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UCDVO And Stop AIDS Rally in South India
A quick update from the South India project...yesterday was a momentous occassion for UCDVO and something that will definitely go down as a huge achievement for the charity!
One of our volunteers Donal Hanratty (the same volunteer who organised Ras UCD earlier in the year) along with the other team members have been working hard over the past month to organise a STOP AIDS rally in the town of Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh.
I don't think any of us expected it to turn out as it did...almost 1000 children joined the march and had painted banners and placards, local media and TV crews were there to interview volunteers, the mayor and local officials opened the ceremonies and there was a huge stage put up in the centre of the town...UCDVO's logo at the forefront throughout! Hundreds of people gathered around the stage to watch performances which communicated the risks and realities of HIV/AIDS. A mobile testing unit was also set up so people could get tested and thousands of pamphlets distributed. Other NGOs such as Childline India also came on board. Donal had raised this idea at group meetings back in UCD, but as this was our first year to come here everyone was a bit unsure about whether it could actually happen....what a success! A huge thank you is also owed to Siobhan who has been driving this project from the outset, unfortunately she had to head back before the rally but her efforts have had a tremendous impact here and Care and Share are just in awe of our volunteers and the work they've carried out.
I'll send more photos as they come in to my email, but in the meantime check out this link
There have been some radio and newspaper interviews given to media back home, hopefully this will get the coverage it deserves!
The project finishes up this Sunday...so i'm headed back to Delhi for the final week. All going well there, construction with Habitat for Humanity started on Monday which has been going brilliantly...
