A new NGO has come to Fiji- Pacific Islands AIDS Foundation (PIAF). Their regional office is strategically placed in Lauotka. Their function is to raise awareness in the community by sharing their stories as people living with HIV. Their program has been the most effective one I've seen for HIV education in rural areas.
Essentially what they do is start off with an interactive training. A man named Temo, who is both a trained peer-educator as well as a ex-Red Cross trainer, gets up and involves all participants in a game to better understand the spread of HIV. He walks the participants through the steps of transmission, emphasizing the importance of testing and safe sex.
After the training, everyone settles down and listens to stories to "put a face to HIV." When the stories begin the crowd falls silent as the heart wrenching tales resonate through the room. Never have you seen such intent listeners as the audience faces turn to sorrow. The room is silent, the people leaning slightly forward hanging on to every word as these AIDS ambassadors talk about going through watching children die to the difficulties in confronting their families.
These outreach programs range from going to villages to army barracks to fire stations. The 'face of HIV' is changing peoples perception and truly educating people on the gravity of the virus.
The change in perception is evident. I remember going to the army barracks and having someone ask something along the lines of- "well, why doesn't the government just give all the infected people injections so that they cant transmit it anymore." After the program, the same man came up and profusely apologized, saying that he had never met anyone with HIV and had no idea that they were 'normal' people. It's incredible to see the transformation.
Outside of these programs, the AIDS ambassadors are involved in many activities relating to HIV education. Below I have added photos from a outreach program at a rugby match (this is just to show their involvement outside their own programs), a school program and the military barracks visit.
A booth at the rugby game- passing out educational materials.
Explaining how the questionnaires work
Outreach team. Also photographed are Champions (professional athletes from Fiji who volunteer to promote HIV education)
The program at the military Barracks
A program at a secondary school in Ba.
Disclaimer- not all of the people photographed are AIDS ambassadors. The ambassadors I have added are only the ones who have come out publicly in the media.
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