Compendium of Christian Projects Addressing the Diseases of Poverty
Project/Program name:
Metropolitan Edu-Aids Project
Country: South Africa
Church or denomination: N/A
Project summary: Jaco and Antoinette Fouche are an HIV+ couple committed to the education and dissemination of AIDS information to the public at large. Both are qualified HIV/AIDS educators and life-skills trainers. They concentrate on the development of healthy values, free choice and safer sex, functioning across all religious, cultural and socio-economic barriers.
Background/ History: Metropolitan has a proud history of involvement in the HIV/AIDS arena, focusing specifically on awareness. The Metropolitan Edu-Aids Project makes the company’s commitment to AIDS education and awareness tangible. The project was launched 5 years ago and is headed by Jaco and Antoinette Fouche.
Goals: Each one of us needs to commit ourselves to responsible behaviour, community education and above all, fighting the terrifying ignorance that still exists.
Objectives:
- Educate communities on topic such as HIV/AIDS, sexuality and life skills
- Train peer group educators and other volunteers as AIDS preventative educators
- Target all communities particularly those that are most vulnerable and most at risk by means of outreach programmes, including rural and disadvantaged groups
- Offer education, training and support to religious and business groups to assist them in raising awareness within their sphere of influence
Who does the work? The work is primarily carried out by Jaco and Antoinette Fouche and other members of the Metropolitan team.
Main activities: The project hosts various workshops, HIV and life skills training courses, talks on living with HIV, awareness programs and motivational talks, as well as special events. Each activity is tailored to suit the needs of each specific audience, which include primary and high school students, organizations, and corporations.
An example of their work: From the 7th to the 9th of December 1999 Jaco and Antoinette Fouche were on board the Debmar Pacific, one of the diamond mining vessels of De Beers Marine. They were invited to the ship to educate 50 crewmembers about alleviating the fear of working with people that are HIV+ and also to clear up the misconceptions about the disease. Issues discussed included workplace and legal issues concerning people with HIV infection, and whether people with illnesses like HIV should be allowed to work on vessels in a contained environment.
The Edu-Aids programme has had many highlights, including being asked to address the Catholic Bishop’s Conference in Cape Town, after which they were asked to speak to all the church’s confirmation candidates in the Cape Town diocese. There have also been numerous newspaper articles about the program, as well as radio interviews on stations such as Cape Talk and Radiosondergrense.
Metropolitan’s Corporate Social Involvement also has two other programs that deal with AIDS education: 1) Decide to Decide Right Project, a project that is run in conjunction with the Scripture Union in the northern suburbs of Port Elizabeth. It targets primary school children, providing them with the necessary tools to make informed decisions and 2) Mobile Health Clinics that operate in the Northern Province and Ladysmith areas with nursing staff promoting AIDS awareness among the rural communities.
Expected outcomes: Greater awareness and educated decision-making among each target audience about HIV prevention and care and a more supportive environment for People Living with HIV/AIDS.
Results:
- The program addresses an average of 2-3 groups per day, reaching an average of 2000 people per month.
- 20,000 people were reached last year.
- Edu-Aids worked in 68 different schools last year.
- Through the media the program reached approximately 1,692,380 people.
Lessons learned: “Our strategy has changed significantly since the inception of the Edu-Aids project,” says Daniel Johnson, Corporate Social Involvement Specialist. “Initially the idea was to go out and reach as many people as possible, addressing large groups in one-off sessions. However, we soon realized that we weren’t making a lasting impression – the groups were too big and we could not raise effective AIDS awareness in a 1-hour session.”
“We had to look at things that would [have an] impact on and change behavior and attitudes. Issues such as personal values, sexuality and sexual orientation and self-worth had to be addressed – issues that influence one’s decision-making process. In short, basic life-skills training is what was lacking in our presentations. So we changed our approach, and the result has been very encouraging.
“Young people need to know that they alone take the responsibility for their choice to have sexual contact or not. They need to be made aware of their options,” Daniel says.
Metropolitan’s Edu-Aids project wants to ensure that when people are confronted with the choice of becoming sexually active or not, they can make a responsible decision that they will be comfortable with. Nobody should be able to say: ”I did not know.”
Antoinette adds that the angle they approach things from is also a lot different than many other, similar programmes. “We have a positive approach. Rather than frightening people we present ourselves as an example of two people who made the wrong choices and would like others to learn from our example. This is a hard-hitting message, coming from two individuals who are HIV positive,” she says.
They say that they are usually peppered with questions when they tell a group that they are HIV positive. “Some people react with disbelief, saying that we look too healthy, and others want to know whether we still have sex,” says Jaco. “Many people still don’t know where AIDS comes from, and others want to know more about the legal aspects of knowingly spreading the disease. From this it is clear that there are still a lot of questions out there that need to be answered,” he says.
“When people find out that we are HIV positive some shy away and do not want to touch us, and a teacher once told me that she respects me for what I am doing, but that she did not want to have anything to do with me,” says Antoinette.
Jaco believes that we have to get away from the AIDS paranoia and accept it as a reality of life. “Let’s get personal,” he says. “Let’s lay the cards on the table. That’s exactly what we are doing, and there are those that appreciate this fact. We have often received compliments for being so open about our lives, the facts of life, and in particular about AIDS and the choices we are all faced with daily – without being vulgar.”
“We need people to do more than just wear ribbons. They have to take charge and help others to take charge of their lives. It is each one’s personal responsibility to combat AIDS,” he says. “From experience we have learnt that people are sadly lacking in even the basic knowledge that can enable them to make informed choices in life, let alone choices affecting their sexual well-being. We believe that a good choice is an informed choice – and this is what we are trying to achieve. Knowledge is power, and there are still too many uninformed people out there. Getting the power to the people is what we are all about.”
In the future, Daniel sees them building on the idea of how to change behavior, and Jaco and Antoinette are actively working towards establishing peer group counselors in schools and on campuses. “We are also becoming increasingly involved in addressing employees of big businesses such as Foschini, Portnet and Naspers – our program acts as a support to help the occupational nurses in these companies to raise AIDS awareness,” says Daniel.
Funding and other resources: N/A
Further reading or documents: N/A
Contact information:
Metropolitan Edu-Aids Project
Parc Du Cap, Group Marketing and Communication
P.O.BOX. 2212
Bellville
Western Cape
South Africa 7460
Telephone: +27 21 940 6775
Fax: +27 21 940 6966
Mobile: + 27 0832259248
E-mail: Jfouche@Metropolitan.co.za