Providing HIV services to 20,000 Cameroonian youth

Organizational Update

The months of January through March 2011 were especially productive ones for the EFA International regional office.  First, sadly, EFA bid adieu et grand merci to our technical advisor Peace Corps Volunteer Caitlyn Bradburn who worked for two years to serve the mission of EFA to promote the successful future of African children and youth infected and/or affected by HIV/AIDS through education and empowerment.  Notably, Caitlyn started the "Circle of Love" campaign, which earmarks gifts to pay for the diagnostic tests and necessary transport to obtain the tests for the youth in our associations who are living with HIV.  In her own words Caitlin explains," Imagine, in the United States, $5 can buy you a fancy coffee, but here in Cameroon it can be used for a CD4 test to enroll someone in the free ARV program.  $20 in the United States can take you and a friend to the movies, $20 here can send someone to the doctor for an entire year."

EFA welcomes a new Peace Corps volunteer, Gena Barnabee, to the team.  Gena brings much enthusiasm for the work of EFA and many skills in community-based approaches to health including HIV/AIDS.  The entire EFA team is very happy to have her on board and look forward to many great outcomes of our work - indeed Gena has hit the ground running.  In her first month with EFA she orchestrated a 3 day training on Sexual and Gender Based violence, for 36 women and 13 men in Northern Cameroon.  The three day training included 13 modules with gender/S-GBV themes including:

• Examining Our Attitudes - to explore attitudes regarding differences in gender, roles and inequalities.
• Training on Gender - to understand the difference between the terms sex and gender and to understand the term gender equality.
• Persons and Things - to develop awareness as to the role of power in relationships and their impact on individuals and their relationships.
• Gender Roles - to examine daily household tasks and the gender stereotypes that are often associated with these tasks, as well as the advantages of men sharing household responsibilities.
• Making Decisions - to explore different types of decisions that individuals, couples and families face and the roles of men and women in making these decisions.
• Effective Communication - to develop skills to communicate confidently. 
• What is Violence - to identify the different forms of violence and how violence affects men, women, families and communities.
• S-GBV in Daily Life - to better understand the numerous ways in which the lives of women and men are limited by male violence, especially sexual violence
• Gender, Violence and HIV - to explain why violence increases the vulnerability of women to HIV and to identify strategies to fight against gender violence.
• Right and Responsibilities Related to HIV - to evoke the rights and responsibilities related to HIV and their importance in order to prevent sexual coercion and abuse as well as STI and HIV infection.
• Multiple Sexual Partners, Intergenerational Partners and Transactional Sex - to explore the way in which rigid norms related to gender are the origin of sexual behaviors at high risk and to identify the risks and costs related to these sexual behaviors.
• Healthy and Unhealthy Relationships - to identify healthy and unhealthy behaviors in relationships.
• Keep, Change, Stop - to identify aspects of culture and customs related to sex and sexuality that are important for a community to maintain, modify or interrupt to support a more healthy and happy sexual life.

The 8th of March is International Women's Day, so the training also included modules on making change in themselves and their community and action planning for the upcoming month.  Also during the month of March EFA Peer Educators will work in their communities with the goal of educating 5,000 community members on gender and S-GBV issues/prevention.

Many thanks to our generous donors who enable this profound work to continue.  Every three months EFA touches more than 5,000 Cameroonians in far-flung communities through our Peer Educators and youth groups.  On behalf of all of those who benefit from your kindness, THANK YOU!

Links:

• See EFA International's website for more news and updates