40,000 people visit Red Ribbon Express in MP

Bhopal, Aug 20 (IBNS) ’Red Ribbon Express’, an exhibition on train which aims to spread awareness about HIV/ AIDS in the country, is now in Madhya Pradesh.

About 40,000 people already visited the train in the 7 stations it has travelled. It entered Madhya Pradesh via Harda district on August 5, where about 6000 people including young people visited the train and interacted with the volunteers on the train. It entered Madhya Pradesh from Chhattisgarh and will leave for Uttar Pradesh from here. The train will be covering 11 stations in the State of Madhya Pradesh. It will be reaching Katni district on Aug 21, and following which the train will travel to Shahdol, Jabalpur and Satna.

Till date it has been to Harda, Bhopal, Sujalpur, Ujjain, Ratlam, Mandsore, Shivpuri. The eight coach train is attracting attention of young ones particularly in smaller stations and has variety of multimedia and interactive displays, which aim to provide information and answers to many queries on the issue of HIV/AIDS.

Madhya Pradesh State Aids Control Society, volunteers of Nehru Yuva Kendra, National Service Scheme and UNICEF are supporting mobilisation of people and are providing counsellors at the stations to help discussion on the issue like HIV/AIDS.  Local civil society partners are supporting at the district level to help make it a popular affair. Network of positive people in Madhya Pradesh are supporting the train and a team is travelling with the train to educate the people about their issues and interacting with people to help reduce stigma.

Kids meet at Bhopal

Bhopal, Aug 16 : At least 60 children from Bhopal, Vidisha, and Sehore districts of Madhya Pradesh participated in 'Anganwadi Bal Samagam', (children's meet) held at Jawahar Bal Bhawan, here on Monday. About 30 mothers also participated in the same. It was organised for children to listen to them, let them participate, play and also listen to mothers on their views about anganwadi's centres. This 'children's meet' was organised by Department of Women and Child Development in partnership with UNICEF.

Loveleen Kacker, Principal Secretary, Women and Child Development, Government of Madhya Pradesh, Tania Goldner, Chief UNICEF Office for Madhya Pradesh and Anupam Rajan, Director Women and Child Development interacted with children and mothers. They sought their opinion about what is working in anganwadi . Kacker, while interacting with children and mothers, said: "I am here to listen to them including things which are not working." Mothers shared about the benefits they were getting at anganwadi and also shared the problems they were facing. Snehlata Vishwakarma, Anganwadi worker from Vidisha, in her interaction with Tania Goldner of UNICEF, shared she enjoys being with children, listening to them, learning from them and she believes that it is not only about giving children food at anganwadi centre but making them citizens of tomorrow.

A special play by children from Bal Bhawan was presented which highlighted the issue of malnutrition and role of anganwadi's in combating the same and what can parents do to claim their entitlements. In second session children were taught drawing, painting and clay making. They enjoyed with clay and painted their thoughts on paper. Little fingers used paint to portray their thoughts and painted creatures they imagined. Children sang and danced to showcase their talent. R S Raghuvanshi, Director, Bal Bhawan, and Praveen Gangrade, Joint Director Bhopal, Kavita Sharma UNICEF Nutrition Specialist were also present at the meet.