"7x7" Northeast's first ever Music project on the theme of Youth and Drug Abuse

Khevito Elvis Lee *

A musical journey to bring healing and awareness among youth on drug abuse

The burning issue of drug abuse in most of the states in Northeast India calls for an urgent attention and active response from everyone who cares and desires to bring about change. Seven various music bands have extended their support and vow to raise their voice through songs for the Cause. BASIC today announces Northeast India's first ever music project that will bring out a unique music album on the theme of 'Youth and Drug Abuse'.

Named as "7x7", the music project will highlight well-known and socially responsible artists from all the states of Northeast India. It is a sincere attempt to take a step towards bringing healing, and to try finding solutions to the issues together. The album not only unites various bands from different Northeast states to raise one voice for the cause but also features the diverse music talents that the region has. It will feature two all-girls music bands and also a taste of folk fusion music from Nagaland.

From experience we know that the worst and long-term victims of drug abuse are mostly not the drug users but people around them especially family. BASIC has been supporting 'Tabitha Home', an orphanage for HIV+ children for more than two years now. "Helping the HIV+ orphans bring tremendous satisfaction knowing that not only are we supporting those suffering kids but amending for the past also. All the children had IDU fathers (and all HIV+)", said Khevito Elvis Lee, BASIC project manager.

Through this album, BASIC will raise fund and aim to support people in need with special focus on HIV+ orphans. BASIC also plans to organise a concert with all the seven bands in Delhi by November 2013 to create awareness among people especially the youth. Music, being a universal language and one of the most powerful tools to reach out to the youth, will be a great empowering force for the journey ahead.

Talking about the journey so far to make the project successful, Mr. Elvis shared "We knew that it would be a great challenge for all of us to carry forward this project but with the determination and willingness and heart for the society and youth, we never thought of giving it another second thought. And we strongly believe that God will lead us through as reminded by His words in Genesis 28:15 - I am with you and will watch over you wherever you will go , I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you. '7x7' is our sincere effort to find answers together to the issues that ails our society and say boldly without regret that 'We Care, We Tried and We Did' something for our society, our family, our friends and our nation."

About B-A-S-I-C (Be Aware, Support, Care & Inform):

BASIC, a non-profit organisation, is an answer to a quest of a group of friends that resulted from daily and casual discussions on various issues and problems that plague our society. Awakened to the need of people around us, we felt an impending need to do whatever we can to be agents of change. We desire to make people aware of the issues that society live with, garner support from people to tackle these issues, inform people of ways and means to tackle the issues, whilst caring for all of God's creation by serving with a heart of love and inculcating an attitude of stewardship.

With a mission to bring positive social change through various social innovations and collaborations with diverse social contributors - corporate groups, governments, and individuals, BASIC was started in August 2011.

Some of BASIC objectives include:

• Fund raising
• Networking & connectivity
• Capacity building
• Awareness campaigns
• Advocacy
• Youth empowerment
• Public engagement through social media
• Research & publication
• Economic empowerment
• Social and cultural promotion
• Advisory Services to NGOs & Corporates

For media queries contact
Khevito Elvis Lee @ [email protected]
Maivio J Woba [email protected]

CONCEPT NOTE

Youth and Drug Abuse – A musical journey to find an answer to it
~ Music to heal and bring awareness among youth on drug abuse ~

Without doubt, the Northeast region of India often gets featured on news headlines of many major news channels and platforms for its affair with drugs and youth who are lost to its abuse. Here are writings on the wall of some news platforms –

o "Every third person in the region is or has been a drug addict at some point in his or her life. The most shocking thing that he told was that it is not easy to spot an old person there; not because they have a secret anti-aging potion or something, but because the life expectancy in the region is very low and most people die young; a major part of their lives goes into nothing else but drug abuse. No doubt the influence of the substance-use takes a person to a different world, completely disconnected from the reality; especially when the reality is also not so rosy as the North Eastern part of India is one of the least developed region with very few infrastructural, educational and employment opportunities." (Link here )

o "The system is complex and involves everyone. "From the police to the politicians, the army, the BSF, the excise and customs officers, and the underground," says a pastor on the condition of anonymity, "everyone is involved in Manipur's drug trade." A trade that is illegal, but no one seems to mind."( Link here )

o "Two years after my husband's death, I discovered to my horror that I am HIV- affected as I was unable to recover from a prolonged illness. Why should I pay for the sins which my druggie husband committed? He was an IDU and had AIDS," 41-one-year-old Reeta (name changed on request) told IANS." ( Link here )

These and many others cases to which we/people of the NE are no stranger, affirms the need to urgently address drug abuse issues of our society. So, here is an attempt to take a step towards bringing healing, and to try finding solutions to the issues together- a musical journey with various well-known and socially responsible artists from all the states of Northeast India. We are bringing out an album that will feature songs addressing or highlighting drug abuse issues in the region. The target date for releasing the album is June 26 i.e., International Day against Drug Abuse & Trafficking.

After the completion of the album, we will organise a launch concert to create awareness among the youth in New Delhi, focussing mainly on the NE youths. It will then be followed by various such awareness concerts in different states of Northeast India.

We have read too many news and articles and faced too many disturbing real life cases to be left unchallenged by the need to respond. Let's all take this journey together to find answers to the issues that ails our society and say boldly without regret that "we care, we tried and we did" something for our society, our family, our friends and our nation. Music, being a universal language and one of the most powerful tools to reach out to the youth, will be a great empowering force for the journey ahead!

Objective: Beneficiaries and long term plan

From experience we know that the worst sufferer, long-term impact and victim of drug abuse are mostly not the drug users but people around them especially family. We have been supporting 'Tabitha Home' for more than two years now and helping the HIV+ orphans bring tremendous satisfaction knowing that not only are we supporting those suffering kids but amending for the past also. All the children had IDU fathers (and all HIV+).

Through this album and the fund to be raised through the planned concert, we will support people in need with special focus on HIV+ orphans. Also, given the size of the fund we will also support and target people into drug abuse problems to get needful support by helping them get into rehabilitation centres and provide an opportunity to change for better. We will select and partner with organisations already supporting and running such support projects for drug abusers. About BASIC (Be Aware, Support, Care & Inform):

BASIC is an answer to a quest a group of friends had that resulted from daily and casual discussions on various issues and problems that plague our society. Awakened to the need of people around us, we felt an impending need to do whatever we can to be agents of change. We desire to make people aware of the issues that society live with, garner support from people to tackle these issues, inform people of ways and means to tackle the issues, whilst caring for all of God's creation by serving with a heart of love and inculcating an attitude of stewardship.

With a mission to bring positive social change through various social innovations and collaborations with diverse social contributors - corporate groups, governments, and individuals, BASIC was started in August 2011. BASIC is now a fully registered NGO under the Central Government Act Section 60(2) in The Registration Act, 1908 (2).

The first project BASIC took up was supporting 'Tabitha Home' through various ways. Tabitha Home is a home/shelter exclusively for HIV infected orphans, located at Raphei Valley, Imphal (Manipur) founded by NSCP and managed by Mr. Thanshok Kamkra and his wife Tammi.

Starting with BASIC group members, we collected monthly financial support from interested people and sent it to support the children at Tabitha Home. Following are some of the works BASIC took up to support Tabitha Home – Organising concerts, managing Facebook page, enhancing Livelihood, inviting people to visit the home, arranging socio-cultural exposure trips, media engagement, supporting Tabitha Home annual health camp, aiding publication and many others.

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* Khevito Elvis Lee wrote this article for e-pao.net
The writer is from Dimapur, Nagaland and Project Manager, BASIC (Delhi based NGO) and can be contacted at hflyer82(at)gmail(dot)com
This article was posted on June 12 2013 .

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