World Rabies Day in Sikkim....a party with hundreds of happy children.
The Sikkim Anti-Rabies & Animal Health (SARAH) programme celebrated WRD with a street party & awareness campaign at 'Friend's Corner' at the busy Sunday Lal market in Gangtok. This was an opportunity to tell people how to prevent rabies & what to do if you are bitten by a dog. Raising awareness is so important in India as up to 30,000 people are estimated to die from rabies every year.
There was a drawing competition, an essay writing competition, balloons, sweets & birthday cake in honour of Brigitte Bardot (major sponsor of SARAH) who celebrated her birthday on the same day. Every child that entered the competition got a small prize & sweets so you can imagine how popular it was, and the ensuring chaos as every child tried to jump the queue to get to their prize first.
Never work with children or animals...wise words indeed. But this WRD we worked with both, also providing a free rabies vaccination & deworming camp for pets. A wonderful busy crazy noisy, & at time riotous day...enjoyed by all.
