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RESPECT International is an organization that works to provide education for all. I have been a volunteer at RESPECT since 2002 and have come to firmly understand the importance of education. Education is the foundation for the betterment of social attitudes and can be an initiator of community change. I have been studying anthropology for four years at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada http://www.uvic.ca/ In class I we were educated about HIV/AIDS and I was moved by the devastation HIV/AIDS especially in some parts of Africa.
In Canada it is easy for us to access information and to share it with people who desperately need it. I am planning on going to Ethiopia from January to March 2006 – where I will volunteer for two other non-profit organizations so I contacted RESPECT International to see if any African partners would be interested in a training program about HIV and AIDS. I said to Sandrine Cortet, French Coordinator at RESPECT, “if you tell me there is a need in Tanzania, then I will go to Tanzania."
After further discussing such issues with CELA and NECH (Tanzania partners), ARTHUM (Democratic Republic of Congo partner: http://www.romero-online.com/respect/arthum/index_en.html) and GPER (Benin partner), those involved decided that a new educational directive was needed. After months of discussion it has been decided that we will create four HIV/AIDS education and prevention programs in three African countries, with the above mentioned RESPECT partners.
In the up-coming year, with the help of the RESPECT team and refugee affiliates, I will venture into a new domain of educational supply for the organization. The project will take place in three African countries in collaboration with RESPECT affiliates and will hold community awareness meetings; to train individuals in the selected areas, and to provide reliable information about protection from contracting the disease.
Sub-Saharan Africa is currently facing the world’s most deadly epidemic in human history. With a world-wide prevalence totaling nearly 40-million, Sub-Saharan Africa represents over 60% with an estimated 25.4 million people living with HIV/AIDS. As the global pandemic presents a task too large to engage with, RESPECT partners decided to create locally designed programs to approach the issues in ways that they feel will be most productive and effective. This locally driven approach is mostly in response to the failures of large international projects that were designed without consideration of local cultural or social particularities.
The three-country four-month program is has been budgeted at $12,000 (CAN), and has so far received a $500 grant from the University of Victoria. I am attempting to cover as much as possible and am seeking additional founders for financial help. If any readers have ideas or possible connections for contributions they can reach me or Sandrine Cortet by email.
The specifics of each program differ based on the individual needs of location. In the first stage of the project, I will cooperate with ARTHUM (http://www.romero-online.com/respect/arthum/index_en.html), a long time and active RESPECT affiliate, who has been coordinating RESPECT letter exchange and University programs in the Democratic Republic of Congo (D.R.C). Some ARTHUM volunteers will present a piece of theatre to the community about issues relating to HIV and AIDS. During the following three days, I will lead a community in teaching programs. The program will be specifically adapted to the audience, who may be mostly illiterate. The program will be concluded with a musical celebration preformed by ARTHUM. Such events will occur in five selected villages hosting large refugee communities in South Kivu, where some of the schools are involved in a RESPECT letter exchange program as well.
The second stage of the program will take place in the Kigoma region of Tanzania with RESPECT affiliates. CELA and NECH centers are two vocational and educational schools that were created by refugees themselves. Here the program will stay in Lugufu II and Nyarugusu for a longer duration so that some of the refugees can be trained and certified as HIV/AIDS educators.
The third and final stage of the program will take place in Benin. It will start in Cotonou where thirty volunteers will be trained in a month long session. The GPER (Groupement des Parents des Élèves Réfugiés), also involved in a RESPECT letter exchange program, is taking care of the practical arrangements and organization. To conclude this program thirty trained individuals and I will interact within Kpomassé refugee camp to share our gained information. Our visit will also involve a formal community education in a two-day session I will present.
The basic goal of the project is to increase knowledge concerning HIV/AIDS. The situation is not that straightforward because of the existing stigma around the issue remains influential in many of the areas. As a result of this there will be a prerequisite allowing for discussion without attached social stigma. This process will be carefully facilitated as outsiders who present materials to communities do not fall under such social taboo.
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Logan Cochrane
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