GUYANA – Secretary General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) H.E. Edwin Carrington on Tuesday April 3, 2007, invested cricket legend Clive Hubert Lloyd with the title `Champion for Change’ in the fight against HIV and AIDS, with special reference to the reduction of stigma and discrimination.
The conferral ceremony was held at the CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana.
The former West Indian captain, who led his team to Cricket World Cup victory in 1975 and 1979, said he hoped he could play a major part in the reduction of HIV/AIDS and promised to put before the West Indies Cricket Board, a proposal to give part proceeds of every one-day cricket match in the West Indies towards the HIV/AIDS reduction process.
“I feel proud of this award and I hope that would be able to do things that can improve the lives of those people who are living with HIV and AIDS,” Clive Lloyd said.
Prior to conferring the title on Mr. Lloyd, Secretary General Carrington reminisced on the “glory days” of the West Indies team.
“Many things resulted from those days and those achievements: the impact on Caribbean development; the way we were received by the world; the way some of us walked – with a jaunt – we were on top of the heap; and we had, in fact, set the bar, and that to me, more than anything else, was the most important contribution – we had set the bar to what we must aspire and achieve,” the Secretary General said.
As a Champion for Change, Lloyd joins a battle that was no less important to Caribbean development than what he achieved in the 1970s, Mr. Carrington said.
The Secretary General noted that stigma and discrimination was itself a driving force behind widening and deepening growth against “this scourge on humanity”, and urged all to join the fight that Clive Lloyd would be lead in bringing about change in a manner that would enhance the quality and length of life of children and adults.
“Mr. Lloyd, we salute you today, a man of dignity, a role model and one who has already proven his worth as a leader beyond compare in our Region and as you go forward in this struggle against HIV and AIDS, we know that you will handle it with exceptional effort, with enthusiasm and great skill, and it is with that hope and confidence that I have the honor of conferring on you the award of Champion for Change against HIV and AIDS,” the Secretary General said.
The Champions for Change initiative supported by the UK Department of International Development and coordinated by the Pan Caribbean Partnership against HIV/AIDS, envisages that titleholders use their positions of influence to advocate and to seek to reduce the stigma and discrimination in the Region against HIV and AIDS and to promote greater tolerance and humanity to those persons living with or affected by HIV and AIDS.
Among the other Champions for Change is fast bowler Courtney Walsh.
