Turning a Taboo Subject into a Life Lesson

Widespread migration in Sierra Leone along with a high level of sexual violence throughout 11 years of conflict has contributed to an increase in the rate of HIV infection. Although most people have heard of HIV/AIDS, there is still little knowledge of how it is transmitted and there is significant stigma and discrimination attached to the disease.

In 2004 Children in Crisis set up a programme to provide HIV/AIDS education to children in primary schools is Freetown and Kambia in Sierra Leone.  During a recent visit to Sierra Leone, we spoke to some of the students, parents and teachers who have benefited from this programme:

Abdul Karim Kamara

Abdul is an 11 year old school boy from KDC Primary School in Kambia, Sierra Leone with dreams of becoming the president of his country. 

Abdul likes the lessons he has received on HIV/AIDS because he has been taught how to prevent himself from getting infected. He has also learnt about ‘bad touch’, when men touch the legs, breast or waist of a girl which makes her feel uncomfortable.  Abdul is angry because this is a large problem in his community.  Just a few weeks ago a man from his village raped and impregnated a young girl from a neighboring school.  If he did rule the country, Abdul would want to change the attitude of people like this man.

Samuel Williams

“I used a condom for the very first time this weekend. They supplied me with some at the HIV/AIDS teacher training course.”

Samuel is a teacher at St Mary Primary School in Freetown, Sierra Leone.  Before the training Samuel had never heard that HIV and AIDS was on the Sierra Leone national curriculum and had never taught an HIV and AIDS lesson to his students.  He was not aware before the training that you could get HIV from using a dirty syringe on each person and even as a child had had an injection with an old syringe his mother had cleaned with just cotton wool.

“Before I thought you got it [HIV] through physical contact but now I know you can’t and I don’t discriminate against people with HIV.”

Since attending the Children in Crisis HIV/AIDS training programme Samuel has been able to pass on his newly taught knowledge on to his students at school, and holds a weekly class on this previously ‘taboo’ topic.

Leicester Hughes

Leicester is 46 years old and a freelance printer in Freetown, Sierra Leone.  He is also the City Chair for FAWE School on Fort Street.  Leicester has just completed his first year of the Children in Crisis Community Teacher Associations (CTA) HIV/Aids Awareness training.

”What I have learnt about the causes and effects of HIV will not only benefit me, but also my community’’.

Leicester now holds six HIV/AIDS awareness meetings a week for the parents of children at both morning and afternoon schools in Freetown.  He has found that parents are always happy to attend the meetings as they feel it is important to sensitize their children at a young age. Although he does admit that roughly 10% of parents do not take anything away from the meetings as they do not fully understand what Leicester is telling them.  He believes that if he continues to hold these meetings, community awareness of HIV/AIDS will grow.

The Children in Crisis HIV/AIDS awareness training has been very successful in Freetown and Kambia and has a good rate of attendance.  In Freetown, there have been between 85 and 90 participants and in Kambia there have been 32 attendees.  The training finished at the end of November 2009 with 117 teachers completing and being certified.