ONE LIFE...Do Something

Today, I went along with a few friends from school to an exhibition in Dream Centre, DUMC. I used to attend that church when I was little....That was before they shifted though.. Anyway, the exhibition is named ONe Life exhibit. Its main objective is to put you into the shoes of the children who are affected with HIV/AIDS and child trafficking.



I heard about this exhibition thingy from my friend last year, but I've never been to the exhibition. I was kinda surprise when I see how it works. At the beginning, you'll be guided on things to do and not do during the exhibition before you are given a mp3 player to be hung around your neck. A character will be given to you, and for that whole journey, you're suppose to be that person and experience his/her life.


 Throughout the journey, you'll be guided from room to room by the narrator's voice through the earphones. There are a total of 3 different characters for you to experience and since we have time and not many people were there, we went for all three characters. My first character was Jothi from India. I'm not gonna tell you how her life goes because I don't wanna ruin the suspense for those who are reading this and have yet to try the exhibition. 


Anyway, the moment I stepped through the curtains, I can smell the flower scent. It makes you feel like you're really in India. Furthermore, the noise from the surrounding that was played from the mp3 made it even more real. Stepping through each curtain leads me to the living place of Jothi, the place where she worked and it really puts me in her life. My friend told me that there were people who cried throughout the journey, and I didn't believe it at first. But, undeniably the journey was really heartbreaking and touching. I didn't cry though. Was too fascinated by the idea on how they came up with this exhibition to make you go through the unfortunate children's life. 


Anyway, at almost the end of the journey, you'll end up in a room called 'health clinic' which really looks like a clinic and from there you'll move on to the counter to check if you're HIV positive or negative. Of course, they won't really run the test on your blood and stuff...they'll just stamp your hand with the positive sign if you're infected by HIV and vice versa. But the story did not end there. If you're stamped as HIV positive, you're suppose to sit at the bench and wait for a HIV negative individual to 'rescue' you when they offer you their hands. 2 out of 3 of the characters were infected by HIV so you do the math. 


The first character I got wasn't infected with HIV so I get to save others and lead them out of the room. But the 2nd and 3rd one which I tried later weren't that fortunate. I sat there at the bench for quite some time but no one came to save me....my friends were all HIV positive too since we went through the same character. So after the music ended, we just left the room without being rescued. Through that I realize, even if I wasn't really been infected by HIV, the feeling of being abandoned, the feeling of no one coming to save you can really be felt. Can you imagine how the HIV positive patients really felt when all their family and friends isolate them when they found out that he/she is infected by HIV? Therefore throughout the whole journey, there were poster pasted everywhere emphasizing that " Discrimination Killed them, not HIV"....and indeed it is really true. None of them choose to be infected by this deadly disease...Some got infected even before stepping into this world...moreover, HIV disease can't be pass/spread through saliva/ skin contact....so there's absolutely no reason for people to isolate the patients actually...


After leaving the health clinic, you'll move on to a reflection room where many pictures potraiting the patients and their families which were affected by HIV were hung all over. After that, you'll be given a bracelet and then you're free to leave message at the wall of hope. Although the entire journey took only about 20 minutes, it really reflects a lot and the message was clearly shown. It really gave me a whole picture of the person's life and how blessed am I to be here, living comfortably.
They are all ordinary people just like us, but their life are so much tougher compared to us. We were encouraged by the volunteers to spread the word to our friends about this meaningful exhibition. So here am I, encouraging you guys to go for the exhibition. It's really a good experience.







TAKE A JOURNEY IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF A CHILD......


Take a once-in-a lifetime journey through the ONE LIFE exhibit.


You will see, hear and experience the tragedy and triumph lived out by real children affected by HIV/AIDS and child trafficking.



See life through their eyes.
Be amazed by their resilience.





Date: 8-13 July 2008
Time: 10am - 7pm
Venue: Dream Centre, DUMC,
2 Jalan 13/1, Section 13,
46200 Petaling Jaya.

For more information on the One Life Revolution nationwide tour, log onto:
http://www.worldvision.com.my/
and this is their official blog.
http://blog.worldvision.com.my/


By the way, this exhibition is in 3 different language, so no worries.
And I bought the One Life T-shirt while my sister bought the flip flops. really cool.....:)
So, what are you waiting for?? Go experience it now!!!!!