WUNRN
India - Red Ribbon Express Train
to Promote HIV/AIDS Awareness
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©
UNICEF India/2007/Biswas |
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Visitors at the Safdarjung Railway Station outside the Red
Ribbon Express, which will promote AIDS awareness across _________________________________ |
Women's Feature Service
By Anjali Singh
(Women’s Feature
Service) India - Neelam Suraiya, 40, loves her work. She educates people
through street plays. A member of the Sanskriti Sewa Sansthan,
Recently, Suraiya’s
group performed at a railway platform in Chopan in Sonebhadra district of UP,
along with several other groups. Their audience was the eager crowd that had
gathered at the station to greet the Red Ribbon Express - a special AIDS
awareness train – that was flagged off on a statewide three-month-long sojourn
from this quaint small town. Roped in by Uttar Pradesh State Aids Control
Society (UPSACS) for an awareness campaign on the disease, the seven-member
group reached out to the people through their thought-provoking play woven
around the various aspects of the disease.
According to Suraiya,
“Theatre was always meant to have a role in social awakening and reformation,
so why should it be any different now? It is the best medium to reach as many
people as possible to sensitise them towards a problem like HIV/AIDS, all the
more so in areas which have high illiteracy levels. If you look back into
history you will realise that whenever society faced a crisis it was theatre
that became the agent of awakening and action. The Red Ribbon Express (RRE) is
a concept, which needs widespread awareness and our theatre group is happy to
be a part of it.” The RRE is an AIDS awareness train that aims to spread
awareness on HIV, promoting safe behavioural practices and fighting stigma and
discrimination against people living with HIV.
Although Suraiya’s
group has been doing over 100 shows a month on social issues of late, the
concept of social theatre is not new to artistes in the state. Most people
associated with social theatre consider it a feather in their cap to act out
messages that help save lives.
Mahesh Varma, team
leader of Sanskriti Sewa Sansthan, says, “Social theatre is a medium to address
issues like HIV/AIDS that people are worried about but cannot express their
views on, publicly. Theatre gives them the opportunity to do that and much
more. It addresses the issue directly and also motivates the process of problem
solving among the masses. The play we performed at Chopan raised questions
about HIV/AIDS that needed to be answered by the people. This in turn motivated
them to seek the answers to most of the questions we raised in our street play
regarding protection and guidance about the disease on the Red Ribbon Express.”
The RRE provides on board counselling.
Associated with
social theatre for over 25 years, Varma has been performing plays on polio
awareness, drug addiction, government schemes and youth-based issues among
which HIV/AIDS is a priority for him.
Theatre person,
Shripal Gaur, 40, of Lucknow-based Yayawar Rangmandal, whose group also
performed small skits based on AIDS at Chopan, adds, “It is possible to break
many myths with the help of social theatre and we have been doing that. I
remember a play we did on organ donation in a village where there was a strong
belief that anyone who donates his eyes after death would be born blind in his
next birth. This had been discouraging many to pledge their eyes. Through the
play we de-conditioned them. At Chopan, too, our play dispelled the myths
associated with contracting HIV/AIDS and the stigma attached to it. The
response was phenomenal. A number of HIV positive couples came up to us and
asked us questions on the topic and how they could get counselling on the Red
Ribbon Express. We could guide them.”
Most artistes present
at Chopan had similar reactions to report and they were immensely enthused by
the response. Of course, the central and state government agencies associated
with the RRE had hoped for this – which was the reason why they had roped in
these theatre groups – but the reaction surpassed even their expectation.
Now they have decided
to include more on-platform activities, as part of the RRE campaign. Eminent
and veteran theatre persons from the New Delhi-based National School of Drama
(NSD) and Bhartendu Natya Akademi in Uttar Pradesh have started working on
scripting a play on this theme.
Tripurari Sharma,
Associate Professor, NSD, is not all surprised that theatre has effectively
reached out to so many people. In fact, she feels that including ‘nukkad
nataks’ (street plays) is a crucial step in the right direction. “It is
important because theatre goes beyond words and it can bring out dimensions
that builds a direct connect with people. The medium itself is significant as
it deals with people and their lives,” she says.
But with a theme as
sensitive as HIV/AIDS awareness, how does Sharma plan to develop a skit that will
get the message across to random crowds that will gather on platforms where the
RRE halts? She says, “The play will focus on the lives of HIV positive people
and the strength they have shown in overcoming the problems and stigma they
have faced. I want to bring out the incredible fact that despite doctors giving
some victims only a few years to live they have survived many years beyond
that. Then I want to showcase the stories of children who are born positive and
how they grow up searching for some meaning in their life and survive in a
society so skewed in its ideas about such children.”
The basic gist of the
play, according to Sharma, will be to encourage the general population to learn
from positive people on how to bring more meaning into their own lives despite
all the challenges. “This, I guess, is what we all are searching for, too,” she
concludes.