World AIDS Day 2007

A week late in posting I'm afraid due to problems trying to get the pictures uploaded and into the blog.

A more coordinated World AIDS Day than last year with most of the HIV & AIDS organisations working in Kathmandu getting together for a single rally. This started in the sports stadium at the south end of town - a good place to gather although maybe not appreciated by participants in the Masters (as in veterans) Athletic Championship which was taking place on the track.

The WAD organising committee must have a decent budget this year, enough to hire an elephant to lead the parade.


Our 2 organisations working in the Kathmandu valley each had contingents.






A couple of surreal sights:

I guess he was warming down after his run



It took me a while to work out that the man in the fluffy white suit and cap was probably meant to be Condom Man - he was looking pretty hot by the end of the day. The bearded guy with the story on his night shirt describes himself as "Cleaner of Nepal" (nope, no idea why) and turns up to most big events. Good to see he is HIV aware.

After the obligatory delay for no apparent reason, the parade started and we headed up the road creating a bit of a traffic jam.



We were heading for a park in the centre of town but to maximise exposure the parade took a circuitous route through the market areas - good plan but it did get a little congested.



At one point there was a change of route and the front of the parade doubled back on us. Fine but remember the elephant? It came trotting back down the narrow alley leaving everyone to leap out of the way. My photo of this ended up slightly more close up than was intended.



The elephant leading the way down another alley. That's the driver with his hands up trying to lift the overhead cables up so he doesn't get garotted



Finally got to the park for where the dignitaries were gathered to make speeches. The Prime Minister was meant to be principal guest but, surprise surprise, never arrived.





It was not just dignitaries making speeches, this is my friend Sanjiv addressing the masses. He had short notice that it was going to be him making the speech for Blue Diamond Society and cool as anything he scribbled some notes and gave a confident presentation.



A well attended day with good media coverage. However if I had posted this last Sunday as intended it would have finished with a tirade against donors who on 1 December were bragging about all the HIV & AIDS programmes they are funding despite the fact that a large number of organisations, including us, were still waiting for contracts to be signed for programmes that should have started on 1 November. We finally got the contract signed on Tuesday so you are saved from my mouth frothing rant. Still waiting for the cash of course, that'll take another week or so.

And that was World AIDS Day 2007 in Kathmandu.
Cheers
Roshan

P.S. Looks pretty nasty weather in the UK this weekend. Although it is pretty chilly at nights here now, most days there is bright sunshine with temperatures up to 20'C for a couple of hours.