Can AIDS spread through deep throat kissing? How do you use a female condom? These were the questions posed by giggling teenage participants at the HIV/AIDS workshops.
Can AIDS spread through deep throat kissing? How do you use a female condom?
These were the questions posed by giggling teenage participants at the HIV/AIDS workshops organised in schools last year by members of the Ahmedabad chapter of world's largest youth organisation, AIESEC.
But according to Jane Feng, who is facilitating the workshops this year, the peals of laughter was followed by a long silence as the teens paid attention to the answers and information provided by the experts regarding prevention of HIV infection.
"There are times when the children ask questions that sound silly or even offensive, but it is only because they did not have the opportunity to learn about such things earlier. We try to take this on board in our workshops and frame our answers in a way that it guides the youth about prevention of HIV," said Feng, a 21-year-old college student, who travelled all the way from Guangzhou province in China to be a part of the project, which began in mid-January and will continue till October.
More foreign interns are expected to take part in this project for a duration of two months each.
A collaborative effort of AIESEC and Standard Chartered Bank (SCB), the project is a part of the HIV/AIDS Genesis project, which is running concurrently in many of the 106 countries within AIESEC's network. The Ahmedabad chapter was launched this time last year with local AIESEC members running workshops in English, Hindi and Gujarati for 800 children in the age group of 12-18 at schools and community centres in the slum areas.
This year, workshop facilitators, who are trained by the SCB cell for HIV/AIDS awareness, hope to reach out to more children with the help of NGOs like the All-India Disaster Management Institute (AIDMI) and Indian Network of NGOs.
"The fact that we have international interns running the workshops this year is a huge encouragement," said AIESEC vice president Prakash Iyengar. He added that this not only attracts the attention of the students, but also helps convince school administrators to allow such workshops on a regular basis. According to Iyengar, this can sometimes be a struggle considering the taboo topics that need to be broached during the workshop.
"We always talk to the school administrators first to gauge the kind of language, graphics and material which is appropriate and try to deliver a workshop within those parameters. For example, some schools prefer that we use the word 'protection' instead of condoms. We also promote fidelity as a means of protection," explained Feng, who delivered the message through play-acting and quiz.
Mirambika School in Naranpura also allowed students from standard IX-XII to attend the workshop on Friday. "We were happy to have AIESEC run the workshop because the information is useful for the children and makes them more aware about the disease. Although children of standard XI and XII had basic knowledge about the topic, they got to learn more through the right channel," said school principal Raj Anthony, who appreciated the interactive method adopted for the workshop.
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