We held our last workshop at Mulanje Mission Hospital on Saturday morning and were fortuante to have approxiamtely 50 attendees and it was a great success. We plan to blog fully on the last workshop and reflect on the experience as a whole in our final blogs.
We have now left the hospital and therefore only have very rare access to internet. Therefore, we will finish our blog on our return to the UK in 2 weeks.
Watch this space.....
Friday, 16 August 2013
Friday, 9 August 2013
Workshop 3
After two successful workshops under our belt, we were really looking forward to number three! We planned to run a debate in order to discuss issues around stigma and discrimination in relation to HIV and AIDs.
Unfortunately, our turn out for this week was very poor and we only had nine attendees. The low turn out was due to an initiation ceremony taking place in the area which most of the children and teenagers were attending.
Due to this big drop in numbers we decided to postpone the debate and we held a discussion session instead. This was also more appropriate as the children who did attend were quite young. As usual, all the children gave really mature answers to the discussion questions and despite the low turn out we were pleased with the session.
Plans are underway for the final workshop and we are confident we will have a good attendance. We will keep you posted.
Unfortunately, our turn out for this week was very poor and we only had nine attendees. The low turn out was due to an initiation ceremony taking place in the area which most of the children and teenagers were attending.
Due to this big drop in numbers we decided to postpone the debate and we held a discussion session instead. This was also more appropriate as the children who did attend were quite young. As usual, all the children gave really mature answers to the discussion questions and despite the low turn out we were pleased with the session.
Plans are underway for the final workshop and we are confident we will have a good attendance. We will keep you posted.
Thursday, 1 August 2013
Workshop 2
On Saturday we had our second workshop. Things started well with a packed hall by 9.30! We took this as a good sign as many of the kids were the same from week one. We got started by 10 with over 60 kids in attendance, with ages ranging from six to early twenties. The topic for the days session was a continuation from the first week, HIV and AIDS. We also had a discussion about sexually transmitted infections, as they play a big role in the development of HIV. We had three activities.
For the third and final activity, we split the group into ten groups, of six of more people, ensuring there was a good age range within each group. We instructed them to design a poster either about HIV or a STI, they could put anything they wanted on the poster, such as signs and symptoms, how it is acquired, how it is treated etc. They had half an hour, colourful pens, post-its and a big bit of paper. The room was full of discussion and activity, we went around giving advice and answering any questions that arose.
After everyone was finished, one member of each group presented their poster, explaining what it represented. At the end we had a vote to decide who the winning group was, with the majority deciding. we were just glad we didn't have to decide as they were all brilliant.
Activity 1: True or False
Activity 2: Group discussion about STI
Activity 3: Create a poster
For the first activity we asked the group to close their eyes, upon hearing a statement they had to raise their hand if they thought it was true or leave it down if they thought it was false. There was a few peepers but everyone got on very well. The answers were then explained, so everyone knew the right answer by the end of the activity. One example was "Being faithful to one partner helps to reduce your risk of acquiring HIV". This is of course true.
The second activity was a discussion about different sexually transmitted infections, It is very important that everyone is aware of the signs and symptoms as having a STI increases the risk of acquiring HIV.
For the third and final activity, we split the group into ten groups, of six of more people, ensuring there was a good age range within each group. We instructed them to design a poster either about HIV or a STI, they could put anything they wanted on the poster, such as signs and symptoms, how it is acquired, how it is treated etc. They had half an hour, colourful pens, post-its and a big bit of paper. The room was full of discussion and activity, we went around giving advice and answering any questions that arose.After everyone was finished, one member of each group presented their poster, explaining what it represented. At the end we had a vote to decide who the winning group was, with the majority deciding. we were just glad we didn't have to decide as they were all brilliant.
We are both looking forward to Saturday's workshop, which will focus on stigma and discrimination.
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