Channels of Hope for HIV Facilitator Training

The number of street children in Zambia has doubled from 35,000 to 75,000 in recent years. This has brought concern to people working with these children. They are very vulnerable to being victims (and perpetrators) of rape and drugs.

The age of children who are found on the street is between 11 to 18, most of them are double orphans. HIV and AIDS is one of the major causes of orphans in Zambia.

The AIDSLink Team in Zambia is partnering with the ministry called ‘Hope on the Streets’ which is training people who are working with children on the street. Hope on the Streets have realized that HIV is also among these children because they are sexually active, so they asked AIDSLink to train their workers on this area.

The trainees were shocked to that the HIV prevalence rate among the young people in Zambia is so high. Some Trainees didn’t have much knowledge about HIV and how it affects the society around them. Upon looking on the basic lessons on HIV and AIDS they were able to appreciate the training and now can engage with children on the street effectively.

Some of the topics which were covered was how HIV attacks the Immune system, The stages of infection, how HIV can be transmitted and how workers may be help people who are living with HIV. It was really encouraging to see how people are passionate to see that the children get the knowledge so that they can change the pattern of their lifestyle.

This training challenged the attitude of the trainees too, and some were able to admit that they have not interacted with the people or children who are living with HIV well in the past. These Trainees confessed that they need to change their attitude because they didn’t know that the Children who are living on the street are also in danger of becoming infected with HIV if they are not taught.