PechaKucha daily

Presenting at PechaKucha Night in Mauritius Vol. 2, AIDS/HIV activists Kolektif Revey Twa brought their message to the audience. Organizer Stephen Ng talks more about the association, and what it means to the country.

Kolektif Revey Twa — literally “The Wake Up Collective” in Mauritian creole — is an association of artists who are fighting against AIDS/HIV in Mauritius.

It is estimated that there are 15,000 HIV positive people in the country — for a population of 1.2 million, this number is actually quite alarming. One of the reasons for this number is the lack of sensitization and education about the disease and how it is spread, but also a lack of initiative from the authorities to tackle the problem effectively.

The “Zarbiens,” a group of creative people led by Stephan Jauffret-Rezannah, Nicolas Bastien-Sylva, and Emilien Jubeau (who presented at Vol. 1) have created this collective with the objective getting things moving, along with other associations.

Their presentation at Vol. 2 was indeed quite moving. They came up in front of the audience with their masks to send a specific message that the AIDS infected people are unortunately seen differently and that it could be anyone of us. They explained their motivation and their goals, by using their talents to the profit of a very important problem…and that’s without asking for anything in return.

In fact, they have recently engaged themselves in a huge project to sensitize Mauritians of the AIDS/HIV problem. It will mainly involve the use of billboards in strategic areas of the country that clearly will send their message and hopefully make all of us get a better understanding of the disease and the people involved. They have been doing a tremendous job already by using their time and creativity, and the thing they are waiting on now is to get the necessary funding to get their latest project up and running. Local authorities and other private organisations have already promised to do so but they are still waiting for the actions. Unfortunately this is how it is in the country.

Maybe that is a call for the PK Foundation to possibly help them out…a help for the whole of Mauritius…