By Mary Julie | Programs Director
More than 200 adolescents living with HIV are accessing the Govt centre regularly for their treatment and care in our region. The team has been actively working to ensure adherence to treatment by the young people as there have been challenges in adherence among young people, due to lack of self esteem and stigma. As treatment and counselling has been provided at the best by the team at the centre, the need for psycho-social building of young people through support groups was strongly felt, which has been facilitated through Buds of Christ for the last two years at the ART centre.
The focus of the support group programme is to build a positive self esteem and help the young people set higher goals in their lives and encourage positive prevention through life skills. The first Saturday meetings are with about 20 young people (10 boys and 10 girls) and the third Saturday meetings are with 25 young girls thus reaching to about 45 young people living with HIV.
Buds of Christ, Childline and Treatment Centre jointly organised the National Girl Child Day on 26th January 2017. The meeting started with the drawing competition in eliciting the issues and violence young people face in their own lives. The issues of discrimination, forcing work, verbal abuse, physical abuse were depicted in the pictures. In addition the young people were also asked to draw the solutions they know from such situations.
Few instances were :
One orphan adolescent girl had depicted a picture of a stranger hitting her head and she was crying with fear. Later it was found that the child had faced discrimination from the community on knowing her HIV status. The intervention from the legal aid and the ART centre, has brought the situation under control, but the child is still under the fear of non acceptance.
Another orphan child had depicted a picture of being forced to work, while she feels she is not allowed to enjoy the child hood.
The children were then oriented on the forms of abuse (particularly sexual abuse ) through a video presentation and then a session on child line services and Prevention of children from sexual offences Act was shared by the Child line representative.
The meeting ended with the poster distribution on child sexual abuse by Buds of Christ. Later prizes were distributed to the winners and lunch was also provided to the children and the care takers.
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