The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Goal is to spread awareness

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jul 06, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Goal is to spread awareness

Ramya Kannan

SPREADING AWARENESS: People living with HIV/AIDS playing football in a tournament organised by Indian Community Welfare Organisation at the Madras University Union stadium in Chennai on Wednesday. — Photo: V. Ganesan

CHENNAI: If only wishes were horses, Brazil would have won the FIFA 2006 World Cup. As things are however, `Brazil' did win the People Plus Football tournament for People Living with HIV/AIDS in Chennai on Wednesday, beating Germany 1-0.

A total of 11 players per team, wearing yellow Brazilian jerseys and the whites of Germany, all of them positive, some of them on life-saving anti-retro virals, battled it out under the ferocious sun at the University Union Stadium on Spurtank Road here.

For an unconventional half hour before and after half time, the players kicked around a lot of dust and a football, not so much to win a match, to the beats of a rather discordant local band. They were not just aiming at having fun, but also spreading some awareness.

"We had a women's cricket match last year and this year, to keep up with the season, we thought a football match was in order," says A.J.Hariharan, of Indian Community Welfare Organisation. The match was supported by AIDS Prevention and Control Organisation, Voluntary Health Services - USAID.

Apart from facilitating networking among the positive community in Tamil Nadu, it gave them them an opportunity to feel part of the mainstream. However, at the end of an hour's play, the primary demonstration was of the health status and stamina of the positive people on the field. With one game, therefore, several goals were shot: address stigma and discrimination issues, marginalisation and misconceptions relating to HIV/AIDS and communicate positive message about living with the condition.

The event was kicked off, literally, by P.Krishnamurthy, project director, APAC, VHS-USAID. Mahvash Siddiqui, Vice Consul of the American Consulate flagged the teams onto the pitch. N.S.Murali, secretary, VHS, gave away a replica of the FIFA cup to the `Brazilian' team and distributed mementos to all the players.

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