Candlelight memorial for children who died of Aids

International Aids Candlelight Memorial in Mbare, Harare, on May 31.
This year’s theme is “Touching Lives”.
About 1000 people, schools, churches, and local organisations are expected to attend the event to remember the lives of children who succumbed to the Aids pandemic and to offer support to the thousands of children who are living positively with HIV and Aids.
This year’s theme seeks to highlight how the pandemic has touched the lives of many people.
It also seeks to highlight how an improved HIV response with more treatment access, better prevention methods and respect for human rights and dignity touches the lives of people living with the disease.
Over six million of the estimated 33 million people living with HIV are receiving treatment although there is still room for improvement.
The local candlelight will include reading the names of children who died.
Other activities will include, dramas, music, readings, speeches and testimonies and presentations of the ZEChiDEF Awards to children men and women who have been instrumental in the fight against HIV and Aids in Mbare.
The candlelight memorial began in 1983 during a time of confusion and misconception about the pandemic sweeping through the community in San Francisco in the United States of America.
The original co-ordinators marched down the streets with candlelight to inspire countless other people living with the disease in other countries to bring the disease to light for communities, national leaders, to foster support and move people in action.