Secondary Projects

I teach a life skills class 2 times a week at the St. Noah’s Vocational School. This class is entitled VIA (Vision in Action). The objective of this program is to highlight an effective method in preventing HIV/AIDS and promoting positive living within Lyantonde district by having the students share personal experiences and utilize an information network. The youth become the catalysts for change; a change that would manifest into a voice that would give the district the power of thought and of action. VIA includes people who are willing to be involved; ability to identify and access opportunities; leadership; moreover the capacity of the community will expand exponentially.

Thus far, I have conducted the following with my students:

-The bridge model and we discussed what we need to cross it. This is a visual tool to help convey behavior change. Information and knowledge verses action.

-We did a drama about a girl that has a friend that dropped out of school when she became pregnant and always advised her friend not to play sex without a condom and stay focused on school but the girl did anyway and became pregnant. We discussed this and how it relates to the bridge model/what the friend was missing. We went over the three categories of life skills and their sub categories.

-Overview of what bacteria, fungus, ameba, parasite, and viruses are.

-We went over the cell, nucleus and what DNA is and does. We then went over the immune system and its functions as well as what red and white blood cells are and their functions.

-Then went over the macrophage, the T4 Helper Cell, the B cell and the Killer cell and what they do. We discussed terms such as anti bodies and antigens. Then we talked about why HIV virus is different and getting tested and the window period for HIV to show up in the body and why; how the cells mutate from the virus.

-What opportunistic diseases are; the difference between HIV and AIDS. The treatment you can receive for HIV. Then we did the exercise where I got them into small groups and gave them pictures of people and had them guess which one had HIV and why.

-I taught HIV/AIDS Transmission and myths/facts about it. I told them about the test and what to expect. It was really funny because they did not know the anatomy of the other sex’s reproductive organs so I had to draw and explain it to them. Also, they did not know about oral sex so I had to explain that as well. There were many things that they thought to be true that were not, such as all gays had AIDS and that the rest of the world had AIDS because the Africans went there and gave it to other people.

Working with a vocational school as a secondary project is extremely challenging because: The students are only there for 2 years, they are orphans, most infected with HIV, most dropped out in Primary school therefore their English and education is limited, and the majority speak Runyankore where as I was trained in Luganda; therefore, I need a translator for everything.

It was extremely frustrating because I work with my students 2 hours a session twice a week. I have a translator that speaks both Luganda and Runyankore. I constantly ask if there are questions or if something needs clarification. I leave the notes up after class so that they may copy them. Before the exam I asked them questions straight from the test and those who were able to answer verbally were awarded extra credit. I had the translator there to answer any questions they could not read or did not understand. Despite all of the before mentioned, only 9 out of 44 passed. Those are just numbers, throughout the term I had boys tell me that even with the knowledge of AIDS and STI’s that they would still refrain from condom use because ‘it felt better’. I have had my girls tell me they would rather have AIDS than be pregnant because when a girl is pregnant she is ‘spoiled’ and is not physically attractive whereas when a girl has HIV/AIDS she can take free medicine to help it, people can’t tell you are sick and you can remain in school.

I can only hope that this term helps them to change their thought patterns and ultimately their behaviors.

As another secondary project, I am gong to be teaching a course entitled So What! This is going to be a student led class, from which they will chose the topics that they want to learn. The first one they chose was business. It went so well, they were all engaged and asked questions and kept up with what I had to say. We went over the following:
• The steps of starting a business
• What you want to sell- the product
• What supplies you will need for that product
o We did examples for mechanics, tailors and builders
o How much everything would cost and added it up
• How much your time is worth
• Market value: how much it is worth after the product is completed
• Market Research:
o What is the competition
o Asking people
o Is there a need
o Is there a want
o Is there a lot of that type of business already in the location
o Where you will sell
o Transportation costs
o Receipts and bookkeeping
• Profit Margin: what you make after expenses are accounted for
o High Profit: sell 1 of X for expensive
o Lower Profit: sell many of X for cheaper to sell fast
• Account for all expenses
o Employees/labor
o Land/rent
o Food
o Social
o Loans
o Transport
o Housing
• How to be competitive and network
• Savings
• Product + Time = Profit Margin
• Profit Margin – Expenses = Revenue

This term I am going to teach them how to conduct a feasibility study and SWOT analysis. After those tools are taught, they will be required to go to their village and write a report using all of the information listed above as a guideline. I feel that this will greatly benefit the students as they are at the school to learn a trait (woodworking, mechanics, tailoring and brick building). Many of them learn the skill needed but not how to master it in one’s own community.