World AIDS Day Sparks Awareness Campaign By and For Young People
1 December 2009
In honour of World AIDS Day, a group of OneVoice South Africa (OVSA) learners recently took centre stage, when they led their school peers and local community in an all-day HIV and AIDS awareness campaign.
While involved in the OVSA Schools Programme, these dynamic learners were encouraged to discuss and address HIV and AIDS and sexual reproductive health issues affecting their lives. During the interactive workshops, learners soon realised that their peers were in denial of the fact that everyone is affected by HIV and AIDS. They agreed that if they could persuade them to get tested for HIV, they might facilitate a change in attitude towards HIV and AIDS. With World AIDS Day rapidly approaching, the group decided to take action, and came up with the idea of an HIV and AIDS ‘awareness’ campaign.
In support of this event, the learners designed posters encouraging their peers to protect themselves from HIV infection, and know their status. On the day in question, the school was buzzing with excitement and the principal allowed learners to finish early, so that the event could get underway. The day was a huge success and it was clear to those involved, that young people have a thirst for knowledge. Afterwards one of the OVSA learners said “young people know what to do, and only need a little push to go in the right direction”…
OVSA is a vibrant and unique non-governmental organisation, which uses innovative and creative ways of actively involving young people in HIV and AIDS prevention. OVSA offers young people a platform to discuss and address HIV and AIDS, sexual reproductive health, gender and human rights issues affecting their lives. By concurrently educating learners on specific life skills, OVSA helps young people address critical issues in their lives. It is hoped that through this facilitation, young people can support behaviour change and ultimately, a reduction in HIV incidence.
Launched as a 4-school pilot project in 2005, OVSA has grown its dynamic Schools Programme to include 74 schools across three provinces; KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape and Western Cape. OVSA is currently developing an even more contextualised programme for 2010; one which will reinforce alignment to the HIV & AIDS and STI Strategic Plan for South Africa (2007-2011), the Life Orientation curriculum and South African epidemic drivers.
OneVoice South Africa is based in Durban (KwaZulu-Natal), with regional offices in East London (Eastern Cape) and in Cape Town (Western Cape). The organisation is funded by USAID, Johns Hopkins Health and Education in South Africa and the interchurch organisation for development cooperation (ICCO).