Here are some ways in which you and your class can learn more about HIV/Aids.
AIDS Helpline 0800-012-322
Test Yourself
How brainy are you? Do you know what’s happening in your world? Test your knowledge about HIV/Aids. If you score well, give yourself a pat on the back and know that you’re a cool someone. If you don’t score well, you’d better get in shape — this is life knowledge we’re talking about here and it’s a loser’s game to be dumb about HIV/Aids.
1. How can you get infected with HIV, the virus that can cause Aids?
a. By having unprotected sex with someone who is HIV positive
b. By using a needle or blade that has someone else’s blood on it
c. By being born to a mother who is infected with HIV
d. All of the above
e. None of the above
2. How can you tell if someone is infected with HIV?
a. They look very thin
b. They wear a red ribbon
c. They cough a lot and seem very sick
d. They sleep around with lots of people
e. None of the above. You cannot tell if someone is HIV positive by looking at them
3. If someone in your class is HIV-positive, which of the following can you do?
a. Share your lunch
b. Hold hands and laugh together
c. Use the same toilet
d. All of the above
e. None of the above
4. How do you know for sure that you are HIV negative?
a. You only eat healthy food
b. You’re not the kind of person to get HIV/Aids
c. You’ve had an HIV blood test
d. You usually use a condom if you have sex
e. You’re really strong and fit
5. If someone hurts themselves and is bleeding, what is the best thing to do?
a. Get as far away as possible
b. Cover your hands with plastic gloves or plastic bags and help them to clean the wound
c. Go and call an adult to help and warn everyone else to stay away
d. Put spit in the wound to disinfect it
e. Tell the person to wait until the bleeding has stopped and then let them clean it themselves
Answers
Safety at school
Everyone should know the Aids-Safe ways of treating someone who is injured and bleeding. The golden rule is to always act as if everyone is HIV positive and to protect yourself and others from infection. Find out about Universal Precautions (easy ways to protect ourselves from infection). Prepare a First Aid kit that contains all the items that you would need to treat a bleeding friend on the playground — waterproof plasters, rubber gloves etc. and demonstrate how to treat wounds safely to the rest of the school.
Tell your parents
We learn so much about HIV and Aids at school, but what about our parents, younger brothers and sisters or other people in our community? Take time to tell others what you know about safety and talk about why it is wrong to discriminate against people with the disease.
Share your spirit
Visit someone who is ill and have a chat with them
Bake a cake and share it with people waiting in line at your local clinic
Go and play with children in the local orphanage or Children’s Home
Make up rap songs or poems about HIV/Aids and perform them on street corners
Write a letter to someone you love telling them all the wonderful, Aids-safe ways you’ll show your love
Start a graffiti wall dedicated to HIV/Aids (get permission first!)
Tell us about it
There are local government offices, community organisations and clinics that deal with HIV/Aids education. Collect some red ribbons (or make your own) and hand them out at school for School Aids Week. You could also get pamphlets and posters for your classroom or school library. If you can’t get enough pamphlets, copy information onto pieces of paper and hand them out at the school gates.
School newspaper
School Aids Week is the perfect occasion for a school newspaper. Anyone who is interested in writing, research, design or education can play their part. Find out about HIV/Aids support services in your area, give information or share news stories about Aids and write articles discussing your opinions and ideas. If you have the facilities, photocopy the paper and sell it at school for a small fee, or make one big, beautiful copy and display it in the school library or one of the classrooms.
Get to know condoms
We hear so much about condoms, why not get to know what they’re all about? Have some fun and test a condom — how big can it get, how wide can it stretch and how do you put it on? Collect free condoms from your local clinic and get volunteers in the class to try the following:
Put a condom over someone’s fist and arm
Stretch a condom over someone’s head (make sure they can breathe!)
Fill one with water to see how big it will get before it bursts
Get people to try and put condoms on broomsticks or cucumbers (did they put it on right?)
Pull them, stretch them, feel them and look at them.
Read the instructions and show them around.
Poster parade
Decorate the school with your wonderful artwork. Make posters by sticking pictures from magazines, painting, drawing or whatever else inspires you. Show the posters to local HIV/Aids organisations or newspapers and you may even get the posters published! (Remember to use the red ribbon, which is a symbol for solidarity in the fight against Aids)
Poster themes:
My friends with Aids are still my friends
Love is … taking care to avoid HIV/Aids
We can make a difference!
Spread the word
Time to speak out about how you feel! Have a speech day in your class where everyone gives a 5 minute talk about HIV/Aids. Pick your own topic, or use one of the ones below:
What we can do to stop the spread of Aids
Discrimination against people living with HIV/Aids – why it’s just like apartheid
Talking about sex — the problem or the solution?
What we can do to support people with HIV/Aids
Answers:
1d, 2e, 3d, 4c, 5b
— The Teacher/Mail & Guardian, September 5, 2000.
Developed for the Department of Health by Lesanne Brooke