Part I: Reflections from India Satellite in Barcelona

[Guest guest]

India Satellite at XIV International AIDS Conference

July 7, 12– 6 PM, Venue: 2B

Lining Prevention with Care, Support and Treatment

Apologies for bringing the report of the satellite very late. This

message is to share the moments of solidarity and positive spirit

captured at the satellite session on July 7th in Barcelona and also

to thank you for your participation, generosity and willingness and

endurance to space and time constraints. In the following weeks we

will be posting the scientific reports and various talks as they

become available

Did we have enough audience?

Indeed we did. We had 300+ member stopped by, many individuals

couldn't get in, however had an opportunity to visit Ashok, jayasudha

and Vasathi's photographs under the radiance of candle light outside

the hall on the table. Let us not forget to tell you that, true to

Indian tradition, we made 1/3 of the delegates sit on the floor, ½ of

the delegates to stand by the walls to accommodate more people. Thank

you for spreading the word about the satellite to all the delegates.

Did we accomplish anything?

Our answer is yes! The major objective of these meetings are to

provide physical and political space for various sectors to come

together to exchange cards, get to know each others work, to build

collaborations, and to begin a dialogue on critical issue. We had to

physically move many mini meetings that were happening outside the

room, to a bit farther inorder not to disturb the people inside the

room. Salient points on technical discussions will be posted in a

weeks time.

What is new?

We also had a specific mission to introduce new health minister, new

NACO director, and new INP president among other introductions. And

of course our new health minister needed no introduction to the

Indian audience and brought in lightness to the meeting. We know very

little about our new project director, and madam, we urge you to

reach out to various individuals, as every body is keen on meeting

you and getting to know you.

Can we work together?

Absolutely without any hesitation!! One of the crucial missions of

these meetings is to build solidarity. Solidarity is what reflected

through the meeting. The patience all the delegates had during the

meeting in handling space and time challenges certainly reinforced

that, provided a common platform it is very much possible for all of

us to come together in accomplishing our common goals despite

different ideologies. We need to strive to build that common platform

and common goals.

Do have the commitment of the Leadership?

Without any doubt. You name the leadership, and they all were

present. It was heart warming to see the Ministers, secretaries, vice

chancellors, members of parliament, the leadership of NACO, CDC,

USAID, UNDP, CIDA, DFID, UNAIDS, NIH, positive groups, NGOs,

journalists, national and international foundations, American

universities, and international organizations be

present in that room in solidarity as though they would endure any

pressures to serve HIV positive individuals in India. The highlight

of this meeting is also to see and hear young leadership. Bright and

beautiful, ready to take on –given an opportunity.

Should India Provide treatment?

Room decoration filled with the photographs of the lost activists did

bring the somberness and urgency required to deal with care, support

and treatment issues.

Many of the activists worked many hours in preparation for the

memorial. They prepared their two minutes speeches with diligence.

They started decorating the room beginning at 10 AM, forgoing many

important sessions; it is as though it is too sacred to let any other

thoughts creep in except to remember those who were brave enough to

begin the fight against all odds.

They insisted that we light the lamps in memory of those soldiers we

lost, and these lamps remain lit through the satellite meeting. They

were indeed left lit and for others to see outside the satellite

meeting.

The out cry from the activist demanding care, support and treatment,

both at the Indian satellite meeting and UNAIDS/NACO meeting is

certainly not a reflection of imitating the activism of the west. It

is a desperate cry for help from all of us to try hard to start

providing so called CHEAP DRUGS we take pride in exporting to the

whole world. It is desperate call to action for all of us think

harder on saving those young productive lives. Many doctors who were

there were also screaming within their hearts as much as

these activists. How long can we silence them??

Discussion on how to move forward in providing treatment in India

will be initiated on SAATHII and AIDS-India e-forums soon.

Volunteers Volunteers every where !!

Somebody commented whether we imported all our volunteers. Indeed

room was full of volunteers, volunteers who were willing to stand for

six hours, volunteers willing to do it all, volunteers who worked

with us late nights to finalize the agenda, volunteers who made the

silk panels, and printed the photographs of the activists, volunteers

who stood outside because there was no room and volunteers who

volunteered not to speak because of lack of time.

Many of these volunteers include heads of the organizations, program

directors of the state, health secretaries of the state and hotshot

academicians. We thank you all for your heart of volunteerism

Inspiration for working harder in building the common platform

This was indeed a special meeting for SAATHII, which is going to

serve as a source of inspiration to try harder for us to work towards

building the common platform. " . We are afraid to name the names in

thanking as though the list will never end – Thank you from our

deepest corners of heart for helping us to make the satellite happen

in a positive spirit.

Disrespecting your time

We apologize for starting late and cutting short the sessions. Lack of

space and also the security issues related to the arrival of the Union

Health Minister were the major contributing factors. We apologize to

all the speakers and panelist for these unanticipated delays. Many

speakers volunteered not to speak or change the format as required

due to time limitations –without your generosity towards this, we

couldn't have run the sessions. Thank you for your understanding.

And the chairs, you did an exceptional job by adapting to the

uncertainties of the time and for staying until the end.

Suggestions for better meetings

Dr. Purnima Mane suggested that we separate political events from

technical sessions and also asked us to run whole day satellite

sessions rather than half-day satellite sessions. We will take these

suggestions seriously for our next meetings to plan better meetings.

Share your experiences and vision with us

We urge all the speakers to send us your electronic copies of

speeches to us so that we can post it for larger audience.

The list that will never end and not limited to --

We are greatly indebted to Mrs. Meenakshi Ghosh and PL Joshi of NACO,

Bimal of APAC, and Pradeep of UNAIDS, Dora

Warren and Bharat Parekh of CDC, Joe of AIDS-India e-forum,

Health Secretary of Tamilnadu, Program Director of TNSACS, Mohammad

Rafique of Tata Tea, Abraham, Geeta and Daisy of INP+, Khousalya,

Padmaja, Lavanya and of PWN+, Rama Pandiyan of TNP+, Anil

Purohit of FXB, NM , Mini and Paramesware of MGR Medical

University, Ravi Verma of Population Council, Savita Pahwa of North

Shore General Hospital, Eknath Naik of University of South Florida,

Koen VanRompay and Purnima Madhivanan of University of California,

Avini Amin of CHANGE, Ishdeep Kohli, Ashok Rao Kavi of Humsafar,

Shekar of SWAM, Shyamala Ashok of SFDRT, Shyamala Nataraj of SIAAP,

Ramesh Raghavan of Sprint PCS, Sasi Jonnalagadda of 's Hopkin's

Unviersity, Prasanthi Gondi of Columbia University, all the speakers

and rapperteurs who attended the Saturday pre-satellite dinner

meeting, all others who are friends and supporters of SAATHII for

assisting us for long hours in preparing and conducting the satellite.

Special thanks to SAATHII Summer Intern Sarika Rane who worked long

hours on satellite preprations, and SAATHII staff Venkatesan

Chakrapani, , Pawan Dhall and Sajesh for believing in our

mission.

In Solidarity, deep gratitude and love

India Satellite Planning Team

[Guest guest]

Dear Friends of Saathii,

I wish to congratuate you on the successful sateIIite meeting at

BarceIona. Its success was apparent from the sheer numbers of participants

and their commitment to stay tiII the end.

AII the best for the future

Aditya B

E-mail: " Aditya Bondyopadhyay " <adit_bond_2@...

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