HIV/AIDS Education Helps Empower Communities
Logan Cochrane knew he could make a difference. That's why he joined RESPECT as a volunteer in 2002, and gradually became more personally involved with projects in Africa supported by the organization. Believing that education could be used as the foundation for the empowerment of communities, he decided to write a brief teachers' manual for HIV/AIDS that could be distributed to some RESPECT affiliate schools.
After the manual's initial success, Logan decided to expand its reach, and created an educational program about HIV/AIDS to increase awareness about the issue in African Countries. With the help of RESPECT International, Logan worked to establish projects in three African countries: Benin, Tanzania, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). He's now president of Working to Empower, an organization with the goal of promoting education to empower local communities.
"HIV/AIDS kills 8,000 people everyday, and infects another 14,000 daily. RESPECT partners were being affected more, in a general sense, than others as they were refugee peoples and so I decided that I could go there and teach," says Logan, explaining why he decided to create the training project.
The first stage has been undertaken in the DRC, with the help of a local organization, ArtHum - Artists for Humanity. To deal with the different aspects of each community, the project takes a different approach in the different areas it will work in. For instance, ArtHum volunteers used drama and performances to complement the teaching program prepared by Logan.
"On the whole things went quite smoothly, despite a few issues in regards to safety, transport, and finances that caused minor problems on the way to the camp," remembers Logan. Overcoming these minor issues, as well as organizing a way to translate the material - originally produced in English - for teaching in French and other local languages, did not lessen his enthusiasm.
"The effects in the community are potentially endless. We had a goal of creating a set of people who can educate their community. We aim to empower local people so they can change the course of the virus in their area," he explains.
Sixty people took part in the training in the DRC, 28 of whom were teachers and 32 people from local non-governmental organizations (NGOs), including a worker from the National HIV/AIDS program. During the three-day training program, instructors focused on providing a clear understanding of HIV as a virus and how the transmission between people occur.
At the same time, participants were taught different methods of prevention and how they work, and shown successes and failures from previous campaigns so as to better understand how to approach other people. Finally, they were encouraged to overcome stigma and gender-related barriers to prevention, something that hinders many education attempts in the continent.
"As long as ignorance will persist within communities, the disease will continue killing people massively. It is time to educate and train activists and to inform people about the danger that represent this pandemic disease - AIDS," explains Dieudonné Amisi Mutambala, director of ArtHum. Despite the project's success, Dieudonné believes there's still room for improvement.
More informational materials - posters, videos and presentations - could help in getting the message across more efficiently. Gradually, Dieudonné hopes to organize more training sessions in other parts of DRC, such as Uvira and Fizi.
The project can also help locals learn more about the issue in order to educate other people, thus multiplying its potential reach. This is particularly important in trying to get rid of certain myths and prejudices related to HIV/AIDS, so that people can start to act properly to respond to the disease. "The knowledge that the participants have acquired from this training are weapons against the deadly virus and they do have to pass it on to their own communities," believes the director of ArtHum. He also recognizes that to be more efficient these newly trained activists would still need more support from any potential institution.
Ultimately, government and the civil society will need to join forces to achieve better results in fighting the issue. "Joining efforts will mean the solidarity and coordination of actions of all involved," says Dieudonné. With the first steps already being taken in the right direction, ArtHum and Logan can only hope the movement will keep gathering momentum to attract all interested parties to fight for a definitive solution.
For those trying to follow his example and do more to help other people in Africa, Logan has a few ideas, which can be adopted without much effort. "People can do a lot from home, such as volunteering online or holding a fundraiser," he suggests.
To read more about the projects run by Logan Cochrane in the DRC, Tanzania and Benin, visit www.workingtoempower.org.