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By Bartolomeus Marsudiharjo, World Vision Indonesia communications
At the end of Indonesia’s school year in July, around 200 young people fled school and city to take part in a youth “jamboree” for peer educators in Cilember, Bogor, around 80 kilometres south of Jakarta.
The event gave the teenagers a chance to refresh their minds after a full year of study, as well as improving their knowledge of HIV and AIDS and renewing their commitment to share this knowledge with their friends.
“I promise to behave positively and try to be a model. I promise to spread correct information on sex education and narcotic and HIV and AIDS. I promise to eliminate stigma and discrimination against HIV and AIDS,” the peer educators promised during the opening of the jamboree.
World Vision (through Lindung programme) has trained 371 teenagers in five Area Development Program (ADP) in urban Jakarta and inaugurated them as peer educators. During the trainings, they learn about HIV and AIDS and how to prevent its spread. They are also taught public speaking skills.
After joining World Vision’s intensive trainings, the peer educators actively share their knowledge on HIV and AIDS to their friends. Often the children use student orientation time to campaign against HIV and AIDS.
In Indonesia, 18,000 people are confirmed as living with HIV and AIDS, though testing and awareness are limited. Young people are especially at risk, both through sexual contact and drug use; the Indonesian government body on narcotics estimates that students represent around one third, or 1.1 million out of 3.2 million, of drug users.
World Vision chooses teenagers as peer educators because children tend to listen to the advice of their friends.
One participant of the jamboree, Erul Liannita, aged 14, said she was very happy to join the activity because she had a chance to learn the meaning of togetherness.
”This is a very good activity. Through games, we are encouraged to cooperate with others,” said Erul.
As a peer educator Erul said that she is always ready to share information on HIV and AIDS to her friends. ”With other peer educators, I once shared the information to junior high school and senior high school students.”
She once also shared her knowledge to friends in her neighbourhood. ”Previously I thought that all teenagers had an understanding of sex education and HIV and AIDS. In fact, many of them don’t know that,” said Erul, who eagerly shares her knowledge without payment.
Erul, who has just graduated from Halim Perdana Kusuma junior high school in East Jakarta, acknowlegedes that she got valuable benefit from joining peer educator training last year.
”The first time I had courage to speak in public was when I joined peer educator training,” said Erul, who previously was very shy. ”Now, I am always asked to be master of ceremony if there is any activity in my school.”
If all teenagers have knowledge and have a will to share their knowledge like Erul, HIV and AIDS cases must decrease sharply.
Rohana Manggala from the Commission of Jakarta AIDS Prevention Office praised World Vision to involve teenagers in preventing the spread of HIV and AIDS. ”This is a very effective way as children will share their knowledge to their friends,” she said.
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