In the past one month I remained very busy with GYCA activities. I had to conduct orientation on HIV and entrepreneurship in schools and also I had to conduct orientation on rehabilitation centers on entrepreneurship. On last one month I was able to reach six more schools and provided orientation to the students of grade 8 and 9 about drugs, HIV and entrepreneurship. The one day orientation programs in schools were divided in two sessions; the first half of the programme comprised of the general introduction of HIV, general introduction of drug abuse, the cycle of drug abuse, how to say no to drugs and consequences of drug abuse. The main objective of this first session was to provide as much knowledge as possible to the students about HIV and drugs so that they always remain far from drugs and other high risk behaviors. Similarly on second half of the orientation programe we provided orientation to the students about what entrepreneurship actually mean, what are the characteristics of a successful entrepreneur and how to be an entrepreneur. For conducting orientation on drugs and HIV I was accompanied by a friend of mine who is a recovering drug user himself and has been working in a HIV/AIDS project since last ten years. Similarly another activity of this project was to provide orientation about entrepreneurship to the recovering drug users receiving treatment in rehabilitation centers. The main objective of this orientation was to help drug users to become an entrepreneur after completing their drug treatment. If the drug users become entrepreneur it will automatically keep them away from drugs and makes their recovery strong. In last one month, we reached three rehabilitation centers. We gave presentation to the recovering drug users receiving treatment in the centers about; what entrepreneurship is, what it actually mean, characteristics of a successful entrepreneur and how can we become an entrepreneur. We had very nice discussions with the recovering drug users. It was surprising to listen to some of the drug users past experience that though they wanted to start their own small scale business their own family didn’t support them because the family won’t believe on them. Also it was surprising to know that some even started to take drugs because of failure in their business. The orientation on rehabilitation centers was very useful for us as well. We also got to learn a lot from the experiences of recovering drug users.


The main difficulty we faced in past one month was arranging time with schools and the rehabilitation centers. The schools had their final exams within a week so we had much difficulty in getting time from them but despite the problem some schools arranged time on our request and we conducted the activities on those schools. Also due to the problem of load shedding we had problem in slide show. However despite all these problems the program was a great success. And we had been successful in explaining to our beneficiaries about the risk of drug use and HIV and role of entrepreneurship.

Hello good people,
The Global Youth Service tujijue" expedition camp will be kicking off in the next two days on Sunday 18th April 2010 at Githunguri Stadium. All preparations have been made to make this event a success through a very committed team of young leaders. These young people have sacrificed their time and energy in organizing this camp aimed at promoting counseling and testing on HIV/AIDS.

One such young leader is the 23 year old Stephen Maina,a peer educator with the National Organization of Peer Educators. When he was invited to join the planning committee he readily accepted and has shown a lot enthusiasm since then. He says that this provided him an opportunity to share his event organization skills and serve the community. His plan is to pursue a course in Community Development and Project Management in the near future and he believes being in this project prepares him for this.
In the planning committee, Stephen chairs the sub committee in charge of organizing mobile counseling and testing services working closely with New Partners Initiative Scaling up HIV and AIDS Prevention (NPI-SHAP) who will be facilitating the Counseling and testing services.

This role has made it possible for him to meet other young leaders and share ideas on how they can best address issues affecting Kiambu West District. “I have been able to meet with other young people in the organizing committee, who we share the same dreams visions and ambitions regarding our respective communities. We have also exchanged ideas on how we can make the dreams and visions viable and realistic.” He says.

The planning committee underwent team leadership training and Stephen was among those who were also trained on Social Accountability by Shabaa Initiative of Kenya Community Development Foundation- our partner organization. “Through the trainings that we have undergone I feel empowered and confident that I can hold my leaders accountable as I also take initiatives that contribute to the development of my community especially in advocating for those affected and infected by HIV/AIDS. Stephen explained.

As we count two days to the GYSD “ tujijue” expedition camp it is my hope that this week of service will not only reach many community members with Counseling and testing but will also recruit a generation of young youth who commit themselves to service. It is my great expectation that the community of Kiambu District will see themselves at risk and take actions appropriate to them in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

I also appreciate everyone who believes that youth can make a very big change in the community if well empowered.

Dear Friends, lets hear what a participant of the project 'Promoting awareness and empowerment in Nepalese adolescents on HIV and AIDS and drug use' had to share-

Fourteen year old Shibu Shrestha is a student of grade 8 at the Graded English Medium School (GEMS). She first participated in the project because the idea seemed ‘interesting’ but later found it to be more than just an interesting way to spend her weekend. "Participating in the project helped me really think about how the peer pressure to start drug use can be handled", she said. Along with learning new information and skills, she also liked the participative nature of the sessions. “I loved the way we could interact with other people of our age and brainstorm about ways in which we can handle this problem, rather than having to listen to boring lectures on drugs and HIV”, she said.

Shibu also claimed that participating in the project had changed the way she viewed drug use and HIV. “I used to think negatively when I came to know that someone was a drug user, or living with HIV. Now that I know what all could have driven them to that state and more importantly that the right intervention at the right time could have easily prevented the problem, I am willing to work for this issue”, she said.

Shibu is aware of the necessity and is determined to spread the message to her friends, family and teachers in days to some. She has also requested the team to conduct similar session in her school. She thinks that the project stands out from any other activities or initiatives due to its ‘practicality’. “People always lecture us about data/facts and how drug use and HIV should be prevented but young people like us are not given chances to actually realize it. This project is the first one where we got to know and practice the real methods of responding to this problem’, she said. When probed further about why the project would be important to people of her age, she said-“We spend most of our time with friends and are subjected to peer pressure quite often. However, I had never even imagined that peer pressure can be used to influence others to prevent drug use and HIV. The idea is simply fantastic”. “I am definitely a person with changed perspective and the level of my understanding in this issue has significantly deepened”, beamed the fourteen year girl at her new-found realization.

Hi all

The project “Awareness raising for HIV/AIDS prevention in adolescents and youth of urban slums in Karachi” has completed successfully five months duration. Although it is end of the project timeline but the struggle to aware more and more youth is not stopped.

At this point I am excited to share the success and achievement with all of you.

Our project has formed 4 youth groups and trained the 40 members on HIV and AIDS, STIs and life skills to become Peer Educators. These peer educators has aware 115 peers in their localities. We have organized entertainment and learning activities for youth including youth festival and sports activities. Through these activities 450 youth, teachers and community members got information on HIV and AIDS prevention.

Due to the project activities some indirect achievements were also made i.e. The Peer educators and their peers has started meeting in the free time and a network of youth is formed. They chat together, plan fun activities and discuss their problems related to health, their work and families. One peer educator has started teaching literacy and numeracy to 5 members of her group. The Group leaders are famous now in their communities and gained respect among elders and their peers. This project has given confidence to the youth especially the peer educators. Due to the activities of the project youth and community members of the nearby areas are also demanding to start a similar project.

Achieving all these activities was not easy we have faced some challenges as well. And we resolve them with the help of youth and community. Some of the challenges were:

1. Reluctant behaviour of elders to allow youth to participate in HIV and AIDS sessions.
2. Meeting with young people and makes they ready to work on the project while they work in odd jobs and get paid on daily basis.
3. Limited funds for some activities.

At the end of the project The TREE Welfare Organization is willing to support me and our youth groups and we have decided to continue our awareness raising activities for youth on HIV and AIDS.

In this last blog post I would like to thank GYCA team on behalf of the youth and myself for providing us this opportunity and support to learn and protect ourselves and other from HIV and AIDS.

Thank you!