The Sickle Cell Association has won the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Art Competition themed “Mainstreaming the protection of Human Rights towards the accelerated achievement of the SGDs”. We are thrilled and grateful to have been invited to participate. What an unbelievable opportunity to be heard!

Under the motto “Pain relief is a basic Human Right”, we submitted two pieces which were later merged to accommodate large posters. One of our entries is a pastel drawing of two young women comforting each other, the other one is a photo collage made possible by the combined effort of our patients and supporters. They came together in an unprecedented show of unity, spelling out the word “PAIN” to present their cause. Special thanks to Joe Martin from Photogenesis who climbed on the roof to take the pictures!

The official unveiling ceremony took place on Saturday, December 16th. The UN posters are now displayed at the airport, the UN building on Independence Avenue and at Antigua Recreation Grounds. Both the poster and original artwork are shown on the electronic billboard on Old Parham Road. Thank you, Mr. Wilkins!

We are ever so grateful for this opportunity to give our patients a voice. We made the images available to other Sickle Cell associations internationally, where they were exceedingly well received. Let us hope they will help to make positive changes.