Saturday, November 28, 2009

Christmas and Me

Arendal town is decorated by lights and christmas tree. I can see decorations of christmas tree everywhere. There is heavy discount in shopping centre. Town is being more crowded then before. Childrens are very happy with many gifts. People are planning for holidays. More or less similar to our great festival Dashain and Tihar.
Amfi Arena(big shopping mall in Arendal)is decorated as bride for christmas

I start to miss home when i see flashing lights in the town and people planning for vacation.As being a hindu we also have some festival in which we give priority to family as christian people give to christmas. I already miss our greatest festival Dashain and Tihar which was in september and this was the first time i'm out of house in Dashain.
Christmas decoration in town

Are you going back home in chrismas? What are you planning to do in this chrismas? Its the time with family and you are out of home, I can feel how you are feeling now. I don't like to be far from home in Chrismas. I never miss home but in chrismas i can't explain how much i miss. oh no..!! Some of youth make me miss home while talking

Santa claus and me;a new experience of Christmas

Nowadays I'm remembering one lesson in FK course"try to be as people are around you, never feel difference between you and them. So, I'm celebrating Christmas instead of Dashain this year. Aust-Agder Red Cross has arranged a trip to Merket(a place near by mountain) in this christmas. That is the place occupied by Red Cross and we are also assisting people who are there to celebrate christmas there. Hope everything will go fine and i'll never forget my first experience of Christmas celebration.



Friday, November 27, 2009

Celebration of World AIDS Day in Nepal

Condition of HIV/AIDS in Nepal:

Nepal is a developing country in Southern Asia. It is struggling with many challenges for the betterment of the nation. Among many other challenges, is the increasing HIV prevalence among the most at-risk population (MARPs). The first case of AIDS in Nepal was reported in 1988. According to the data of the National Center of AIDS and STD control, by May 2009, 13,885 cases of HIV were reported, among them, 2,384 persons living with AIDS. Out of 4,722 women that are infected, 3,384 are house wives. Because of the hidden nature of the problem, the actual size of the infected population is likely to be considerably larger. It is estimated by UNAIDS that 72,000 people in Nepal are living with HIV/AIDS.
The prevalence rate is increasing among Female sex workers (FSWs), injecting drug users (IDUs), men who have sex with men (MSM), and migrants. Effective prevention interventions need to be scaled up, especially among IDUs. Nepal's poverty, political instability, and gender inequality, combined with low levels of education and literacy, make the task challenging, as do the denial, stigma, and discrimination that surrounds HIV and AIDS. Female Sex Workers in Nepal have limited access to information about reproductive health and safe sex practices. Trafficking of Nepalese girls and women in Indian Sex Markets and returning with the disease stands as a major challenge to HIV control. Young people who have knowledge about HIV and other STDs, often do not have the means of protecting themselves which increases their vulnerability to HIV.

Nepal Red Cross working with HIV/AIDS

Nepal Red Cross Society have been running a HIV/AIDS prevention and Reproductive Health program since 1994, and working in cooperation with many different organizations including sister societies to educate people on how to stop the transmission of HIV. They encourage people to respond normally to people living with HIV/AIDS, to create awareness about HIV and make them understand how it is to be infected and how anyone can be a victim of it. The program is running in 54 out of the 75 districts in Nepal - among them 5 district currently supported by the Norwegian Red Cross.

The majority of identified people living with HIV/AIDS fall into the age of 14 to 29. So, NRCS disseminate knowledge and information by peer education, which has proven to be the most effective method.

Celebration of the World AIDS Day:

As a part of World AIDS Day, NRCS have been celebrating Condom day since 1995, every first Saturday after the Hindu’s greatest festival Dashain. This has proven a great success on how to disseminate information about the transmission and prevention of HIV/AIDS and other STDs.

On World AIDS Day, different programs are organized by different organizations that are working in the field of HIV/AIDS. Among them, NRCS is one of those who celebrate it more effectively through its district chapters, sub chapters and junior/youth circles at a community level. They organize different activities like street drama, folk song competitions, interaction programs, providing counseling and testing services to those who want to know their status and many other activities. It can be a whole day program starting with a rally including all the different fields, students, volunteers walking in streets with banners and spreading leaflets. Later on there is a major discussion program where they discuss about existing conditions and also tries to include vulnerable people in order to make them more aware. Sometimes they light candles during night in the art of Red Cross or as a Symbol of AIDS. On that day, they use to talk more about HIV/AIDS in schools, colleges and community level.

Being a Red Cross Volunteer:

As a Red Cross volunteer we are also involved in different activities related to creating awareness among youths about HIV/AIDS and its transmission. We frequently organize speech competition (talking about transmission or Stigma related topics), seminars, public rallies, show street dramas (one of the most popular means of creating awareness) and also singing folk song based tunes so that it catches ears quickly. Last year on the World AIDS Day we visited different secondary schools in our community and told them about HIV/AIDS and its transmission as well as the methods to be safe from it. We also distributed the logo (red ribbon) among students and teachers. The main intension of distributing and using it was to show that there are still those \who only hate the disease AIDS but give love and care to the people living with HIV/AIDS.

Thursday, November 26, 2009

A visit to the history of Arendal

"The building in front of us is Norway's second largest and tallest wooden house. and one of the tallest wooden building in Europe. It is live history of Arendal in itself. This house have five storey and many rooms." .............was explaining us about the house. He was with us to explain everything about the house. It is good to know the history of the place where you live. so, today i was in the historical tour of Arendal with some other immigrants. Råd hus(city hall):Living history of Arendal
This house is built by the Kallevig family in may 1815 which took four year for planning and building. He imported most pieces from abroad on Mr.Kalleving's own ships but Mrs. Kallevig sold her house in 1844 in about 32.000 kroner to the municipality of Arendal then it has been the centre of the town's administration for more then 150 years.


..................Explaining us about the house


The Rådhus(city hall) is the first house in the Aust-Agder district which is designed by an architect. The paintings hanging in the wall and decorations in the house easily attract the heart of anybody. Some of the rooms are given in the rent for weeding, receptions and meetings.

From 5th floor.

It is good to preserve the history. Time never come again but we can preserve history and it can be the good lesson for upcomimg generation. History is the thing which can be never changed. I'm really impressed with the people of Arendal they are preserving their history. One of the picture hanging in the wall













Monday, November 23, 2009

Human Trafficking Training


The presentation is ready,We have printed out all the presentation for all participants and here is our plan to run the course! I just make sure myself before departing to Hove(The training Center). I was eagerly looking forward to meet all youths and see how they will response on Human Trafficking Course.



There were seven participants in Human Trafficking Course(There were 30 all together for 3 courses(Leadership development, International humanitarian Law and Human trafficking). We were happy to get such participants even they know that its going to be english(some youths don't want to speak english because they think that their english is not so good).
We started our course by collectig expectation and fear. We found that some of them are afraid of taking pictures. Finally we could be able to convince them on we will not take so many pictures but it is necessary to express our work. They were seeing the movie Lilja 4ever(movie about Human Traffickig) just like they forgot to blink their eyes! It also encourage us for the course of next day.

When we talked about White slavery(In the middle of the 19th century white womens were taken to muslim harems which was a licensed form of prostitution) they were so surprised. Because they used to think that slaves and prostitute are just Black and Asian people.

Youth gathering=Fun. We learnt and did fun together. Break and energizer! always a new game from participants. Their creativity in group work-Impressive.
I can never forget their expression after
seeing some painful pictures and knowing the facts about it.
They posted their notes all around the hall and its nice to see all youths reading the post. The photo session, Role play and all energiger they made about human Trafficking. They were so cool!!
The responsibility of evening entertainment was upon Human Trafficking group. Aukson, Trafficking cocktail, Photo presentation and talking about Human Trafficking. I think it gave very good impact to other youths who were not belongs to Human Trafficking Course.




In the last of course we summarize the course.It so amazing that they have remembered most of the facts and events we did. They want to continue this course in their youths group and their place and they promised to talk with another 10 people.