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R.A.I.D Group

A lot of stigma is attached to the word (or rather the abbreviation as it stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) AIDS. It shocked me, and indeed the whole of the audience that were in the crowded viewing room, how much it has affected millions all over the world and how ignorant the general public can be towards something that is so serious and life threatening. The public association with AIDS is far from the reality.

Raising Awareness In Darlington (R.A.I.D.) is a youth organisation aiming to educate and inform young people of the problems of HIV/AIDS and how it affects everyone. They did an extremely good job of it too; I was very moved by their very professional film and presentation. It was clear that all the members of the group presenting and starring in the film were very passionate about letting the public know about AIDS and had gone through a lot of effort to put their message across. They had also become close friends whilst taking part in the project, which goes to show that they benefited from it as well as their audience.

The upbeat DVD and the presentation from the group showed just how ignorant the attitude was towards HIV/AIDS from the public as many were reluctant to give money to help the charity, whilst they were more than willing to take the service offered to them, as soon as they heard why the money was being raised, heads were turned and money was put back into purses. I hope those who did such things were either there that night, reading this review and realising or get the message somehow.

A band provided, somewhat unnecessary, entertainment' at an interval before the DVD was put on. Unfortunately, even if the song had anything to do with AIDS, you couldn't hear the lyrics due to some random, and seemingly pointless, acoustic bass and some form of maraca shacking. Seemed to me that the band were just trying to plug their own stuff as a publicity stunt as none of the members seem to say anything about the reason the R.A.I.D. group were there. However, after that senseless never ending song, the expertly edited film was shown and grabbed the hearts of the audience.

Congratulations to all that took part in the project and well done as the efforts have not gone unnoticed and thanks for a cracking night, thoroughly enjoyed by all.

Daniel Bateman

8:29pm Wednesday 27th February 2008

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