~ Budhrani family receives Elton Jones Memorial Award ~
PHILIPSBURG--The awarding of the tenth annual Elton Jones Memorial Award to the Budhrani family for supporting the HIV/AIDS Red Ribbon campaign, the lighting of candles, dance and skit presentations, and a number of touching speeches highlighted the local 28th International AIDS Candlelight Memorial at Philipsburg Cultural and Community Centre on Sunday evening.
The award was created to honour persons who have shown dedication and exemplary work in the field of HIV/AIDS in St. Maarten.
Attendees at the ceremony were told that the Budhrani family had been donating time, energy and money, and going beyond the ordinary to support the Stronger Together Red Ribbon Campaign over the last six years.
Krish Budhrani accepted the award on behalf of his family: mother Neelam, father Manu and siblings Ahasan and Rikita.
"The family embodies the perfect way to negate the impact of HIV/AIDS on our society. This family approach to HIV/AIDS awareness brings every sector into play. You might not have seen them in the newspapers or on TV, but the Budhrani family is a constant force behind the scenes," St. Maarten AIDS Foundation (SAF) volunteer Prevention Coordinator Rajesh Chintaman said.
"Neelam, with the support of her husband Manu, has spent many hours walking up and down Front and Back Streets encouraging businesspersons to donate to the SAF. She also has turned her persuasive approach on Manu and their business, and has made significant donations every year since the start of the Red Ribbon Campaign. On several occasions as we were about to give up, she would turn her persuasive skills on us encouraging us to go to just that next store."
He said the Budhrani children had spent hours selling red ribbons at supermarkets, on Front Street and at their store. He said the award brought the Budhrani family into the SAF family.
In a moving speech AIDS Foundation President Dr. Gerard van Osch outlined how HIV/AIDS had touched him. He gave a vivid insight into the stigma and discrimination some faced, as well as the strengths of those who had lived through it.
"I've been touched by one of my first patients who I know infected at least four girls who later also became my patients. Was it stupidity, ignorance, or the culture he grew up in where macho behaviour is enforced as the norm? We would gladly lay the blame on this man, but more and more we should realise that nobody gives you HIV. It's an acquired infection and the responsibility of transmission does not only lie with the person infected, but with all of us. We all have our own responsibility to stay safe and healthy," he said.
"I've been touched by the young man who was thrown out of the house by his father and whom we fed and gave a sleeping place until we were able to have him travel to Holland, where 16 years later he still lives surrounded by his family. The teenager who refused to accept his diagnosis until he was too weak to stand, but today, 17 years down the road, while taking his medications diligently, is working, has a wife and a beautiful kid.
"The mother who didn't know how to tell her kids that they had become infected at birth, way before all these new treatments became available. Would the kids still accept her and love her while she did everything in her power to keep them healthy even at her own health's expense? All of them, 15 years later, are doing extremely well," he said.
Van Osch said that despite the hardships and challenges there were also a lot of positive things to celebrate, because once there was hope, love and support, "we know there is reason to live ? even with HIV/AIDS."
Health Minister Cornelius de Weever urged the audience to commit to touching everyone's life in a positive way.
"It is often said that in order for us to appreciate something positive, we must know what it is to experience the opposite. ... Tonight is not only about those who have gone ahead of us, but also about those who must continue living without us. Tonight is not just about HIV, tonight is also about personal responsibility. We sometimes depend on others, we depend on government at times, but the most important person to depend on is yourself," he said.
Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams said the community had a collective responsibility to make AIDS less stigmatised. "We have not yet won the war," she said. "Together we can make a difference."
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