Poster Competition on World AIDS Day

On World AIDS Day (December 1st) SOSVA conducted a poster making competition for students across colleges in Mumbai. Through this poster competition, SOSVA intended to:
Increase knowledge about HIV and AIDS among students in Colleges.
Propagate the message that HIV infections can happen to anyone.
Spread the message that treatment, prevention, care and support is everybody's right
Address the stigmatization that HIV/AIDS entail for people in India and create a band of young propagators, who will spread the message of positivism and acceptance.

The participating colleges were:
1) SIES College-Nerul
2) IES College- Bandra
3) L.S Raheja college of Applied Art –Bandra
4) H.K College- Jogeshwari
5) Bhavans College- Andheri
6) SVT college Juhu

There were close to 125 entries received, on the following themes:

1) Let AIDS not divide us
2) Treat AIDS – Save Lives
3) HIV Positives have a Right to Live
4) Stigma Kills – Kill the Stigma
5) Ignorance Kills – Get Educated about AIDS
6) HIV positives have a right to get treated

The judging took place on 2nd December at the Petit Municipal School Hall, where the posters were displayed for the judges to evaluate.
Ms. Kalyani Orpe, Ms. Amrita Bhende and Mr. Sunil Chavan judged the posters on the following criteria:

1)Originality
2)Creativity
3)Composition in relevance to the theme
4)Over–all visual impact


The winners were:
1) Shakambri Soni: SIES Nerul
2) Archana Agrawal: SVT College
3) Tejas Wadke: L.S Raheja College


The winning entries received prizes worth Rs. 5000, 2500 and 1000 respectively and all the participants received certificates and T-Shirts.

Volunteer Day

Recognizing the power of volunteerism, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed the year 2001 as International Year of Volunteers. Since then, 5th is celebrated world over as the International Volunteer Day with its main objectives of increased recognition, facilitation, networking and promotion of volunteering.

On the eve of World Volunteers Day, SOSVA organized an Annual Volunteer Meet.

SOSVA has been celebrating this event since last few years, giving opportunity to volunteers to interact and share their experience. This year we took the program to a new level and discussed the various trends in Volunteering. Apart from our volunteers, we invited speakers from the corporate sector and academia to discuss new dimensions that volunteering entails.

Mr. Jayaraman Iyer , (Ex CMD SHCIL), Mr. R. S Surve. Secretary Shri Ambika Arogya Yog Kutir, Mrs. Jyoti Gandhi- Former Head, Dept. of Biotechnology, National College graced the occasion and had a panel discussion on “Emerging trends in Volunteering: Role and Utilization of Volunteers”. Mr. Ernest Fernandes , noted Bandra citizen moderated the discussions.

The crux of the discussion was that if we want a nation where volunteering is an inherent part of our culture then we need to start young and introduce children to the joy of volunteering form school itself.

Children from the NGO’s- Sparsh and Skills and Ability School, Nerul staged a cultural program for the audience.