Kuwa Shujaa Teacher's guide 1

TEACHERS’ GUIDE

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“I worry about children in my class being HIV positive.

Could they infect me?”

“I worry about teaching HIV and AIDS. I don’t know all the facts myself.”

“I’m so busy marking papers, I don’t have time to look after children with special needs.”

“They say we need to teach children about sex if they are to stay safe from HIV. But talking about sex with my students makes me feel so uncomfortable!”

“If I talk to my students about sex, will that make them curious and want to try it?”

Schools have a key role to play in making Kenya a better place for those with HIV. After all, every child has the right to a good education, including children with HIV. Education has the POWER to slow the spread of HIV and schools are places where care, support and tolerance can be provided for those infected and affected by HIV. However, talking to students about HIV in a relevant and exciting way is not always easy. This guide to the KUWA SHUJAA comic, will help you change that.

The production of this document was funded by UNITED STATES AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT (USAID), through a cooperative agreement (623-A-00-09-00001-00) with the Population Council.

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The purpose of the ‘KUWA SHUJAA’ project is to ensure that all school environments are places where those with HIV are free from stigma and discrimination. You, the teacher, can make this happen!

this guide will help you teach your students: the facts about HIV / AIDS. to appreciate why knowledge about HIV / AIDS can keep them safe. to understand the benefits of knowing their status & choose to get tested for HIV. to treat HIV positive classmates with kindness and tolerance.

You will find this guide an excellent resource for teaching HIV in class.

Just teaching your students FACTS about HIV is not enough to ensure behaviour change. The youth need to be inspired and empowered if they are to adopt safe practices and change their attitude positively towards HIV / AIDS. This Teachers’ Guide offers suggestions for classroom activities that will encourage young people to think through their values and develop a better understanding as to how and why HIV is relevant to them.

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page 0 4 In this story a youth thought he could cure HIV by having sex with a virgin. He had been given this incorrect advice by his friends.

KEY MESSAGE: YOU NEED TO KNOW THE FACTS ABOUT HIV IF YOU ARE TO PROTECT YOURSELF AND ENSURE YOUR SCHOOL IS A SAFE PLACE FOR HIV + PUPILS.

Y: ACTIVITY: A TIVITY: ACTIVITY: AC Have a discussion about how friends often give us incorrect facts. Ask your class to mention all the incorrect facts friends give us about HIV / AIDS.

Ask your class for FACTS about HIV...remind them that HIV cannot be cured BUT that it is possible for infected people to live long and healthy lives. check page 7 for facts about HIV / AIDS

TRUE OR FALSE

page 09

You can use the true or false game on page 9 of the comic to launch this activity...

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C ACTIVITY: Encourage your students to get into pairs and role play [act out] the discussion between Maria Kim & Manywele where one of them tells the other they want to disclose their status to the school.

Ask them to discuss the following: What are Manywele’s motivations for revealing his status?

How might it help other students if Manywele tells them his status?

What can we learn from HIV positive people?

What questions would you want to ask someone who was HIV positive?

Would you be confident to tell people in your school that you were infected? Why?

TIP: The purpose of this activity is to encourage the students to engage in a dialogue about HIV and discover how correct information about HIV can help them and others. It also gives the students an opportunity to be in the shoes of an HIV positive student.

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page 11

In this story Malkia and her friends are invited to hang out with a group of boys who are clearly interested in the girls sexually. Malkia chooses to visit a VCT to find out the facts of sex and HIV - as a result she decides not to hang out with the boys.

FACT: Students are exposed to the topic of sex inside and outside of school.

The most common way that the HIV virus is transmitted is through sex.

This is why it is important to discuss sex in schools. Young people need to understand sex if they are to be empowered to refuse it or to make decisions about how to protect themselves as they get older.

ACTIVIT

Y:

Here are some facts that you can use to start a discussion about sex with your class.

Sex is a natural activity between two people who are committed to each other. You should not have sex until you are older and in a long-term relationship.

As you grow up, your body changes. It goes from being a child’s body to being an adult’s body. These changes are normal and happen to people at different times.

Your body belongs to you and decisions about sex are for you to make. Do not let anyone else make decisions for you.

Find an adult you trust to talk about sex.

Everyone is vulnerable to HIV infection. You need to protect yourself against unwanted sex.

Older learners need to know what a sexually transmitted disease is, and that people with STDs are more vulnerable to the HIV virus.

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WRITTEN ACTIVITY: Ask your class why they think Malkia decided not to go and meet the boys after she read the information about HIV from the VCT. Then ask them to write a story where they have felt under pressure to behave in a way they were not comfortable with.

How did they feel? What did they do? What can we do to resist peer pressure?

Here is a list of the most important facts your students need to learn about HIV / AIDS. Use these to help you guide any discussion you have with your class to ensure that no myths are spread. Remember – knowledge saves lives!

AIDS is caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which damages the body’s defence system.

People infected with HIV usually live for years without any signs of the disease. They may look and feel healthy, but they can still pass on the virus to others.

AIDS is the late stage of HIV infection. People who have AIDS grow weaker because their bodies lose the ability to fight off illnesses. In adults AIDS develops seven to ten years after infection on average.

In young children it usually develops much faster.

AIDS is not curable but new medicines can help people with hiv live healthier lives for longer periods.

In most cases, HIV is passed from one person to another through unprotected sex, during which the semen, vaginal fluid or blood of an infected person passes into the body of another person.

HIV can also pass from one person to another through the use of unsterilized needles and syringes (most often those used for injecting drugs), razor blades, knives or other instruments for injecting, cutting or piercing the body, and through transfusions of infected blood. All blood for transfusions should be screened for HIV.

It is not possible to get HIV and AIDS from touching those who are infected. Hugging, shaking hands, coughing and sneezing will not spread the disease.

HIV and AIDS cannot be transmitted through toilet seats, telephones, plates, glasses, eating utensils, towels, bed linen, swimming pools or public baths.

HIV and AIDS is not spread by mosquitoes or other insects.

(Taken from Facts for Life, UNICEF)

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can i talk to you about my guy?

i’m scared of finding out my status can i talk to you about it? i’ve been raped. what should i do?

i just tested HIV positive. where can i get help?

Need information... counselling... or a safe place to get tested?

Come and visit:

KNH Youth Centre Tower Block, Ground Floor Kenyatta National Hospital Hospital Road, Nairobi.

Tel: 020-2726300-9

kuwa shujaa production charles j ouda | bridget deacon | fatima aly jaffer design salim busuru art salim busuru | eric muthoga | noah mukono | kevin mmbasu stories grace irungu | daniel muli | peter kades published by well told story: www.wts.co.ke