By Robert Pore
robert.pore@theindependent.com

"This is a major crisis and we can't be in denial about it, ignore it and turn away from it," Mr. Mutti said.

And why it's a major crisis, according to Mr. Mutti: "There are more than 33 million people living with it today. It's a terrible disease."

The Muttis presented their program at Trinity United Methodist Church in Grand Island.

"Journey of the Heart: HIV/AIDS Awareness Weekend," a two-day event, is aimed at educating Grand Island residents about HIV/AIDS and what local residents can do to curb the spread of the viruses.

The Muttis are chairmen of the new Global AIDS Fund for the United Methodist Church.

Mr. Mutti said the couple wanted to bring a face to this disease and talk about their own personal journey dealing with HIV/AIDS.

The Muttis have lost two sons to HIV/AIDS. Their son, Tim, died in 1990 and their other son, Fred, died in 1991. During the weekend teach-in, they shared their personal experiences and knowledge about the disease.

"It's a little hard to turn and be indifferent to somebody who has lived with it personally," Mr. Mutti said.

The Muttis have visited Africa and India on a number of occasions as part of their commitment to educate people and fight the disease that last year killed 2.1 million people worldwide, including 330,000 children, according to the worldwide HIV/AIDS charity, AVERT. Since 1981, 25 million people have died from the disease.

The African continent is particularly hard hit by the HIV virus. According to AVERT, there are more than 12 million AIDS orphans in Africa. It's estimated that young people younger than 25 account for half of all new HIV infections.

Mr. Mutti said it was after their sons became ill as a result of the virus that he and his wife began their mission to educate people about this devastating killer.

"We were a little hesitant to do that at first," he said.

Mrs. Mutti said she and her husband didn't tell anyone for about a year after they found out that their sons were infected with the virus.

"The boys did not look sick and we could hide that," she said. "It was such a stigma at that time."

Mrs. Mutti said HIV/AIDS remains stigmatized, despite all the efforts worldwide to educate people about the disease.

The only way to know you have the disease is by getting tested. But the Muttis said that in many developing countries, the testing process is done out in the open for others to see.

"We tell our story to help people become aware because this is a terrible disease in the world," Mr. Mutti said.

"Almost every time we tell it, someone comes up to us and tells us that they have lost a brother or a son, but were not able to tell anybody," Mrs. Mutti said. "Even now, years after the epidemic started, people are still afraid to tell."

The fear people have about the disease that keeps it from being treated more effectively comes from the ways HIV is transmitted and the social taboos associated with those means of transmission, including unprotected sex, injection drug use and infected mother to her infant.

"Getting people to talk about it is still not easy," Mr. Mutti said.

The task of overcoming those barriers is something that the Muttis said their faith has given them the strength to take on. They focus especially on God's request for people to not be judgmental of others.

The Muttis travel to churches around the nation in their mission to inform people about HIV/AIDS.

Mr. Mutti said a strong common message the churches have is that if someone has AIDS, or a relative or friend has it, no one should hesitate for them to come to the church for comfort and help without being judged.

Through their work with the Global AIDS fund, they have raised more than $1 million to educate people about the disease. Their goal is $8 million. Seventy-five percent of the money raised goes to help the global fight against AIDS outside the United States. The remaining 25 percent is used in the U.S., where it's estimated by the Centers for Disease Control that 1.3 million Americans are infected by HIV/AIDS.

"Jesus was a healer, and we ought to be like that, too, in his name," Mr. Mutti said.

"Let's put a face on this," Mrs. Mutti said. "Let people know that when you are saying something about someone who has AIDS and being judgmental, you are talking about their son, their daughter, their brother or whatever, and it's something that's not appreciated."

Mr. Mutti said the sermon he'll give this morning at Trinity United Methodist Church will sum up why they do what they do John 3:16: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life."