There’s nothing that can’t be done if we raise our voice as one!

On behalf of the National Youth Coalition of Sri Lanka on Sexual & Reproductive Health and its affiliated organizations it’s with great pleasure that, we invite you and your respective organization to be a part of the International Candlelight Memorial Event 2010 to be held at the Galle Face Green on Sunday, May 23rd.

In an effort to raise the bar on Sri Lanka’s response to HIV & AIDS, a group of local organizations,  actively work in the field of HIV & AIDS, Sexuality and Sexual Reproductive Rights (SRH) have come together to form one collective voice! This coalition who have adopted the slogan ‘Together We Are the Solution’ as their mantra, believes in consistent and clear messages in terms of advocacy and awareness on HIV & AIDS, Sexuality and SRH.

Whilst Sri Lanka remains “a low prevalence” country HIV & AIDS infections are on the rise, 137 new infections were reported in 2009. Moreover, if we are to learn the lessons from other South Asian nations like India, a country that has a “low prevalence” of HIV should strive to remain a “low prevalence” country. Awareness, education and advocacy are needed now!

The HIV & AIDS response thus far in Sri Lanka has been focused mainly on most at risk populations (MARPS) e.g. Commercial sex workers, Intravenous Drug users, trishaw drivers, beach boys, etc. however the coalition believes that all populations matter, especially the youth, if we are to arrest the spread of HIV in our country. The marginalization of MARPS, the stigma and discrimination of people living with HIV (PLHIV) results from the silence and ignorance that surrounds issues related to HIV, sex and sexuality.

The coalition wants to go beyond isolated workshops, events that spring up around World AIDS Day, and seeks to challenge the young people and not so young people of our country to LEARN MORE! STAND UP! & SPEAK OUT! To remove the culture of silence and fear that surrounds HIV, sex and sexuality and to move towards and equitable society for all.

With the technical and financial support from FPA Sri Lanka and Standard Chartered Bank in Sri Lanka, Together We Are The Solution is to have its program at the Galle Face Green on the 23^rd of May 2010.

A team of volunteers from across the island will be trained in handling the event and activities, as Together We Are the Solution believes in clear and consistent messaging in their education and awareness programmes. Volunteers will first be trained in Colombo at the FPA Sri Lanka, 37/27, Bullers Lane, Colombo 07 on the 23rd May. The programme at the Galle Face Green will commence at 3.00 p.m. on the 23^rd May culminating with the candlelight memorial at 7.30 p.m. in order to commemorate the people who lost their lives due to HIV and AIDS and was stigmatized as a result of their HIV status.

read the complete press release here

together we are the solution!

So these are the activities planned for the 16 May (Sunday) at the Galle Face Green;

Refresher Programme for the Volunteers.

A short refresher programme will be done at the Galle Face Green itself to polish up the existing knowledge base within the coalition. Resources within the coalition of organizations and individuals will be used with no additional cost. The programme will commence at 12 noon along with lunch and will be of about 2 to 3 hours in duration.

A volunteer group of about 30 or more individuals are willing to be a part of this refresher programme. All material developed during the campaign last year will be used for this purpose.

One-on-one awareness raising programme.

Once the volunteers refresh their knowledge on the subject matter, they will start a one-on-one awareness campaign in the entire area. They will talk to the general public by giving out brochures and leaflets and there by generate interest to be receptive to information. Once they talk to them, the volunteers will pin a red ribbon to symbolize that, they have been given information related to HIV and AIDS.

The key to success in this activity is that, the more people you reach the higher the impact would be. Thus, the volunteers are encouraged to speak to more and more people and specifically the influential people in the surrounding such as the three-wheeler drivers, military personnel, etc.

Disruptive Theatre.

Disruptive theatre can grab the attention of the general public in seconds and it makes people think of their lives as they might not be aware the intention of the theatre and what’s actually happening. This avoids theatre being considered as just merely for entertainment. It is much easier and effective to give messages in this form rather than street drams and other tools.

Wesak Lantern making and lighting them along the Galle Road.

Since it’s the Wesak season and people are attracted to places where lanterns are being made and displayed, we believe that using Wesak lanterns to give a message on the candlelight memorial event. In other words, this will be the centre of attraction.

We intend to bring around forty readymade lanterns and leave it in the location while have an area where volunteers would sit and would be making more lanterns then and there. Soon after the public being caught their attention the volunteers would invite them to join them and make more lanterns. These lanterns will be decorated with red ribbons, etc. Any one is free to make any kind of lantern with the available resources.

Once the lanterns are made, those will be hung along the Galle Road and will be lit by the general public itself around 7.30 p.m. we would also invite key people like the Officer-in-charge of the Colombo Fort Police station, military personnel present in the area, etc to be a part of the entire event.

We believe that, these lanterns would give us a chance to commemorate the people who lost their lives due to HIV and AIDS and was stigmatized as a result of their HIV status. Also it would add more colour and glamour to the event. As mentioned earlier, this would be the centre of attraction at the venue.

Involvement of Celebrities.

We in tend to invite various celebrities and well known people to be a part of the event and help us out to talk to people, distribute brochures and pin red ribbons. This is done to ensure the fact that, HIV and AIDS can be infected by any person and it’s extremely all right to get involved and be activist in helping the others to protect themselves. We believe that, people would open up to well known personalities and would be much more receptive to information.

The celebrities and the known figures coming in for the event would be asked to act completely unaware of a planned event to make it much more interesting and spontaneous. They would pretend to be that, either they came to Galle Face randomly or saw something happening and was attracted. The public should not be aware that they were invited to the venue specifically for a event or so.

If anyone have contacts of people whom you could convince to come, please do so and let us know.

Banners and t-shirts with messages on HIV and AIDS.

All banners printed earlier for our previous campaign would be used for this purpose to keep the cost at a minimal. However, we are intending to print some t-shirts with messages on it and also as few give-a-ways for most supportive individuals in the location.

I have also attached the proposal with the budget in this email. Please go through and give comments. Also let us know if anyone knows of anyone who could fund this.

That’s about it.

So join us on the 16th and help us out!

The Chaos Within… ‘Irida Pola’

Anuradhapura. The city of kings. Forgotten and re-remembered ruins. Temples and trees offering the devout all they desire… even peace. Just for a moment. Lost in the smells and bells of burning coconut oil and flowers that decay slowly as their fragrance drifts on a quiet wind from nostril to nostril…

Anuradhapura Sunday Market (Irida Pola). Screeching vendors. Riotous colour. Where sickly smells of fresh and rotting fruit compete. Stagnant pools of floating fish scales. Life milling together with life as bargains are sought and bags bulge, misshapen with produce. Into this chaos descended 52 TWATS (31 TWATS from the Anuradhapura district, and 21 TWATS from Colombo, who being the twats they are, had traveled for five hours in a sardine can on wheels).

The Sunday market or ‘Irida Pola’ is not just a melting pot… it is a cauldron of gooey, lumpy, tasty, nasty Sri Lanka. It is a frontline. It is where people are! A place where we can tick the boxes of young and old and everything in between… there is no better place to engage with unwitting ignorance and related prejudice. Fifty two twats were soon lost within, finding their way, probing and questioning and taking HIV to the Sunday shopper, when she least expected it.

Would they be reluctant to participate in quizzes? Would they fling our leaflets into the gutter? Would they wear a red ribbon to support people living with HIV? Would they understand?

These were our fears… our concerns, and in the end our realities that day. People were rushed and did not always stop to fill the quiz. People grabbed flyers reflexively and some did find their way to a crumpled grave on the pathway. And as for wearing a ribbon… here was our greatest challenge of the day. It was as if the pin we were using was tipped with HIV and that we were there with the express purpose of sticking it into them. The myth of HIV filled injections lying predatorily on seats in cinemas and buses have had their desired effect.

But the twats continued undeterred, rising to this challenge as only a twat can in the face of cultural excuses and hurriedness – need to get home! Questionnaires started to fill up. Even questions that included anal sex were ticked. Those expecting another mundane promotion on a leaflet were instead confronted with GET TESTED for HIV! And soon there were these ribbons that fluttered on vendors and shoppers like little crimson butterflies.

The disruptive theatre teams pushed forward. Questioning and arguing and creating a general stir that allowed for crowds to gather and listen to modes of transmission, myths, the possibility of living full lives with HIV, the sadness of stigma and discrimination.

In the end we had close to one thousand questionnaires to take home from a footfall of thousands. Nothing? Something? A real beginning. The beginning of our Pola Strategy. A strategy that will be refined. A strategy that will allow us to engage with real people. If we are to change perceptions and dispel myths, in the end there is nothing better than a discussion, over a cup of tea or even the sweet juice of an orange king coconut. People listen more when a face is before them, a face that is passionate, and faces that clearly believe it is worth spending their Sunday talking to other faces about HIV. Despite the hurriedness, despite the culture question, we found a willingness to listen… an acceptance that WE need to know more about HIV. Not one twat experienced any rejection beyond a shake of the head, or feigned deafness.

And so… as if by accident, the ‘Irida Pola’ campaign has just begun. Every city, town village has a market day, be it Sunday or another day of the week… now imagine us hiring out a space too at this market, where we put on display our wares… be it counselors, or necklaces made at IDH, or IEC material or condoms (under the table to be dispensed like drugs until the day comes that we can dispense them over the counter), where we fan out and infect others with our enthusiasm and passion and knowledge… and why limit it to sexual and reproductive health? Imagine what a team of twats can do for this country by connecting with real people, by using tools like disruptive theatre to address prejudices beyond HIV? And most importantly… to LISTEN to what people who go to the ‘Irida Pola’ have to say… because it is in listening that we learn what we need to say.

It helps being a twat. You never know what you may stumble on to…

Hans Billimoria

Breaking the Silence

Volunteers at the end of the programme facing for a group photo.

The First Candlelight memorial event under the banner “Together we are the solution”, a first of a series of 6 such events, which will lead up to World AIDS Day and beyond, took place last week at Excel World in Colombo. This series of events that will be implemented in 6 areas across Sri Lanka, including Anuradhapura, Kandy, Batticoloa, Negombo and Galle,  is aimed to raise awareness on Sexual and Reproductive Health, how HIV is spread, combat the stigma faced by people living with HIV, and dispel myths and misconceptions about HIV using interactive  and innovative tools using youth facilitators. The initiative funded by UNAIDS, and being implemented by a coalition that brought together 15 organizations including Positive Hopes Alliance, Lanka + (PLHIV Support organization), The Salvation Army, EQUAL GROUND, Alcohol and Drug Information Centre (ADIC), AIESEC, Save Lanka Kids, Beyond Borders, Companions on a Journey, The Youth committee of the Family Planning Association of Sri Lanka, National Youth Coalition Sri Lanka (NYCSL), PANOS, Plan International, World Vision and The Women’s Support group.,

Posters communicating key messages dispelling myths relating to the stigma and discrimination faced by People Living with HIV (PLHIV) such as their ability to live normal lives were displayed in Excel World.

Trained youth volunteers conducted quizzes, and organised games such as risk or no risk, designed to test public knowledge and to help educate people about transmission of HIV aids. The game Risk or No Risk showed that many people had believed that a person can contract HIV through kissing an HIV+ person, or even by eating food prepared by a HIV+ chef. Many people who played were ignorant of the fact that many people contract HIV from unfaithful spouses. Participants were made aware of their misconceptions at the end of the game, and the actual modes of how HIV spreads were explained to them, as well as the measures which could be taken to stop the virus being transmitted.

Amongst the many activities conducted were a poster creation competition, where the best poster would be chosen for a programme that will be organized by UNAIDS for World Aids Day which falls on 1^st December and a graffiti floor so that the shoppers could write down messages, thoughts and responses to issues such as condom use, and how they would respond if one of their friends were to contract HIV. There was also the ‘Where do you stand?’ game, in which players decided that, if anything, they would do to avoid becoming infected by HIV. Most people said that they would either try and be faithful to their partners or use condoms as a key method of protective sex.

While the morning and early afternoon saw small numbers of participants, numbers picked up significantly in the latter half of the afternoon, and despite the fact that many people had misconceptions about HIV, they were all willing to learn from the volunteers, and show support to PLHIV by wearing the AIDS red ribbon. The closing event for the days programme, candlelight memorial, commenced with innovative play examining the prejudice that PLHIV face in Sri Lanka, and outlined how the vicious cycle happens: ’Silence’, ‘ignorance’, ‘fear’, ‘stigma’, ’iscrimination’ and ‘death’, after which everyone present, including volunteers and guests alike, took part in a pledge to educate each other about the discrimination faced by PLHIV.

One of the popular celebrities, Randhir spoke about the importance of raising awareness about HIV and AIDS and ‘packaging’ these messages to young people in a way that is familiar to them, “on their IPods” in effect. He then lit the first lamp on the stage… (so and so from such organization) followed suit in remembering those who had lost their lives to HIV and AIDS, not only in Sri Lanka but across the world.

The next programme will be conducted on 26 July at the Anuradhapura. Contact Prathiba on 0715869955 or Milinda on 0772543307.

Together We Are the Solution – Press Release, July 2009

Rational:

In an effort to raise the bar on Sri Lanka’s response to HIV & AIDS, a group of local and International organizations that actively work in the field of HIV & AIDS, Sexuality and Sexual Reproductive Rights (SRH) have together to form one collective voice! This coalition who have adopted the slogan ‘Together We Are the Solution’ as their mantra, believes in consistent and clear messages in terms of advocacy and awareness on HIV & AIDS, Sexuality and SRH.

Whilst Sri Lanka remains “a low prevalence” country HIV & AIDS infections are on the rise, 202 new infections were reported in 2008. Moreover, if we are to learn the lessons from other South Asian nations like India, a country that has a “low prevalence” of HIV should strive to remain a “low prevalence” country. Awareness, education and advocacy are needed now!

The HIV & AIDS response thus far in Sri Lanka has been focused mainly on most at risk populations (MARPS) e.g. Commercial sex workers, Intravenous Drug users, trishaw drivers, beach boys etc, however the coalition believes that all populations matter, especially the youth, if we are to arrest the spread of HIV in our country. The marginalization of MARPS, the stigma and discrimination of people living with HIV (PLHIV) results from the silence and ignorance that surrounds issues related to HIV, sex and sexuality.

The coalition wants to go beyond isolated workshops, events that spring up around World AIDS Day, and seeks to challenge the young people and not so young people of our country to LEARN MORE! STAND UP! & SPEAK OUT! To remove the culture of silence and fear that surrounds HIV, sex and sexuality and to move towards and equitable society for all.

We want to have more than the token World AIDS Day event- this is about continuous awareness raising of HIV & AIDS related issues whilst at the same time to advocate the rights and needs of those who already live with HIV in Sri Lanka,”

says Milinda Rajapaksha from the National Youth Coalition for Sexual & Reproductive Rights.

Partners:

Currently, the coalition includes representation from Positive Hopes Alliance, Lanka + (PLHIV Support organizations), The Salvation Army, EQUAL GROUND, Alcohol and Drug Information Centre (ADIC), Beyond Borders, Companions on a Journey, The Youth committee of the Family Planning Association of Sri Lanka, National Youth Coalition Sri Lanka (NYCSL), PANOS, National STD & AIDS Control programme (NSACP), Save Lanka Kids, World Vision and The Women’s Support Group. It is hoped that more agencies will join as the event-series gathers momentum leading up to World AIDS Day.

Candlelight Event coming to a Town near You from July to November 09:

With the full financial support from UNAIDS, Together We Are The Solution plan to begin their program in Colombo and then visit Kandy, Galle, Negombo, Batticaloa and Anuradhapura conducting similar events modified to suit the needs and requirements of the visited town. The event will include street theatre, quiz competitions, condom cricket and other interactive games and more! All designed specifically to discuss HIV, sex and sexuality in sensitive and culturally appropriate ways.

Volunteers:

A team of volunteers from across the island will be trained in handling the event and activities, as Together We Are the Solution believes in clear and consistent messaging in their education and awareness programmes. Volunteers will first be trained in Colombo at the Family Planning Association, 27/37, Bullers Lane, Colombo 07 on the 11 July. The first program will be held at Excel World in Colombo on the 19 July 2009 starting at 10 a.m. and culminating with the candlelight memorial at 6.30 p.m.

For more information see our blog

Or call Prathibha on 0715869955.

There’s nothing that can’t be done if we raise our voice as one’