On a Journey Called the “Red Fest”

DEWAKER BASNET
What could have been more memorable for an event than a band member postponing his marriage because his band got an entry into the grand finale of a music competition! The Red Ribbon Super Band, the musical intervention of the Red Fest, aimed at promoting awareness about HIV and AIDS, supporting of people living with HIV and also supporting of clean and drug free music saw these stories and more.
The Red Fest, a three month long intervention of the Sikkim State AIDS Control Society (SSACS) to promote awareness about HIV and AIDS amongst the youngsters of Sikkim and also encourage them to stay away from drugs has been an amazing experience.
For an ordinary person a logical question would be – “Why would someone postpone such a big event in his life just to participate in the finals of a musical contest?”
The answer goes much beyond the logic…It goes to the bonding that everyone had with the Red Fest…it goes out to the care and support each one of them showcased to the cause and said in their own beautiful ways that – “We support people living with HIV and AIDS, we support the cause that they also deserve being treated as humans as anyone else, and we support the cause of getting high on music without getting high on drugs”….Some questions certainly have a connection with the heart.
For, it certainly takes a lot to support a cause like the cause belongs to you. At the Red Fest that’s been the case!
The bonding of the Red Fest has belonged to everybody. From Sikkim State AIDS Control Society, to the various NGO’s who’ve been a part of it, to the media who’ve been a pillar of support, to the participants of the Red Fest, to the friends and parents who have come to support the participants…it certainly belonged to one and all.
Take for instance, the volunteers of the various NGO partners who have worked day and night to make every single event of the Red Fest a festivity. They have been the heart of the Red Fest, working day and night to make every event of the intervention as special as the last one. The pride that runs in their faces after the completion of a successful day of the Red Fest is phenomenal, be it positive interventions or the Red Five Football Tournament or the Red Ribbon Super Band Competition.
And with many of them having a tryst in the past with substance abuse and drugs, one would feel so glad that the three month engagement of the Red Fest has certainly given them a small yet defining direction to get back to the mainstream. These volunteers have been instrumental in almost all the aspects of the Red Fest.
From small things, like, putting up posters and banners early in the morning to big things like, taking up catering services and waking up at 5 am to prepare breakfast for the delegates as well as the participants. A germination of purpose and direction was definitely showcased in a lot of these volunteers at the Red Fest.
 The Red Fest has been interesting in the way the interventions were formatted too. First there was Positive Interventions – the initiative to promote awareness about HIV and AIDS amongst school students, then the Red Five Football Tournament –reinforced the message that it is better to play sports than take drugs and parallel to it the Red Ribbon Super Band –which aimed at driving home the message across youngsters to keep music drugs free.