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When passion prevails everything fails

Gaurav Gaur is one of 200 young people who have been trained by the Commonwealth Youth Programme to communicate with their peers about HIV and AIDS

Gaurav GaurIt is my belief that when passion prevails everything fails. Although I try and live by this philosophy it is hard not to get despondent when I look at how the HIV pandemic has taken the lives of around 25 million people in the last few decades.

But every time I lose faith and think that all is lost I remind myself that I am in a position to help and it is only through sustained efforts from myself and many others that the battle will be won.

It is with this positive attitude that I actively pursue my campaign to raise awareness of HIV and AIDS. I do travel around my hometown in Chandigarh, northern India, and educate as many of my peers as possible.

I asked myself how I could attract attention and force other young people to address this issue. It came to me that I should paint my body, car and bike with phrases like ‘Love and care for those who are living with HIV/AIDS’ in order to grab people’s attention. Once I even shaved my head leaving only the HIV ribbon symbol (see picture) which certainly triggered a strong reaction from those who saw me!

Generally some people are shocked, others laugh and many more are intrigued. Whatever their reaction at least are looking at me and are forced to confront the issue.

I have been lucky enough to receive lots of encouragement and support from many people, notably Raj Mishra, who runs the Commonwealth Youth Programme’s Asia centre. I also met Denis Broun, the UNAIDS country coordinator in India. He was really surprised by the idea and expressed his delight in what I was doing.
 
Their support has made me more committed than ever to get rid of any stigma I encounter as I keep raising more and more awareness of HIV.

Many people ask me what I plan to do next. I have quite a few ideas in store but want to keep them a secret to maintain the element of surprise. Whatever I come up with, you can rest assured it will cause a strong reaction and get people thinking. Look out – it may catch you off guard as well. Watch this space.
 

Posted by Gaurav Gaur at Jun 1 2009 1:18PM

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