photo by steed media service

Shelia Jones is a mother on a mission. After losing her oldest daughter, Samara, to AIDS in January, the 50-year-old Atlanta native gathered the spiritual strength to try to save other African Americans from contracting the deadly virus. Sharing Samara’s story is her calling, she says.

“[My daughter’s] message was abstinence, but if you must [have sex] protect yourself, because … AIDS is real … and she was adamant in letting them know [that it was] the result of a choice [she] made to have unprotected sex,” says Jones of her daughter’s speeches to metropolitan Atlanta youth groups. “I don’t want another mother to have to go through that. That’s my passion, to continue and get the word out.”

Jones says her daughter lived with the virus for 17 years before succumbing at 32. Because of other illnesses like skin cancer, paralysis and dementia that she battled due to the virus, Samara was unable to complete coursework for a social work degree she was pursuing at North Carolina’s Winston Salem State University and Atlanta’s Georgia State University.

“Back during that time, [HIV/AIDS] was fairly new. From my understanding, it was a death sentence. But I refused to believe that,” shares Jones of the moment she got word that her daughter tested positive. “So after crying [and] staying in the bed for three days, I got up and told her, ‘No, we’re preparing you to live, we’re not preparing you to die.’ ”

Jones says Samara never gave up on helping youth, even when her body began to surrender. Her daughter was heavily involved in the Atlanta-based AID Atlanta, a nonprofit AIDS services organization, and a local Rotary Club.

Jones is currently pursuing an HIV/AIDS ministry at her church, New Beginning Full Gospel Church in Decatur, Ga., taking AIDS awareness classes at AID Atlanta and writing a memoir on her relationship with her daughter. She has two other children, and seeks to inspire other mothers who have children infected with the virus. “Love them, show them, and let them know that they’re loved,” she says. marissa mitchell

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