In October of last year, the Rotaract Club of Sri Lanka embarked on a wide and ambitious campaign to enlighten a significant portion of the country’s urban and suburban youth about the numerous social and health factors relating to HIV/AIDS. Dubbed ‘HIV & YOUth’, the two month initiative drew in over 1000 keen young men and women and was unanimously hailed by all of its organizers as an overwhelming success.
The programme essentially consisted of ten workshops, five movie screenings and two forum theatre performances. Each event tackled a different element of the disease, ranging from its attached social stigma right down to the many misconceptions surrounding it. The initiative was directed at young people to correspond with 2010 being declared the ‘International Year of Youth’ by the United Nations General Assembly’
Director of Community Service for Rotaract District 3220 (The Rotaract Club of Sri Lanka), Bhagya Ratnayake, says that HIV& YOUth’s primary goal of initiating peer to peer communication about HIV/AIDS, was firmly met during many of the workshops and Forum Theatre performances.
“Each of these was very interactive and nearly all the young people that attended them engaged in the open dialogue about AIDS,” She explained.
In addition she said each workshop, movie and play radically reformed its audience’s perception of HIV/AIDS, helping them steer clear of prejudice against the many people afflicted with the virus. They also advised all of the youngsters on the proper practices which prevent contraction.
“We drew a total of around 1500 youth throughout the two months. Each workshop saw a crowd of about 35-50 because of the limited space in which they could be accommodated, but the movie screenings and the plays brought in much larger numbers,” she revealed.
The forum theatre play, ‘Who turned the lights off’ was particularly well received when it was staged in both Colombo and Kandy to a keen and engaging crowd. The story revolved around the life of a very normal 17-year-old girl who contracts HIV and has her world thrown into a tailspin before eventually committing suicide.
The plays were chiefly propelled by the members of Beyond Borders and were a fine example of how the raft of different organizations involved in the whole project banded together in pursuit of a common cause.
Another of the club’s principal partners was the United Nations Development Fund (UNDP) and they contributed invaluably by screening the five movies. Each movie touched upon a different HIV/AIDS related topic, such as transmission of the virus in infants, the details of intimate transmission and the behaviour that increases the risk of transmission.
Buoyed by the immense success of the event, Bhagya says the Rotaract club has plans to stage the event annually, playing a continued role in the battle against one of the world’s most widespread diseases.
“The response was fantastic and we want to thank all the groups that partnered with us. Next year we are hoping to stage it on an even bigger scale and reach out to even more people.” |
E-mail
