Braille messages for World AIDS Day

[Guest guest]

Braille entries among first to land in " Count on Me " essay

competition for World AIDS Day Campaign

SHILLONG: While children in the rest of the country were busy planning on what

they should wear to school on the occasion of Children's Day in India -

coinciding with the birth anniversary of India's first Prime Minister " Chacha "

Nehru on November 14, the trio of Sioris Kyndait, Hermies Daw and Krialda

Sylliang deftly punched out indentations in specially crafted paper. They were

busy giving their thoughts -amazingly analytical in children so young - final

shape- for their essay for World AIDS Day

On a morning when school children their age were dressing up in their

very best and looking forward to a day of fun and frolic, these high

school students of Jyoti Sroat School, an institution for the visually impaired

run by Shillong's Bethany Society submitted their entries for the essay

competition being jointly organized by city NGO and the Federation of Khasi,

Jaintia and Garo People (FKJGP) under the aegis of UNAIDS for the observance of

World AIDS Day on 1 December 2006.

Bethany Society itself, which had organized a series of programmes to

mark the observance of Children's Day at their recreation ground in

Lummawrie, was a beehive of activity but the single-mindedness of the

participants of the essay competition - relatively unnoticed though they may

have been - attracted attention in the right quarters.

The executive director of Bethany Society, Carmo Narohna who has been

advocating the merits of an " inclusive society " where the differently

abled are encouraged to particpate in community activity - not as an

isolated group, but as an integral part of the environment in which they live

and grow - has been extremely supportive of his students.

They range in age from four to 19 and are imparted academic and vocational

instruction in various normal and special schools.

When initially approached for participation in the " Count on Me

series " of programmes for school and college students, Mr Narohna

insisted that his students would participate in the " general " category.

" These children are normal in every way and have gifts and talents that many

'normal' chiildren their age might not have, " he said adding that there was

therefore no reason why they ought to be viewed as any different. Creating

special niches for the physically challenged only singles them out and promotes

the belief that they are a separate community within a community. " We always try

to ensure that children under our care are equipped with the dignity,

self-belief and the skills necessary to lead lives as any other, so called

'normal' people live. "

This is amply evident from the confidence with which a child -

Shillong's very own Helen Keller, without the powers of speech, sight

and hearing - walks unaided down a corridor warmed by a mid-morning

November sun.

When it comes to children affected, infected and afflicted with

HIV-AIDS, Mr Narohna does confess he has problems with promoting his

philosophy of an " inclusive society. " While the idea of promoting the

idea of children living with HIV-AIDS going to conventional schools has often

occured and been contemplated upon, apprehensions in a wide

cross-section including school managements themselves, has stymied such plans,

Mr Naronha concedes. " The stigma and discrimination that children living with

HIV-AIDS are subjected to is truly a telling commentary on the degree of

compassion and evolvement that exists in humanity today, " a Bethany teacher

feels.

That is what makes the participation of children like Sioris Kyndait,

Hermies Daw and Krialda Sylliang so special. Not the fact that they are visually

impaired. Not that they 'write' in braille. Not the fact that they will probably

spend the rest of their lives being viewed " differently; " but the fact that they

have it, despite their obvious disadvantages, within themselves to feel love and

compassion for those discriminated against, and those less fortunate than

themselves.

An excerpt from Krialda's essay sums it up very succinctly: " The worst part of

the disease is not its physical manifestation but the effects that is has on

those living with the virus and the way people around them react. It is their

deep sense of loss, not of health or wealth, but of their friends, family and

home, " she says. " The person, maybe for the first time truly understands what

loneliness is! "

Accountability is the theme for World AIDS Day 2006. The `Count on

Me' campaign for a world without AIDS, focusing on personal

accountability, which was also conceived to promote an " inclusive "

society, incorporating each and every member regardless of age, sex,

race, language, colour, race, tongue, nationality, faith, ethnicity,

economic background, intellectual capability and political affiliationinto an

ideology of accountability. The fact that the first of the entries has come from

students who are viewed as " different " by the larger communities that they live

in suggests that the campaign has struck the right chord and is on the right

track!

Krialda says it best: AIDS can happen to anyone if they are not careful; (that

care) should start with me!

Sanjay Sharma:

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

http://www.maitri.org.in/about.html

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