Why do all the people who seem to be cool lose their lives?

Today I have visited the homes of two of our Peer Health Educators; young people who have finished school and are volunteering to run sessions at schools, with training and support from Cecily’s Fund partner, CHEP. Yesterday I sat in on a session run by Laston and his female counterpart. The session, for a lively group of grade 8 students, mostly around 15 years old, focused on the dangers of drugs and alcohol. To illustrate these, the peer educators had worked with some of the children to prepare a drama – a hair-raising and hilarious tale of three drunken louts who persuade a virtuous wife to get drunk with them. It all ends in tears with the wife pregnant and infected with HIV, the husband suicidal and the drunken friends full of regret and wishing they’d listened to what their peer educators had told them at school.

Although the drunken louts – acted out with great gusto - got the loudest cheers from the class, Laston explained afterwards that this was only because they know people like that at home, and that the peer educators work with them to understand “Why do all the people who seem to be cool lose their lives?” The answer, of course, is HIV, sinc drunkenness leads to risky behavour. A lesson that the peer educators are drumming into young people again and again.

Both Laston and Patricia, who I also visited, had heartening success stories to tell. Patricia said they set the children a test when they start their regular sessions to see how much they know about HIV and other health and children’s rights issues. They test them again at the end of the year and see consistently improved scores. Accurate knowledge is probably the greatest weapon against HIV. But knowledge alone won’t help – only if it leads to changes in behaviour. And Patricia tells me that children now come up to her after sessions and say “Madam! That girl is having a boyfriend, you should talk to her!” showing that awareness is changing, leading to less risky behaviour.

For the peer educators themselves, the experience of being sponsored to learn the communication and training skills that come with being a peer educator have been really valuable. But more than what they are getting out of it themselves, Laston, Patricia and all the peer educators I’ve met have felt deeply gratified at the opportunity to help younger children. They were inspired by peer educators themselves, and they go on to inspire others. This is clearly a programme with a virtuous spiral of benefits to all concerned.