AAHU Fellow Donna Powell: I Can't See Myself Doing Anything Else

AAHU Fellow Donna Powell

One in a series about recent graduates of the African American HIV University (AAHU).

Each week, Monday through Friday, Donna Powell, 49, drives more than 300 miles to and from work. She is a prevention-programs services manager for the Fredericksburg Area HIV/AIDS Support Services (FAHASS), a nonprofit agency in Virginia that offers services to people living with or affected by HIV/AIDS, and she absolutely loves her job. That's why the nearly three-hour trip from her home in Chesapeake, Va., to the Fredericksburg office doesn't bother her at all.

"It's worth it. It really is," Powell says. "My colleagues actually bet on how long I would last traveling back and forth and I won, because two-and-a-half years later, I am still working with them."

FAHASS offers HIV testing, counseling, education, case management and linkage-to-care services, and Powell and her team handle all the prevention programs at the organization. "I really love what I do. I can't for the life of me see myself doing anything else at this point of my life," she says.

The Washington, D.C., native, who has been working in the HIV/AIDS field for over 17 years, decided to join the fight against the disease after noticing that a few HIV-positive friends had no support system. "No one was helping them, no one wanted to deal with them or talk about the disease with them," she says. "But I kept asking, 'What can we do? What are you supposed to do? What medications do you have to take? How often do you have to take this medication?' I became, not so much their caretaker, but an advocate for them."

A Career She Loves

She relocated to Portsmouth, Va., from D.C. in 2000 and began volunteering in the health-prevention department at the Urban League of Hampton Roads, which provides services and programs in education, employment, health and housing to Black communities there. Powell helped with outreach, getting the word out to the community about HIV/AIDS. She went on to work with the Eastern Virginia AIDS Network (formerly Tidewater AIDS Community Taskforce) as a senior prevention specialist, where she managed a team of 10 and handled the MSM program for several years. "I enjoyed making a difference and trying to get people to look at their behaviors and get them to see the little changes they could make to help prolong their life."

Powell stayed at the organization until it closed its doors 14 years later because of a lack of funding. She was unemployed and not sure whether she'd even stay in the HIV/AIDS field. When she received a call from a former mentee about the position at FAHASS, she adamantly said no because of the distance. But after she helped the group with its National HIV Testing Day, her feelings changed. "The people in this very small organization had the heart as wide as the sea," she says. "So I said, 'OK, God, you are opening doors for me that I never thought would be open, in a place where I never even thought about going, so let me just see.'" Nearly three years later, she has no regrets.

The Best Decision

After settling into her position at FAHASS, Powell received a call from the director of prevention at the Virginia Department of Health about the AAHU program. She was skeptical at first, especially because of the 30-day boot camp at UCLA, but after talking to some members at the Black AIDS Institute, she decided to seize the opportunity, and it ending up being one of the best decisions she's ever made.

"I loved the networking that came out of it and the knowledge that I've gained throughout the training. Even though I have been in this field for 17 years, no one actually talked about the actual science or natural origin of HIV/AIDS. That was enlightening for me," Powell admits. She has been able to pass on the information and knowledge she received from AAHU to her community and talk about pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, and dispel some of myths surrounding HIV/AIDS. "AAHU afforded me the ability to better my skills as far as community mobilization and the message that I present to the community."

Powell is now in the process of starting a BTAN chapter in Fredericksburg, which is a necessity because of the high rate of infections among African Americans in northern and eastern Virginia. "We need more foot soldiers out here to get the message out to the Black community. Fredericksburg is a very small area, and we need more people to be part of the process. I can't do it alone," she says.

Her training at AAHU has inspired her to take her HIV/AIDS career even further, and Powell hopes to eventually open her own HIV/AIDS agency that will provide prevention methods, education and care services. "I am very thankful for the opportunity AAHU gave me. I am now better equipped to fight this fight."

LaShieka Hunter is a freelance writer and editor based on Long Island, N.Y.