If I kept it to myself - World YWCA

If I kept it to myself
From this point on, I developed an interest in HIV and AIDS. It is a threat to the life of my community,
simply because methods of HIV transmission and prevention are unknown to us, making true the cruel
saying that ‘ignorance kills’.
We knew at the YWCA La Banda that the fight would be difficult; not only did we not receive support
from the Government, but also any NGO sexual education programme was considered suspicious. In
1998, we began a project supported by the World YWCA’s Women and Development Fund, to train
facilitators and community leaders to establish a business enterprise that is collectively owned and
managed for joint economic benefits in neighbourhoods of La Banda. This training had modules
on education, business entrepreneurship, health and sanitation, including HIV, AIDS, and legal
rights, which was the one I coordinated. The project mainly targeted people living in the poorest
neighbourhoods in our community, where public initiatives pay little attention to their needs. These
communities face many challenges, but we had courage and determination to bring about change.
For many participants, the issue of HIV and AIDS was completely unknown and for this reason, difficult
to handle. However, it was a big surprise for me to learn that some of my students were HIV positive.
It was then that I could understand the grief of a person living with HIV and that of their family; grief
that is spread from the embarrassment to the helplessness caused by not knowing where to go for
assistance, and the only certain thing being that it was a death sentence.
Witnessing the link between many social issues, we were inspired by this project to implement
another one in 2004 on reproductive health and HIV and AIDS. The World YWCA also financed this
project, which is carried
out by adolescents
for adolescents, with
the full guidance of
the professionals
that form the
interdisciplinary panel.
I am part of this
panel and serve as a
facilitator. The group
of 15 young women
goes to different
schools, public and
private, where they
give their presentation
on reproductive
health to adolescents
between 13-16, and
a more complex
presentation, which
includes HIV and
AIDS, to teenagers
between 16-20. There
is a module dealing
with prevention and
treatment of HIV
and AIDS, as well
as an orientation to
places of assistance.
Through our work in
local neighbourhoods
we have been able to
get through to the core
of families.
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