World AIDS Day 2010

Chanting "People of Pune, wake up"

The lead up to World AIDS Day was very busy for all volunteers and staff alike. Many of the volunteers worked together to create a short street play that would be performed throughout the city of Pune in the weeks before 1st December. Their preparation and rehearsals really paid off, with many local Wake Up Pune! volunteers joining the campaign to spread awareness about HIV and AIDS throughout Pune.

DISHA ladies performing in a rural community

The DISHA ladies would often work alongside the volunteers by setting up a ‘Stigma Tunnel’ that would walk people through a range of scenes and emotions to try to simulate how people diagnosed with HIV are stigmatised by society. Participants would start in a doctors surgery, receiving their diagnosis, and would work their way through into their home where the stigma surrounding the virus can become unbearable.

On World AIDS Day itself, 1st December, Dunc, Kassie and I joined the rest of the volunteers Shaniwarwada Fort to march from this landmark site, through the city and ended up at a school and medical college. The procession included the DISHA team from Deep Griha, DGS and Wake Up Pune! volunteers, clients from the DISHA programme, local nurses who provided medical support in the World AIDS Day campaigns, as well as many other local charities throughout Pune who also work to raise awareness about HIV and AIDS, provide rehabilitative care and social events for those diagnosed as HIV positive. Ella, one of the Development in Action volunteers wrote a brilliant article on the day’s events for the Deep Griha website.

Marching through Pune