The Kids are Alright

Saturday saw the completion of another successful workshop here at the UN. This time, we brought the children of UN employees, ages 5-18, into the office, and had an interactive discussion on HIV and AIDS. I have to be honest--I was impressed that over 60 kids not only woke up before 8 am on a Saturday and gave up part of their weekend to be there (in Southern Africa, school is in session in July--it's winter), but they were incredibly energetic and enthusiastic, given the early hour.

Obviously, you don't teach 5-year-olds the same things you teach 18-year-olds when it comes to HIV, so we divided the kids up into 4 age groups. I had the pleasure of facilitating twelve teenagers, ages 13-15. After introductions, we kicked things off playing a game, where they categorized different actions by the level of risk the action represented for contracting HIV. This game set off a whole slew of questions, and the session turned into something that was half a discussion on HIV, and half a sex education class...which was fine, I just never imagined myself describing aspects of the birds and the bees to a group of teenagers. Questions throughout the day ranged, and we generally let the kids answer each other, if they could, and merely served to correct wrong information:

Q: What is the difference between HIV and AIDS?
A: HIV is a virus that attacks your immune system, which makes you more susceptible to other diseases after a period of time. The diseases that attack your body when you have HIV are collectively referred to as AIDS

Q: How do I know what condom size I should use?
A: Well, standard will probably do it, but I guess you could do some trial runs on your own.

Q: What exactly is an orgasm?
A: Um...

Regarding the first question, I'm continually surprised here by how much HIV/AIDS is in the public eye, but how little useful information is circulated about it. Billboards asking "Who's in Your Sexual Network?" are the recent government ad campaign, but seem to suggest having multiple partners are acceptable, rather than describe the increased risk for contracting HIV that accompanies them. (I recently found out these were part of a "teaser" ad campaign, but the government ran out of money before funding the punchline). My group told me at the end of the day that it would be great to have these kinds of discussions and educational sessions at school--to which my co-facilitator and I gave each other shocked looks. Teachers are supposed to teach about HIV in school here, but obviously don't create the time.

After the condom demonstration (I've never seen so many people volunteering to try out putting a condom on a model--or have such trouble actually opening condoms) and a snack break, the group broke up into two groups to create some kind of project about the risks of HIV. One group put on a hilarious drama about how HIV can spread. It opened with the doctor giving HIV-positive test results to a patient ("I think you'll want to sit down for this", the doctor said to the seated man), upon which, the infected man declared: "I'm not going down alone!" He then proceeded to get drunk and find a prostitute (who later infects two men in a threesome), and later went home to his wife (who later finds out she is infected). Every time someone was "sleeping" with someone else, they went outside, and shut the door. One kid's role was simply to bang the door and make appropriate noises. These kids must watch a lot of TV.

The other group created a couple of posters, one illustrating the pressure girls their age may face to have a "sugar daddy" or older man, who gives them money or cell phones in exchange for sex. The other posters expressed the kinds of excuses people may use for not protecting themselves from HIV. After the two presentations, the group had a very mature discussion (with no intervention from us) about the risks they and their classmates face. I was wildly impressed by how open and interested these teenagers were in discussing their health and well being.

After a lunch of Debonair's pizza, all the age groups reconvened with parents to take a quiz on HIV knowledge. We offered prizes to families receiving high scores, and watched the younger age groups present their poster projects. All in all, a successful day!