HIV AIDS Training programme

HIV AIDS have now become the worst epidemic in human history. 20 million people had been killed by it, and twice those amounts are currently infected with HIV AIDS. One of the main reasons why this epidemic is fast spreading across regions is the lack of proper awareness and training programmes. As a result the people have not understood the gravity and the danger of this dangerous epidemic.

Taking all these factors into consideration the “project positive” team organized a training programme for the pastors who work with the Tea Estate Workers. The reason behind selecting the Tea Estate Workers was because their level of knowledge is very poor and they tend to be drawn into drugs, alcohol, unprotected sex etc which results in them becoming very vulnerable persons. Also the lack of awareness on sexually transmitted diseases, and the lack of health centre facilities within the estate workers add to the danger of this disease.

The above mentioned training programme was held on the 05th and 06th of April 2008 and a total of 30 persons participated. The purpose of organising such a programme was to create awareness on prevention methods and to provide care and support to people who live under vulnerable situations. While reaching out to a larger audience, we also addressed issues on awareness of personal hygiene and the after effects of Alcohol and smoking. To create awareness on personal hygiene, and also to teach about the after effects of alcohol and smoking, while reaching out to more people and make them understand about HIV AIDS.

The Following topics were covered at the training session 

• Introduction of Tea estate workers
• Introduction to HIV AIDS
• Women and HIV AIDS
• Sexual Transmitted Diseases
• Present situation of HIV AIDS in Sri Lanka
• Church response to HIV AIDS
• Psychosocial support & Christian perspective
• Planning

At the end of each session case studies and group presentations were slotted in to help participants get a clear understanding on the relevant topics. All sessions were easy to understand and gave the participants a comprehensive understanding of each topic. 

We believed that through this training programme we were able to mobilize the churches in and around the tea estates and the communities there in, in order to respond to this situation finally achieving a HIV AIDS free zone in and around the hill capital.