Last Sunday kicked off Global AIDS Week of Action. We had people on the street sign a pledge not to discriminate against people living with HIV. I was in charge of one of the four locations and am pretty sure that we collected the most signatures. (Not that it was a contest...) The banners look great and I later decorated the Deep Griha volunteer office with them.
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| MG Road banner at the office |
After the signature campaign, we grabbed ice cream then lunch (it was really hot out) and rode around on my buddy’s motorcycle for a bit (whoo hoo!).
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| My team with our banner and ice cream |
Up next were the rallies. Two rallies started at different locations and met on a major road in town. The point was to get people’s attention. I was the only Westerner in one of the locations. They put me at the front of the crowd. And look! A similar picture was in at least one other local paper.
A candlelight vigil followed the rallies. Most of the program was in Marathi, but I’m pretty sure it included a description of our work, information about HIV testing, a skit about the HIV hotline, a thank you to the founder and board members, a testimonial by a person living with HIV, two traditional dances by teenage girls, one modern dance to Sheila by a nine year old boy, a singer, a band, several other things, and yes, a candlelight ceremony. All in all, the 90 minute program started 30 minutes late and went for 2.5 hours.
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| Rohit, me, and Kassie at the end of the day |
It was a long day and I felt lucky to be a part of it.
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