Our
visiting UK doctors reflect on the recent weekend camp for HIV
positive children ages 12 to 18
On
the 25th of
October the health and social work teams worked together to organise
a teenagers’ camp for HIV positive young people.
The
activities started with a group discussion- the young people
indicated the topics that they wanted to discuss and then these were
worked through as a group. The first topic they wanted to talk
about was peer pressure. All the teens seemed to be worried about
alcohol abuse and teenage pregnancy. The temptation to follow the
crowd must be incredibly hard to resist when you so want to be like
everyone else and to fit in.
The
young people were also invited to write down an
event from their lives where they had felt stigmatised due to their
HIV status. These moments were then put into a box and read out
anonymously and discussed as a group. The children tried to give each
other ways of working through their problems. A lot of the
teenagers disclosed that people wouldn't eat with them, wouldn’t
play with them or would gossip about them behind their backs.
As
doctors from the UK, volunteering for the Trust, it was incredible to
see the resilience of these young people. One of the main worries
shared by the group was whether "HIV is a death sentence".
It must be very difficult to keep on the right track, go to school
and avoid social pressures if you are so unsure about your own
future. So we worked hard to explain that with medication their
condition can be controlled and they can look forward to healthy
lives.
Peer
educators tried to set an example of how to stay healthy and showed
them that they can and should allow themselves to make plans for the
future. We hope that by bringing these young people together they
have been given a bit of fresh thinking on their lives and a chance
to support each other.
The
posters they made towards the end of the day recorded their thoughts
and what they had learnt from the activities during the workshop.
Their creativity and the messages they wanted to get across to
people in their communities were really uplifting.
They
also participated in some fun activities and games and everyone went
home with a full stomach and hopefully, a lighter heart.
Our facilitators
Dr
Amelia Hawkes
Dr
Cavitha Vivek
