World AIDS day was celebrated at Kripa Dharavi, Mumbai by holding a rally of school children which was flagged off by Chief Guest Mr.Julio Riberio , Former Ambassador to Romania and also Former Police Commssioner of Mumbai, along with Fr Joe Pereira, also present was Mr.Dereyk Talker,Dr Maria Nigam, Dr. Sashi Menon, Mr Linus Pinto,Mrs. Krishna Iyer, Mr Bosco D'Souza, and staff of Kripa.The children walked through the streets of Dharavi, shouting slogans on AIDS Awareness and later collected back at Dr Ambedkar Hall where a a quiz and poster competition was held. The Guest of Honour for this competition was PSI Hemant Patil. The judges for the competion were Mr Dereyk Talker of Wake Up Bandra,Ms Manali from Angaan Trust. and Dr Singh PHM dept. Sion Hospital Nearly 650 school students from the vicinity participated in this rally and competion.
Fr Joe in his speech to the children mentioned that it is so important not to have just knowledge on the subject of HIV/AIDS, but very important to get a change in our life style. He also mentioned how one should have a holistic approach to facing these challenges and even quoted Mahatma Gandhi.He further mentioned that with awareness and a change of life style the latest analysis shows that there is a drop of 20% of new cases of PLHA.
The winners were awarded trophies and certificates of participation given to each school. The celebration was well organised by Dr Maria Nigam, and staff of Kripa Dharavi Deepak, Pravin, Rajan and Shabana. The children were served snacks and soft drinks and the program ended with the singing of the National Anthem
By
News Desk
