Understanding and challenging HIV stigma: Toolkit for action (2007)

Source: Eldis (www.eldis.org)

Article: Understanding and challenging HIV stigma: Toolkit for action (2007)

*The following are excerpts from the aforementioned article:

Countering the stigma suffered by HIV positive children
Authors: S. Clay; C. Chiiya; M. Chonta; International HIV / AIDS Alliance
Publisher: Pact Tanzania, 2007
Full text of document

What is the impact of stigma on children? This toolkit aims to help explore and understand the different ways in which children are stigmatised, and to look at strategies to change attitudes and experiences. It provides guidance to help trainers plan educational sessions with community leaders, or to organise groups to raise awareness and promote practical action to challenge HIV stigma and discrimination.

Exercises for children and for adults are provided. These are based on a study in Zambia that found that:

* children may be blamed for their parents’ death; for being a burden; or in some countries orphans are seen as ‘unlucky children’ as if they ‘killed their parents’

* children may be excluded from school, families and communities because of fear of infection if there is HIV in their family

* orphans are often treated differently from other children in families, such as being given extra work, and are often accused of carrying on their parents’ ‘bad behaviour’

* street children are seen as ‘dirty’ and ‘out of control’.

Click here to be directed to Eldis site and the full text document/toolkit!

*Note the abovementioned excerpts are direct quotes from the article and thus all credit and references should be afforded to the authors/sources.

Bar girls and sex work in Nazareth (Ethiopia)

Document: Negotiating boundaries:Bar girls and sex work in Nazareth (Ethiopia)

“My client took me to one hotel room and while we had sex he asked me to do a movement I couldn’t do. So hehit me. He was so mad at me that he tried to strangle me. Then he took all of my clothes and my underwear andthrew me out of the room. Then he tried to drag me back again and I screamed. The boys I knew came out oftheir rooms and saw me naked. I was very ashamed because they were from my village and now they knowwhat I really do”. (Rahel, aged 17)

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Genet's story: A life on the streets

Source: BBC News
Photo: David Levene/EveryChild

Article: Genet's story: A life on the streets

*The following are excerpts from the aforementioned article:

~ Violence and sexual abuse within the home are among the main reasons children run away to live on the streets, according to a report, the State of the World's Street Children, published by a coalition of charities.

~In Ethiopia, an estimated 150,000 children live on the streets.

~I was forced to go to bed with the male relative who we had been sent to live with and a woman in the household frequently beat us both.

~After being beaten and verbally abused, I decided to take my chances on the streets.

~I was pretty sure that the man was also sexually abusing my 11-year-old sister too.

~I find it very difficult to talk about my time on the streets of Addis. I survived there as best I could for over two months. I was often very hungry.

Click here to read the full article!

*Note the abovementioned excerpts are direct quotes from the article and thus all credit and references should be afforded to the authors/sources.

Presentation: My Journey to Compassion and Inner Peace

The possession of material riches, without inner peace, is like dying of thirst while bathing in a lake." (Yoganda)

I would like to convey a heartfelt appreciation to the MSA of Columbia University for inviting me to speak about my journey to inner peace through compassion/service to orphans and sex workers in Ethiopia. My journey began with the story of an impoverished 5 year-old girl yearning for some symbol of a better life and the stories of teenage girls selling their bodies as a means of survival. Their reality resonated in my soul and plated the first seeds of ALIF and subsequently, led me on a path of internal tranquility. I’m a firm believer that inner peace is found through service to others, and by service I mean showing compassion to others.

This universal principle is simple, yet profound: by showing compassion to ones brother and sister in humanity one will begin to experience inner peace.

I’ll close in the words of Mahatma Gandhi, “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”

Again, I thank the MSA of Columbia for affording me the opportunity to present.

Nasir

*The following are ALIF videos shown during the presentation:
Title: A Father's Struggle: "I just want to be able to send her to school." {Video Part 1}
Location: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeXVTg1pp0w

Title: A Father's Struggle: "I just want to be able to send her to school." {Video Part 2}
Location: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w13JU1aPdwY

Overview: Mr. Tekle is a single father of two children and day laborer at a construction site in which he earns 10 Birr (1.08 USD) a day. He lives in an extremely small dwelling with his two children, one of which is 6 year old Beti.

Title: Sex Work for HIV/AIDS Treatment {Video 1}
Location: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3-EoXKztJo
Overview: Hiwot is a double orphan and the eldest sibling of three. Due to the death of her parents she dropped out of school in the 8th grade in order to find work to support her younger siblings. Thus, she is now the financially responsible for four people: herself, her daughter, her sister and brother.

Unable to secure enough money to support the family, she turned to sex work. She works everyday, at night, and her daily income ranges from 10 to 50 birr (1.08 to 5.40 USD). However, there are nights when she does not earn anything.

A Vision and A Dream...

By: Nasir Al-Amin

“I could not afford the school fee...if I would have put him in school I would not have been able to afford to feed him.”

2004: The Beginning of a Dream

2007: The Beginning of a Visison....