Wednesday.
Immanuel Baptist Church hosted the service. AIDS Interfaith founder Elsie Cofield (pictured below) said said she and a colleague stopped counting the deaths from AIDS of people they knew personally when the number reached 600. But she said God is counting. “Not only is He counting the number of people who died; He’s counting us, and what we’re doing to help others.” She added that it has helped her cope with the death of her husband, Rev. Dr. Curtis Cofield this past March to stay active in the work she’s been doing for more than 20 years.
AIDS was once a death sentence in the U.S. Since the advent of more effective drugs, it’s more like a chronic illness. Even though AIDS in this country has taken a back seat in the media to AIDS in Africa and to the economic crisis at home, about 40,000 new cases of HIV are diagnosed every year in the U.S. and people are still dying.
Since the pandemic began in 1980, 2,573 people have been diagnosed with AIDS in New Haven. Forty-eight new cases were diagnosed in the city last year, according to data from the state Department of Public Health.
The service at Immanuel Baptist Church included prayers, singing and group readings. It called for healing for family, friends, caregivers and persons living with HIV/AIDS, as well as for those who have died. The front of the program read, “We care: we pledge to continue to reach out and always to remember!”
Many names were read by staff members of the AIDS organizations in New Haven. Then some individuals called out the names of their own loved ones. Jermita Kimbrough stood and said, “I don’t represent an organization. This is just from my heart.” She began crying before she finished the names, and was comforted by Linda Faye Wilson — the woman who had counted 600 deaths with Mrs. Cofield. Her twin brother contracted HIV at birth from his mother, but Jermita was spared.
Following the service, everyone gathered for lunch and a chance to connect with others and reminisce about loved ones.