By Mercy Annapoorni | Director
Dear Donors,
Blossom would like to extend our utmost gratitude for your generosity towards the December 1st, World AIDS Day EduClowns campaign as we now move to close this project. Blossom has decades of experience working with our community members who live with HIV/AIDS. In this campaign, your donations allowed our EduClowns to reach more people with critical information on the nature of HIV/AIDS, ways to prevent it, and to treat it. As we wrap our EduClowns project for 2021, we hope this report provides a transparent and informative look at the proceedings of the 2021 World AIDS Day event.
Blossom partnered with the Rotary Club of Virudhunagar and Southern Railways in Virudhunagar for this EduClowns awareness raising event. The event was conducted in Virudhunagar Railway Junction and the local bus depot with the assistance of four HIV positive EduClowns and numerous community members. The railway junction and the bus depot are both bustling hubs of regional transportation networks and thus attracts considerable crowds from across Tamil Nadu and India. Thus, the location was chosen for our important work.
Our EduClowns campaigners were dressed in bright costumes and worked through the day to distribute informational fliers to travellers in oncoming vehicles and passersby. COVID safety was maintained as community members donned masks and interacted with travellers through train and bus windows to maintain a safe distance. Travellers were briefed on the nature of the illness and important resources available to them and their loved ones who may be struggling with HIV/AIDS. The event was also critical in exposing them to key organizations in the district, such as Blossom Trust and the Rotary Club of Virudhunagar, who can support them in their times of need.
We were also joined by our field workers, local police officers, medical officers, and Virudhunagar Rotary Club’s President and Secretary Rtn. Gayathiri and Rtn. Pethanaatchi respectively. The dignitaries spoke on the impact of HIV/AIDS on communities in Virudhunagar and the importance of awareness raising as a tool to reduce inequalities in access to vital information on the condition. Medical officer, Dr. Y. Durairaj was also present to clarify the clinical aspects of HIV/AIDS such as how it spreads, its symptoms, treatment, and more.
We are also glad to state that our efforts on December 1st have seen wide success and recognition. The 2021 EduClowns awareness raising event was published in local newspapers and also attracted positive traction on our social media pages. Most notable, the event was given spreads in the Dinakaran Daily and the Eenadu newspapers. None of this would have been possible without the support of generous individuals such as yourself. Your contribution made it possible for us to produce and distribute our fliers, and transport our EduClowns and community members from one location to another.
While our World AIDS Day programming has come to close, Blossom will continue its work with communities in our collective fight against HIV/AIDS. You can follow our work on this and other key health issues (such as Tuberculosis and Diabetes) through our social media pages. We also hope you continue to stay connected with our GlobalGiving page to view and donate towards evolving community needs.
Warm Regards,
Mercy Annapoorni
Director
Blossom Trust
Links:
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
