SHIFA-THE HEALING TOUCH

As part of the function marked to celebrate the arrival of Red Ribbon Express, Shifa the play on stigma and discrimination against HIV/AIDS was staged at the Sant Gadge Auditorium on Wednesday Evening.

The playwright and direction was given by Tripurari Sharma, music direction by Ravi Nagar, while the narration of the story was given by Jugal Kishore (Theatre Artist).

The theme of the play revolves around different people suffering from the stigma of being HIV+.All the instances shown in the story are taken from real life incidents. But by the end it also gives a message to fightback, a ray of hope.

Manorama who is an HIV+ person also came to witness the play. She said, “I always used to have a fear in mind that people connect an HIV+ person with one’s character. People from Varanasi HIV+ network helped me a lot to gain my strength back and fight this evil.

On the same occasion Mujhe Kuch Kehna Hai a comic book produced by the children affected by HIV/AIDS brought out by Ummeed (Charitable Organization) run by Mrs.Usha Awasthi was also released.

Actors Harvinder, Manas, Gauri, Teekam Joshi and Gauri gained lot of appreciation for their performance.

Also present on the occasion were Adele Khudr(Unicef-State Director),Augustine Veliath(Communications Specialist-UNICEF),Shirin Abbas(RRE Media Support Provider),S.P.Goyal(UPSACS-Pd) and Kumudlata Srivastava.