We're two days into our third full camp today at Chakhala FPS in Lumbadzi District (north of the airport, about 1 hr. 15 min from Lilongwe). Lizzie and I have been working in the Teacher Facilitator training workshop-a World Camp sustainability initiative that works in conjunction with the Ministry of Education to help facilitate conversations with teachers in primary schools about issues like HIV/AIDS and environmental degradation while training teachers throughout Malawi to continue education with these topics even after World Camp has left. Teachers are some of the most respected and influential members of rural communities, and we believe that the coming together of students and teachers is what will create a greater change in fighting these issues.
Anyways, we are working with 12 male teachers with a spunk, openness, and dedication to HIV/AIDS issues in their community that we have not seen elsewhere.
Mr. BKK Soko, Headteacher at Chakhala FPS and Chief in neighboring villages
The school established an Edzi Toto (HIV awareness) club a few years ago that currently has over 100 student members and meets twice a week! They talk about HIV transmission and perform dramas about HIV for their communities. Two of the teachers in our group head up the club. Chakhala also offers a room for the community's HIV+ Persons Support Group to meet every Tuesday. The group was started by Noel, one of the first people in the surrounding villages to get tested for HIV and gather the community to openly disclose his status! His story is heartbreaking, but Noel's genuine spirit and willingness to answer all of our very personal questions quickly became a strong inspiration for our work here in Malawi.
Keep checking back on our blog and the World Camp websites for video clips of our conversation with him.
Written By:
Katy Lackey, Program Coordinator
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