Global citizenship? Try being a local citizen first! - Sam Watson

I have been working with the ‘Wake Up Pune’ HIV awareness campaign for just over four months now. With over 30 local organisations involved, it has been a great eye-opener into the challenges that grassroots NGO’s in India face during the organisation and implementation of large-scale awareness campaigns.

Nadeya, Samantha and Heemakshi at a ‘Wake up Pune’ campaign stall outside a cinema in the city

When thinking about Global citizenship and the objectives of DIA, it occurred to me that there are strong parallels in the challenges that DIA may face with that which the WUP coalition are currently confronting in Pune. Both work to invoke people to change their attitudes and behaviours towards a group of people or an issue that they currently do not regard themselves to be connected to. Nevertheless one vital difference exists; DIA is trying to get young people to think about their global citizenship responsibilities, whereas in Pune we must first encourage people to be responsible local citizens.

Like DIA, ‘Wake Up Pune’ aims to empower people through education. Furthermore it seeks to prompt people to question their attitudes and behaviours, not only regarding HIV but how they regard people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA’s).

Mike Marshall of ‘Sahara’ gives a speech at the ‘Wake Up Pune’ rock concert

We have been running educational and awareness session throughout the city across the strata of Pune society; from truck drivers and commercial sex workers to lawyers and corporates. We have held various rallies and ‘Wake Up Pune’ events at nightclubs, cinemas and shopping malls. We have reached hundreds of thousands of people, yet what difference have we really made? What changes can we hope to see? Getting people to attend the events and educational sessions has not been difficult and on the whole the response was encouraging, however the extent to which people will change their attitudes and behaviour towards the issue of HIV and PLWHA’s is much harder to gauge. Will people stop regarding HIV as a problem of the poorer sections of Pune society and realise that they too have a role and responsibility to play?

Possibly the only way to encourage people to fulfil their social responsibilities is to personalise the problem. Show them how they are connected to the problem, how they have a stake in the situation and thus how they have the power to make a difference. This is much easier said than done. Not everyone is inclined to open their eyes wide enough to really see the connection. Maybe they just don’t want to. For example when I was organising all nightclubs in Pune to have a ‘Wake up Pune’ night on world Aids day, many of the managers said that their customers already know about HIV and would not really benefit from this kind of awareness. This to me is the equivalent of saying ‘I know that there are poor people in the world, I know poverty exists, but I am not in poverty and I am in no danger of getting into poverty, therefore why do I need to worry about it. The problem is these people do need to worry.

DISHA has identified a stigma chakra, which demonstrates the vicious cycle of ignorance, fear, stigma, discrimination and silence that helps to marginalise PLHAs and perpetuate the spread of HIV/AIDS. The Wake Up Pune initiative seeks to break this cycle through education, sensitisation and building awareness throughout a wide cross-section of society.

People in India are living in a culture of silence, where HIV/AIDS is not discussed. It is seen as taboo due to its relation to sexual practices. In this way people do not learn the facts about how HIV can and cannot be transmitted, leading to a further culture of fear which in turn leads to stigma and discrimination.

PLWHA’s are stigmatised at all levels, whether in the home, at work, when seeking treatment at hospitals. At present in Pune there is only one care home where people in the final stages of AIDS can go to as many of the hospitals will not look after them. Unfortunately many people come before this time as their own families have forced them to leave the home. As a result, both their mental and physical health deteriorates drastically making them increasing vulnerable to opportunistic infections.

It is exactly because people are remaining silent on the issue, that the discrimination and poor services PLWHA’s are subjected to go unreported and un-discussed. Because of silence and ignorance the prevalence of HIV is increasing in the city. At present Pune has an HIV prevalence rate of 1.8% (NACO), this is double the national average and 0.8% above epidemic status! Whose fault is this? The prevalence of HIV may be highly concentrated in the poorer sections of society, but really this figure is just signifying something else…inequality. However as with most problems, it is easy to blame those who cannot fight back.

The ‘Wake up Pune’ rally

My intention is by no means to paint a gloomy picture; the impact of Wake Up Pune is anything but. Our campaign messages reached over 1 million people through the various rallies, awareness sessions, events and media coverage of WUP in November and December alone. Numerous young people from local colleges have come forward, wanting to get involved in WUP or volunteer at Sahara. One such volunteer, Heemakshi told me that she has been encouraging her friends to visit Sahara and see people living with HIV as it is only then that they will really see the problem, otherwise it remains an issue that they have no contact with.

The ‘Wake up Pune’ rock concert keeps Pune awake in November

Unlike the UK where a lot of young people have done some form of voluntary or community work, there is no such culture of volunteering in India. Nevertheless I am optimistic that this will change. This is what India needs: more and more young people getting involved at the grassroots, experiencing the reality of poverty and seeing the problem as their ‘own’…not a problem of ‘others’. There needs to be increased value placed on local volunteering in India as it will be young volunteers fulfilling local citizen responsibilities who really have the power to enforce sustainable change. In the world of volunteering there is much disparity. I think a significant responsibility of young ‘global citizens’ in the west is to support and encourage local grassroots citizenship responsibilities in developing countries.

Sam Watson