Friday October 15th- HIV/ AIDs Awareness Day

On Friday the 15th of October we held a HIV/AIDs Awareness and Testing day at the pre-school for the local community. On Thursday we went on a walkabout with the teachers and children to advertise the day. We found this really interesting because we were able to see more of the local community and how they live, and also interact with the people. We spoke to alot of locals and were expecting a big turnout.

We arrived at 8 a.m. Friday morning to set up our information stands- one with an informative DVD and true/false game, and the other with important information on transmission and treatment. The local CARE team arrived and set up four testing stations for any members of the community that wanted to get tested. Unfortunately by 9 a.m. we only had five people. However, we decided to get started anyway and a few more people joined in as we went along. The information was well recieved by those that were there and we were pleased to see that they were willing to participate and also knew alot about HIV and AIDs. Although we were surprised to notice that most of the locals didn't realise that HIV/AIDs is a worldwide problem and didn't just affect developing African countries but also rich western ones. Everyone enjoyed our demonstration of how HIV can and can't be transmitted, with the help of our sexual health dolls (full genitalia intact!). We also got a few laughs during our condom demonstration in which we explained how to put a condom on a cucumber. Free condoms were handed out to all those who attended.

Despite our initial disappointment at such a small turnout, we were all very pleased with how the morning went. 38 people were tested, which is a really good outcome. Those that tested positive were directed to the local hospital where there is a great HIV/AIDs department offering counselling and free treatment. We hope that our efforts have helped to raise awareness of HIV and AIDs and maybe even saved a life.

Written by Alex and Ana Costa Matos, Friso Halbertsma, Hassena Hakda and Emily Edwards.

Thank you all so much for your hard work :)

Beautiful poem written by one of our advanced Edson's students

Street Kid

I am a simple kid born in this wonderful world where everybody has a space,
a piece of land and a roof to live.
The ghetto and the streets of this city are my shelter.
I am a simple kid born and destined to be adopted by the streets of this city.
I spend the most part of my time washing cars,
suffering insult, even worse, humiliation.
So that in the end of the day I can win a piece of land, or 10 mets, sometimes none.
The worst is to recieve insult and scorn, in this way- my life goes on.

If my lucky day come I can get a sandwich or something more.
But when my lucky day doesn't come, it is only despised and sometimes I'm called by names that I don't like.

I still remember last night, when I was dressing without a blanket,
I just heard a voice saying "Hey kid, get away from there, go to school".
Sometimes I spend days and nights praying for me and for those who don't know what they are talking,
because I'm hopeful that I can see a light in the end of this tunnel.

Written by Severiano Francisco Xavier Gimo