TWO brothers will run 300 miles around the island next month in an effort to raise money for AIDS research.
Sridhar Reddy, a computer scientist in the United States, will run 19 miles a day with his brother Jayanth, beginning on September 15 in Larnaca.
They plan to end the charity event in Nicosia on October 1.
Their friend Dr. Shaik Mohd Hidavathullah will follow the duo in a car in order to provide logistical and moral support.
This is not the first time that Sridhar has embarked on such a project.
In 1989, as a student at the College of Staten Island, he managed a 1,300-mile run to Miami to raise awareness of the plight of babies born with AIDS.
Three years later, in 1992, he set off again in a new pair of Nike Airs, running 400 miles to Provincetown, on Massachusetts’ Cape Cod. En route, he stopped at shopping centres, towns and villages to educate people about AIDS.
Sridhar, who is taking three weeks’ unpaid leave from his job, said this adventure will be different from his previous runs in that he will hire a videographer to record the stories of AIDS patients he meets while running through Cyprus.
“I want to make a video of these patients so that I can publicise it and send it to world organisations,” he told the Staten Island Advance.
“I hope this will help educate people more about the 14,000 people affected with HIV/AIDS each day.”
The Society for Education and Health, in America, will sponsor Sridhar by matching every dollar he raises. The money will be used for logistics, accommodation and transportation.
He hopes to raise a minimum of $13,000, which he will then donate to the American Foundation for AIDS Research.
“I run because I want to see the one day when there are zero people who are HIV/AIDS positive,” Sridhar said.
According to the President of the AIDS Sufferers Support Centre in Limassol, “the official number of people in Cyprus diagnosed with HIV is currently 548.”
Stella Michaelidou added that a charity run in Cyprus, “is a very good idea as its purpose is not simply to raise money but also addresses the issues of prevention, education and acceptance.”
According to Michaelidou, the UN hosted an AIDS conference in New York two months ago which was attended by the Health Ministries of various countries.
“Recently, representatives from international HIV/AIDS organisations visited the island to conduct research for the purpose of gauging the overall situation in Cyprus,” she explained. “The reason of the visit was because Cyprus didn’t send an official HIV report to the UN, as requested.”
