Yesterday, we started teaching about HIV/
AIDS in high schools. They asked
really great questions. One student
asked about the prophylaxis process and what the difference is between that and taking the ARVs daily. Another asked what the process is if the wife is HIV+ and husband is HIV- but they want to have a child. There was also a question about where HIV/
AIDS originated from and why it is so deadly in human beings but not in chimpanzees when we are both mammals.
We tried to explain to them that DNA mutation occurred in humans and
some viruses are more deadly and are able to replicate more effectively than
others but.. I don’t know if they fully understood. We recommended that they study science once
they enter University! I hope they can learn more about it in depth in the
future. I think as volunteers/ teachers, it is important to empower the students and guide them in the right direction and I hope we did this by showing expertise and motivating them to learn more about the topic in further studies.
This morning, my teammates told me that 2
students who were sitting in front held each other’s hands tightly when we
were talking about HIV statistics in the area. We are assuming that maybe because one of them is HIV+. In the Nyanza province,
1/3 of the population have HIV. Mostly due to the practice of polygamy , jaboya system (sex for fish system) that exists near Lake Victoria and also lack of education on this topic. We always
wondered how many children have HIV whenever we teach but
this information is of course not disclosed.
One thing that was obvious in high schools students was that they seemed to take the lesson more seriously. It may be because they personally experienced HIV in their
lives whether it was their family member or friends and understand the seriousness of the problem. I hope our lessons are helping them and they
will make safer and smarter choices in the future. The effects of such teachings are not immediate but what we hope is that in 5 years, 10 years or so, the prevalence of HIV will decrease in this area.
This year, we went into 17 primary schools and 5 high schools. GIVE integrated the HIV/ AIDS curriculum to the Ojola zone 7 years ago and this year, our main goal was to analyze its progress. We are hoping that the community can take over the project in the future so we are trying to discover a sustainable method to hand over project.
Stephen and Rashma, testing the students
