IntroductionBangalore is known as the IT City or the Silicon Valley of India, but many of us don’t know that it is also one of the largest Textile Hubs in India. Lakhs of people work in the textile industry and almost 80 – 85% of the workers are women. These women are either from economically weaker section or have very minimal literacy or face a lot of domestic violence in their personal life.
Opportunity
Speading HIV/AIDS awareness to these women of Garment industry was one of the top priorities for iVolunteer-ASHA Group. However, we never got an opportunity to address them, since we didn’t have any contacts in the garment industry and we didn’t know how to approach them.
But, finally thanks to Ms. Saranya Hegde, President of Mahila Dakshita Samiti and also Latashree, Welfare Officer of Integra Apparels, for approaching ASHA Foundation and giving us an opportunity to conduct HIV/AIDS Awareness to almost 500+ women working in Integra Apparels.
Opportunity
Speading HIV/AIDS awareness to these women of Garment industry was one of the top priorities for iVolunteer-ASHA Group. However, we never got an opportunity to address them, since we didn’t have any contacts in the garment industry and we didn’t know how to approach them.
But, finally thanks to Ms. Saranya Hegde, President of Mahila Dakshita Samiti and also Latashree, Welfare Officer of Integra Apparels, for approaching ASHA Foundation and giving us an opportunity to conduct HIV/AIDS Awareness to almost 500+ women working in Integra Apparels.
Event IntroThe event was organized at 5:00PM on 28th July 2007 at Integra Apparels in HSR Layout.
Due to rain the event started a bit late by 5:30 PM with a brief introduction by Ms. Saranya Hegde, who spoke about women empowerment, security for women and also some activities done by Mahila Dakshita Samiti.
After introduction the stage was open for the volunteers of iVolunteer-ASHA Group, Vijayanand started the session by asking the crowd to come on stage and talk about any topic of their choice. 1st person spoke about the excellent work environment and co-operative supervisors of Integra, 2nd person gave a welcome note to the volunteers and for the 3rd person Vijayanand gave the topic to speak i.e. “Physical Relationship or Sex”, since 85% of HIV Transmission is because of unprotected sex. The lady who came on stage stammered and could not speak much about this topic.
Vijayanand related this sequence to the kind of society which we are living in, where SEX is considered as taboo and hence nobody talks about it, which leads to lack of knowledge and in turn results in unprotected sex and eventually getting infected with HIV/AIDS.
The Skit
To give more details about the various modes of transmission, the next thing on the agenda was a skit by all the volunteers – Asif,
Sayeesh, Aruna, Emal and Meena. The skit was very well performed and brought out all the important aspects related to HIV/AIDS i.e.
Modes of transmission – Sexual Contact, Blood transfusion (without blood test), usage of un- sterilized syringe and Pregnant mother to child,
Prevention – Usage of condoms, practicing abstinence (being mutually faithful to spouse after marriage), avoiding peer pressure, usage of sterilized needles, blood testing before transfusion.
Emal, acting as the doctor did a splendid job in explaining that even if a person is infected with HIV, still he/she can lead a normal healthy life with proper adherence to medication. This was the most important message to be conveyed to the crowd.
Vijayanand related this sequence to the kind of society which we are living in, where SEX is considered as taboo and hence nobody talks about it, which leads to lack of knowledge and in turn results in unprotected sex and eventually getting infected with HIV/AIDS.
The Skit
To give more details about the various modes of transmission, the next thing on the agenda was a skit by all the volunteers – Asif,
Sayeesh, Aruna, Emal and Meena. The skit was very well performed and brought out all the important aspects related to HIV/AIDS i.e.Modes of transmission – Sexual Contact, Blood transfusion (without blood test), usage of un- sterilized syringe and Pregnant mother to child,
Prevention – Usage of condoms, practicing abstinence (being mutually faithful to spouse after marriage), avoiding peer pressure, usage of sterilized needles, blood testing before transfusion.
Emal, acting as the doctor did a splendid job in explaining that even if a person is infected with HIV, still he/she can lead a normal healthy life with proper adherence to medication. This was the most important message to be conveyed to the crowd.
Each volunteer pitched in with excellent performance, though many of them were performing for the 1st time. Asif(Charecter: Ganesh) as the good guy was at his best with the correct expressions at the correct time, Sayeesh (Charecter: Badri) as the bad guy has mastered the charecter since this was his 4th performance. Emal (Charecter: Doctor) gave a very natural performance and she highlighted one very important point while counseling i.e. "Even if a person is infected with HIV, still he/she can lead a good healthy life with proper adherence to medication". This was a very important point for the audience. Even Aruna (Charecter: Geeta, Ganesh's wife) and Meena (Charecter: Nurse) though had a small role but she gave their best......
Other details
Once the skit was over Vijayanand summarized all the key points and Sayeesh started off explaining the Modes of Non-transmission with the use of flip charts, which had excellent self-explanatory pictures. Sayeesh, though doing this for the 1st time, explained everything clearly and lots of misconceptions or myths about HIV/AIDS were cleared.
In continuation, Vijayanand explained in detail about Prevention of Mother to Child transmission since 90% of the audience was women. The information was also displayed through placards held by Amit and Sumith.
Once the skit was over Vijayanand summarized all the key points and Sayeesh started off explaining the Modes of Non-transmission with the use of flip charts, which had excellent self-explanatory pictures. Sayeesh, though doing this for the 1st time, explained everything clearly and lots of misconceptions or myths about HIV/AIDS were cleared.
In continuation, Vijayanand explained in detail about Prevention of Mother to Child transmission since 90% of the audience was women. The information was also displayed through placards held by Amit and Sumith.
Conclusion
Finally, Sunita concluded the session by announcing the AIDS Helpline number 1097 and ASHA Foundation’s direct counseling number 23543333. The audiences were very keen to note it down.
We all hope that they make use of the services of ASHA Foundation and also the knowledge gained through the awareness session and keep themselves and their near and dear ones safe from HIV infection.
Special thanks to Integra Apparels for showing corporate responsibility towards their employees and organizing this event.
Looking forward for many more such event.....
Finally, Sunita concluded the session by announcing the AIDS Helpline number 1097 and ASHA Foundation’s direct counseling number 23543333. The audiences were very keen to note it down.
We all hope that they make use of the services of ASHA Foundation and also the knowledge gained through the awareness session and keep themselves and their near and dear ones safe from HIV infection.
Special thanks to Integra Apparels for showing corporate responsibility towards their employees and organizing this event.
Looking forward for many more such event.....
