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HOME / CYC-ONLINE
READING FOR CHILD
AND YOUTH CARE WORKERS
ISSUE 34 • NOVEMBER 2001
BRIEF REPORT
Intergenerational model responding to AIDS
Nomsa Mandoyi reports on an AIDS support programme which combines
adolescent peer counselling with community adult caregivers
The pain and devastation caused by the AIDS pandemic clearly calls
for innovative programmatic responses based on lessons to date. The
NACCW has initiated a pilot project during the course of this year aimed
at impacting on the spread of the disease amongst youth at risk using
peer educators. Research and common sense tell us that young people are
more likely to listen to their peers than to adults.
With this in mind, more than forty young people from residential
facilities and communities around King Williams Town and Mdantsane in
the Eastern Cape were selected and trained as peer counselors and
educators by the project manager, Cecil Wood. Each group of
approximately twenty youth attended a four-day workshop which covered
topics such as: communication and relationships, transmission of
HIV/AIDS, HIV/AIDS prevention, basic counseling skills, coping with loss
and death and educating peers.
Young people were given the opportunity to practise their newly-learnt
presentation skills in front of their peers who offered them some
constructive feedback. Participants were divided into teams on the last
day of the workshop to focus on developing strategies for reaching out
to their peers with this life-saving information. A number of these
young people are affected by the disease in some way and were highly
motivated to spread the word to their peers.
The unique aspect of his program involves adult caregivers who provide
support and supervision to adolescent peer educators/counselors, An
AIDSCAP research finding suggests that efforts to create a professional
support network for peer educators will be a worthwhile investment in
sustainable HIV/AIDS prevention.
Nomsa Mandoyi
During April and May this year, forty adult caregivers and volunteers
from various residential facilities and youth programs in and around
King Williams Town and forty caregivers and volunteers from the
Mdantsane area were trained separately in the care and management of all
aspects of the HIV / AIDS pandemic in respect of children and youth at
risk. Nomsa Mandoyi, the residential care manager at the King Williams
Town Child and Youth Care Centre has been co-ordinating the project.
It is envisaged that the teams of peer educators would meet with their
adult counterparts on a regular basis for emotional support, advice and
de-briefing. Participants are taking this work very seriously and are
determined to make a difference in their communities.
The project will be evaluated by the end of the year and offered for
replication if found to be an effective intervention in relation to
HIV/AIDS and youth at risk.
Child & Youth Care Vol.19 No.8 August 2001
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