World AIDS Day

So first of all im back in England and havnt had much of a chance to update the blog due to everything being so busy, but hopefully now ill get it up to date so i can start to write about the London phase which starts in 2 days.

World AIDS Day falls on December the 1st every year and the day gave us an opportunity to educate people and create awareness of the virus. Our work for World AIDS Day was spread over 2 days and begun on November the 30th where us (Global Xchange) and other NGO's around the area were divided into 6 groups of 6 in order to visit and talk to 6 secondary schools in Ikom. I wrote a article on the two days which has been published in a few places across the internet so ill attach that in a minute but first, ill tell you something that i had to keep out of the article. Midway through speaking to about 50 14-16year olds I was asked by a teacher if we could give a talk about condoms (i don't know why they picked me?!). So one of the guys casually took out a condom from his wallet and handed it to me to do the rest. After telling them how to open it i paused and realised i needed some sort of firm object of a reasonable length to aid my demonstration. I was given a stick, but hey, it's not about what you demonstrate with it's how you demonstrate that matters (no pun intended). So i carried on my inspirational speech holding a stick with a condom on it and it turned out to be quite a success and the children were very responsive and curious (good thing or bad thing?). When i later told the rest of the team i was told that talking about condom use is illegal in schools because they only want to promote 'abstinence' but lets be realistic for a second, the kids who i spoke to need to know how to use a condom becuase they are the ones who are starting to have sex now and need the information. So i will stand firm with my stick in my hand with the condom on the end and continue to promote the use of condoms. Anyway, kinda got caried away there......here's the article, hope you enjoy.

As World AIDS day approached, NGO’s involving Global Xchange wanted to raise awareness of HIV and AIDS and surrounding topics such as discrimination and HIV counseling and testing. On Wednesday 30^th November, the NGO’s decided to visit 6 secondary schools in Ikom to give the children a greater understanding of HIV/AID’S and to also allow them to ask any questions they have surrounding the topic.
As the talk began, it was incredible to see how engaged the children were. For 45 minutes the facilitators covered the following topics: what is HIV/AID’s, myths of HIV, modes of transmission, discrimination and how to live healthy with the virus. The session was designed to allow for discussion and for the children to feedback their knowledge. The response was amazing and the children really showed that they were knowledgeable on the subject. When the talk was complete, a 10 minute question and answer session followed. The response was exceptional and the children were very open with the questions they asked. We could have stayed another hour answering questions but the time was up. As the session ended, there was a real sense of achievement from both the children and volunteers and it was evident that having a short talk, can go a long way to a better understanding.

 

The following day, Thursday 1^st December marked Worlds AIDS Day, which gave the volunteers another opportunity to create awareness. However, this time the local NGO’s would participate in a rally across Ikom. By 10am, around 150 volunteers were gathered at the local government wearing white tops and blue jeans with a ribbon on their chests to symbolize the day. A truck with music playing led the rally with the volunteers dancing behind holding banners, handing out leaflets and condoms and using a megaphone to connect with the community. The locals response was very overwhelming with lots of questions being asked and appreciation for the distribution of condoms and information leaflets. After marching around town for 3 hours, the volunteers arrived at Abuja motor park to unveil a painting to raise awareness of AIDS.

In the evening, youth xchange held a concert at Ikom Town to give locals an opportunity to be involved. The evening involved music, dancing, a drama and snippets of information regarding HIV and AID’S. the evening bought out many of the community including small children and adults and everyone was enjoying the good atmosphere. Finally, the event came to a close and through 3 different events the volunteers were able to connect with many parts of the community and have a real impact in a short period of time.