MUMBAI: MTV has announced a one-hour special Mandela: A Staying Alive Special to be aired in July. The former South African President, Nelson Mandela, has been actively involved in the battle against the Aids menace. This year on 2 February, The Mandela SOS Concert was held on Robben's Island in South Africa.
In India, the special will air on 18 July at 2 pm and repeats on 24 July at 10.30 pm. Globally too the event wil air on 18 July. An official release informs that the special is also being offered rights free to broadcasters worldwide.
The show will mark the 2003 debut of the Staying Alive HIV/AIDS awareness campaign, as well as Mandela's 85th birthday..
The show will allow viewers to gain a perspective on Mandela's life and its unique trajectory. The special will also profile several young people from diverse backgrounds who will travel to Johannesburg to meet Mandela.
They discuss topics with him such as HIV/AIDS awareness, discrimination, war and more. The young people involved in the special include: Luyombya Henry Hudson from Kampala, Uganda in Africa.
Henry tested positive for HIV two years ago, getting tested after the death of his father and his elder brother who both died of AIDS. Because his family and community around him has been hit so hard by HIV, Henry has been driven to take up the cause of fighting the spread of HIV/AIDS, not just in Uganda but globally. Henry wants to meet Nelson Mandela to ask him where he found the faith and personal strength to continue his struggle for freedom in the face of the hopelessness he surely must have felt during his 27 years in prison.
Mandela has been quoted in the release saying, "With half of all new HIV infections among those under 25 years old and a vast array of complicated issues facing them, young people have more tough decisions to make in their lives today than at any other time in history."
"I look forward to meeting the young people travelling to Johannesburg to participate in MTV's programme to talk about these important issues, as well as to discuss how to use the knowledge that history has given us as a guide on how to plan for the future.".
Last year, MTV produced the acclaimed Staying Alive HIV/AIDS awareness campaign in partnership with Levi's Jeans, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Paul G. Allen Charitable Foundation, Population Services International's YouthAIDS, UNAIDS, the Kaiser Family Foundation and the YouthNet program spearheaded by Family Health International. The multimedia campaign included a concert special, Staying Alive: A Global Forum on HIV/AIDS featuring former US President Bill Clinton,
