Visually impaired students to submit World AIDS Day essays in Braille

[Guest guest]

Visually impaired students to submit essays in Braille

Shillong: The ambitious drive to create a " World Without AIDS " received a shot

in the arm on National Blood Donation Day here on Tuesday with the Bethany

Society and the SOS Children's Village extending support to city-based NGO

Maitri and the Federation of Khasi Jaintia and Garo People's " Count on Me! "

programme planned for World AIDS Day on 1 December next.

A small delegation led by FKJGP president Bah E Lyttan, comprising

FKJGP general secretary Joe Marwein, organizing chairman Dundee C

Khongsit, and organizing secretary Hnamte and Maitri

Director Sanjay Sharma met Bethany Society head Carmo Norohna to

interact with the visually impaired and other physically challenged

children of the orphanage. The delegation also visited the SOS

Children's Village at Umiam and interacted with its residents.

As part of their support, Bethany Society and the SOS Children's

Village are to involve their children by making lapel badges – in

the form of the well recognized " AIDS red ribbon. " These would be

distributed on the occasion of World AIDS Day on 1 December next,

during a function in which the main attraction would be a musical

performance by international music icon and national

musician Remo Fernandes, currently on tour in Brazil.

According to the FKJGP president Mr Lyttan, the two-fold objective

behind involving NGOs already working with physically challenged or

the under privileged is to involve them in building care and

compassion for those worse off than they are, while promoting the

ideals of an " inclusive society. "

Mr Lyttan, later, along with the Maitri director, handed over a

letter of appreciation and a token sum of money to both societies to

help procure material to make the badges. They said, this was to

make the children feel both " involved " and " responsible " – which

were the watchwords of the " Count on Me! " campaign.

One of the most interesting features of the support comes from

Bethany Society who are to get their visually impaired wards

participate in the various contests being held to mark World AIDS

Day. According to Mr Carmo Norohna, his students would participate

in all the contests including the essay contest, which would be

written in Braille. " We encourage our students to be part of the

general milieu and appeal to society to include these children in

every day activity rather than create special niches for the

handicapped as this only alienates them from society. "

Asked why Maitri had chosen to mark National Blood Donation Day in

this manner, Maitri director Sanjay Sharma said, it was to get an

opportunity to build awareness that the sexual route was not

necessarily the only way of contracting the Virus.

He said " Irresponsible or unlicensed transfusion of blood or blood

products carrying the Virus also contributed to the spread of HIV-

AIDS. He stressed on the need for more licensed blood banks and said

one of the programmes planned by FKJGP for World AIDS Day was to

organize a massive voluntary blood-donation-cum-HIV-AIDS screening

camp to raise awareness.

" Nothing of the scale we are planning has ever been tried before in this

region, " said Mr Khongsit of FKJGP, " and we feel we ought to show the way since

the North East is one of the most vulnerable areas in the world. "

Mr Sharma said, the response to the proposed blood donation camp has

been so overwhelming that an unprecedented number of voluntary

donors are likely to come forward to get themselves tested for HIV-

AIDS. " We could even be making a world record of sorts, " he said.

DUNDEE C KHONGSIT

Organizing Chairman

World AIDS Day Programme, Shillong

______________

Sanjay Sharma

e-mail: sanjay.sharma.cognet@...