Members of the Manipal Sand Heart Team carved a sand sculpture to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS on the occasion of World AIDS Day at Malpe beach here on Saturday.
Artistes of the team Srinath Manipal, Ravi Hirebettu and Venki Palimar carved the sculpture. The sculpture depicts a person with needles on his face holding a globe in his hands. Placards bearing slogans about the issues related to HIV/AIDS have been placed around the person and the globe. The slogans are in Kannada and English; some of them are: “Health is wealth, Beware of AIDS”, “One partner, Zero HIV/AIDS”, “Spread awareness, not disease”.
Leader of the team Srinath Manipal said: “The human face with needles actually represents the HIV/AIDS virus. We feel that there is no proper awareness on the issue. Our purpose in carving the sculpture is to create awareness among people.”
The team, which began carving the sculpture at 7.30 a.m., completed it at 12.30 p.m. The members of the team distributed 500 pamphlets among the tourists and local people who visited the beach. The pamphlets contained information on HIV/AIDS.
