Youth Peace for Africa International (YOPEA) HIV/AIDS Festival - Kenya
As part of its strategy of using the arts, especially drama, for HIV/AIDS education and prevention in Kenya, The Youth Peace for Africa International group (YOPEA) held a three-day Western Province HIV/AIDS awareness festival in April 2003. In so doing, YOPEA sought to break the silence about the reality of the AIDS affliction in the province and to encourage open discussion about the disease at all levels of society. Participants communicated recommendations gleaned from the festival through a dossier to be submitted to government officials.
Communication Strategies
Designed to bring citizens together to address HIV/AIDS through collective action, the HIV/AIDS awareness event took place at Esalwa Secondary School in the Vihiga District (450km outside of Nairobi). One key strategy was providing information: statistics about the spread of the disease were supplied by the National Aids and STDs Control Programme (NASCOP). A special focus of the information provided was preventing transmission through heterosexual contact. This kind of information was communicated through music, drama, and public testimonies. With regard to the latter, organisers invited people living with HIV/AIDS to share their experience with those in attendance.
YOPEA also advocated behavioural change with the aim of urging abstinence before marriage and faithfulness to one partner as virtues. However, because one of YOPEA's key goals is to curb increasing rates of promiscuity, condom use and availability were also promoted. The session was meant to enlighten people on issues involved caring for people with AIDS, and encouraged sincerity, communication, and compassion among caregivers.
As a follow-up strategy, YOPEA worked with participants to create a dossier reflecting their recommendations, as well as their condemnation of stigma and discrimination, human-rights abuses, and the increase in HIV/AIDS in Kenya. The dossier will consist of voted-for resolutions and recommended penalties for people who have been found guilty of abusing the rights of people with HIV/AIDS. The dossier will be submitted to Parliament or the Secretariat involved in the constitutional review in Kenya.
YOPEA also advocated behavioural change with the aim of urging abstinence before marriage and faithfulness to one partner as virtues. However, because one of YOPEA's key goals is to curb increasing rates of promiscuity, condom use and availability were also promoted. The session was meant to enlighten people on issues involved caring for people with AIDS, and encouraged sincerity, communication, and compassion among caregivers.
As a follow-up strategy, YOPEA worked with participants to create a dossier reflecting their recommendations, as well as their condemnation of stigma and discrimination, human-rights abuses, and the increase in HIV/AIDS in Kenya. The dossier will consist of voted-for resolutions and recommended penalties for people who have been found guilty of abusing the rights of people with HIV/AIDS. The dossier will be submitted to Parliament or the Secretariat involved in the constitutional review in Kenya.
Development Issues
HIV/AIDS, Youth, Rights.
Key Points
This event is part of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)'s campaign initiative reflecting the Communities Organized in Response to the HIV/AIDS Epidemic (CORE) initiative, which recognises the value of shared and deeply held values of communities, including communities of faith - care for one's neighbour, preservation of life, and belief in a healthy future - in confronting HIV/AIDS.
Organisers point out that 18.8 million people around the world have died of AIDS, 3.8 million of them children. Nearly twice that many, 34.3 million, are now living with HIV. In 1999 alone, 5.4 million people were newly infected with HIV (UNAIDS, Report on the Global HIV/AIDS Epidemic, June 2000).
While many regions in the country have increased levels of public awareness about the AIDS scourge, organisers claim that the Western province still lags far behind. The number of people living with AIDS in the province is steadily increasing. The region's easy accessibility has exposed it to HIV/AIDS. Lack of sufficient information concerning the disease, traditional beliefs and practices, failure to develop a collective approach, and stigma have contributed to this trend.
Founded in 1999, YOPEA uses music and drama as strategies to appeal to large crowds and to enlighten participants in various events about the harm associated with HIV/AIDS. Community participation is also central, as people living with HIV/AIDS are often invited to share their perspective. YOPEA's activities include: 1) Health services (building hospitals, community health centres, and dispensaries to facilitate services) to youth infected with HIV/AIDS who are not able to obtain services from the few existing government facilities 2) Education (supporting needy children through fees-payment and building schools) 3) Relief and food (supporting people in distress due to civil war and natural disasters or other catastrophes) 4) Orphanages (building homes/rehabilitation centres offering both formal and informal education to orphans and destitute children) 5) Spiritual support (helping those affected and infected). To cite a specific example, YOPEA has developed the Essaba Medical Center, which was initiated by the surrounding community in conjunction with the CPK church. YOPEA is autonomous, self-sustaining, nonprofit, and self-funded, with funding coming from the community and/or donors.
Organisers point out that 18.8 million people around the world have died of AIDS, 3.8 million of them children. Nearly twice that many, 34.3 million, are now living with HIV. In 1999 alone, 5.4 million people were newly infected with HIV (UNAIDS, Report on the Global HIV/AIDS Epidemic, June 2000).
While many regions in the country have increased levels of public awareness about the AIDS scourge, organisers claim that the Western province still lags far behind. The number of people living with AIDS in the province is steadily increasing. The region's easy accessibility has exposed it to HIV/AIDS. Lack of sufficient information concerning the disease, traditional beliefs and practices, failure to develop a collective approach, and stigma have contributed to this trend.
Founded in 1999, YOPEA uses music and drama as strategies to appeal to large crowds and to enlighten participants in various events about the harm associated with HIV/AIDS. Community participation is also central, as people living with HIV/AIDS are often invited to share their perspective. YOPEA's activities include: 1) Health services (building hospitals, community health centres, and dispensaries to facilitate services) to youth infected with HIV/AIDS who are not able to obtain services from the few existing government facilities 2) Education (supporting needy children through fees-payment and building schools) 3) Relief and food (supporting people in distress due to civil war and natural disasters or other catastrophes) 4) Orphanages (building homes/rehabilitation centres offering both formal and informal education to orphans and destitute children) 5) Spiritual support (helping those affected and infected). To cite a specific example, YOPEA has developed the Essaba Medical Center, which was initiated by the surrounding community in conjunction with the CPK church. YOPEA is autonomous, self-sustaining, nonprofit, and self-funded, with funding coming from the community and/or donors.
Partners
Anglican Diocese of Maseno North Diocean Medical Health Department, NASCOP, USAID.
Sources
Letter sent from Janet Feldman to the Africa-AIDS discussion group on March 18 2003.
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