Peer Education

One of the main secondary projects I’ve been working on during my service has been training HIV peer educators at my school. Per the request of my headmaster, the assistant health teacher and I chose 12 form 1 and form 2 students during second term last year to meet with as often as possible to educate them on HIV/AIDS, STIs, and Life Skills. We based the program on the HIV Alert curriculum used her in Ghana but I also supplemented material using a Life Skills manual Peace Corps gives us. Once we finished with them last year we worked on a small grant to be able to hold a one day program to further educate them, swear them in and reward them for their hard work. I wrote two posts back in November on the success and challenges of the program but haven’t updated you much since then on what the peer educators have been up to.

After they were sworn in as peer educators, two outreach ideas the students came up with were holding session in the various sections of the village where they live and also practicing and performing dramas. Though we’re still working on the dramas, the peer education sessions have started and are going really well. Our boys senior prefect Michael was the first to start his in Ballerinsa. Other peer educators com to help him lead the sessions when they can and I’m also present to answer questions. I try my best to let it be student led as much as possible since that’s the power of peer education after all. We’ve met with his “people” three times now and have discussed HIV transmission/prevention, condom use, STIs and PLWHA. They’ve played games (with toffee as a reward), done demonstrations, danced, played quizzes (with stickers as prizes), read stories, and completed exercises. I’ve brought my camera a few times to take photos of the peer educators and students. During the last meeting, they did the loss exercise (which teaches empathy and compassion for PLWHA) and one of the boys wanted to pose with his paper which was kind of perfect. Michael will conduct his last meeting this coming Sunday and we’re hoping to debut one on drama called “The Shop” based on a Scenarios from Africa short film.

A couple of stories from going to Ballerinsa for the trainings….for the first meetings three other PEs- Raymond, Linda and Mary- also came to help Michael which was great. That day I’d brought my iPod and small speakers so they could play the condom game so one the trip home we blared the music as we rode our bikes. For me it was one of those surreal moments where you’re like “Yes I’m in Africa and in Peace Corps- and I’m loving that this is my job!” Of course now that hot season is in full swing the bike rides in the middle of the day (we start at 2PM on Sunday afternoons) have not been so pleasant. Last week none of the PEs went with me so I biked the 30 minutes by myself in the worst heat of the day. I had to stop three times to rest in the shade and drink water. I kept noticing how few people I was passing and how all the farm animals were resting in the shade meanwhile the white lady was out in the brutal sun.

Another peer educator Mary held the first meeting in her section of the village Kunkwak and had a good turnout. About 20 youth came and 3 other peer educators came to help out. It’s made me so proud to watch my students use their peer education training and to witness the fruits of my labor. Hopefully more of the students will start up similar programs in their parts of the village next term.