adminCatherine Murombedzi H I V Column
What started as bereavement in one family in India in 2000 has now grown to be an internationally recognised manner in raising human immune virus/tuberculosis awareness (HIV/TB awareness.) AIDS RIDE has become a popular and powerful advocacy tool that facilitates geographical connections between AIDS conferences and with the biggest conference on sexually transmitted diseases in Africa (ICASA) running from November 28 to December 4 in Harare, Zimbabwe, the wave of cyclists will be part of the event.
AIDS RIDE intends to start awareness campaigns in local schools and colleges soon with partnership from local AIDS organisations and so far has got a nod from Zimbabwe Mighty Women of Hope Support and organisation that works with ex-convicts and current convicts on HIV literacy, advocacy and treatment, from Zimbabwe National Network of People Living with HIV, ZNNP+ and two Kadoma youths.
Surya Prakash Makarla, founder and chairman of Bapuji Centre for AIDS Research & Education (BCARE) an Indian national who mooted this after losing a niece to HIV/TB co-infection is pleased that the family bereavement has paid off and today the ride is gaining momentum.
Two brothers who were hard core bikers met Makarla as they cycled cross country in the United States to catch a beer. He told them of the intention to use cycling as a tool of information dissemination and the brothers were in.
“The family tragedy was a big turning point in my life that drove me towards creation of BCARE International, the non profit organisation that I co-founded in 2003. BCARE’s mission is to prevent further transmission of HIV by reducing new infections using combinations of scientifically proven, cost effective scalable interventions and strategies directed towards the most vulnerable populations at risk of HIV infections.
“What started with me, had a doctor joining, two other founding members and a social worker who was visually impaired carrying out awareness campaigns in Tirupati, India and after 11 years BCARE had expanded to New Delhi and Hyderabad.
“From there centres opened in New York, Cantona and two centres opened in Toronto and the other one in Montreal, Canada. Today we are working on opening centres in Rwanda, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Cameroon,” said Markala.
The idea to cycle gathered pace and in 2008 the longest bicycle ride of 4600km took 52 days and sensitised around 10 000 people in the communities they passed in Canada, USA and Mexico. In 2014 a total 350 bikers sensitized 37 000 people by riding 15 160km across five continents in six nations.
And as said by Gandhi: “Be the change you want to see in the world”. AIDS RIDE is cycling the awareness message at ICASA in Harare as it wishes to see an end to AIDS through zero new infections and zero stigma and discrimination of people living with HIV.
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