By: Bhagya Senaratne
Sleepy-eyed and running with half packed bags, the volunteers of 'Together We Are The Solution' drove to the Nawalapitiya town to prepare for the World AIDS Day Programme on December 1st 2009. We planned a day full of surprises for the town's folk. Situated, in the hill country, Nawalapitiya is one of the coldest areas in Sri Lanka, and is prominently known for its tea plantation.
Having decided to make a different approach from the usual AIDS Day programmes held in the metropolis of Colombo, 'Together We Are The Solution' team, upon the invitation of the Nawalapitiya local police, decided on its new location, because it is a locale where issues of HIV, sexual and reproductive health are less discussed, and also a place where, according to the local police, a high rate of rape and sexual abuse takes place.
The event was made colourful with many innovative creations, such as the Stigma Tunnel, the 'Knowledge Dansala', and Street Theatre. The Stigma Tunnel was created to depict the life of a Person Living with HIV. The Tunnel consisted of five sections and provided the entrants to the Tunnel with a glimpse of stigma, the People Living with HIV (PLHIV) have to face. The five section were divided in to the clinic, the home, the road, the office, and finally the most important section was the counselling section by PLHIV who are part of the team. The entrants were briefed on correct information such as HIV transmission, and was provided with the opportunity to express their views on the stigma they encountered through the Tunnel journey.
The team began street theatre that included slogan shouting in Tamil and Sinhalese, awareness songs to popular folk tunes such as 'surangani malu genawa', again in both languages, and the distribution of leaflets in Sinhala and Tamil. With the supported of the police, it was possible for us to target commuters at the bus stand and train station, consumers and owners at shops and markets, public outside religious places of worship. The team was even able to enter the Nawalapitiya Base Hospital. The street activities conducted team was well appreciated by the pedestrians as they stopped and enthusiastically watched to see what happened; while some eagerly questioned us to know what the commotion, created by the street drama was all about.
The Chief guest for the event was DIG ,Central Province, Pujitha Jayasinghe. A local threatre group performed a stage drama after which, DIG Pujitha Jayasinghe inaugurated the 'Knowledge Dansala' and the Stigma Tunnel. The DIG left with the words that we have to replicate this programme across the central province and beyond. Enduring the weather conditions, the volunteers were energetic in making sure that this event was successful. This was made a reality, when after the DIG's inauguration, more than 100 members of the public individually and later in groups through the Stigma Tunnel, despite the heavy downpour. Having listened to some of the responses by those who went through the Stigma Tunnel, it was seen that this innovative creation was effective, and much approved by the public.”One participant of the Stigma Tunnel stated “I can’t believe that families treat each other like that just because they’re HIV+”, while another stated “It was awful. I never want anybody to go through that experience."
Despite being physically exhausted, 'Together We Are The Solution' team, with a strong will power, made sure that the World AIDS Day Programme in Nawalapitiya was as successful as they had planned it out to be. The team will be planning to hold a similar event in a different locale in a few weeks time.
**This was written to the Daily News. You can see the article here.**