Pupils put on a show to raise awareness
Enjoy a morning of song, dance and poetry with four primary schools and the Hillcrest AIDS Centre Trust.
PRIMARY school pupils from the Valley of 1000 Hills will put their creative skills to the test on Thursday, 22 May to promote a positive lifestyle and raise awareness for HIV/AIDS.
The event, which features traditional Zulu songs, poetry and dance, takes place from 8am to 3pm at the KwaDinabakubo Community Hall in Molweni, and is a collaboration between the Hillcrest AIDS Centre Trust and four primary schools.
The Positive Lifestyle event is part of a year-long life skills programme, run by the HACT in schools, which focuses on uplifting youth and addresses HIV/AIDS, STIs, AIDS-related stigma and risk-taking behaviour. The pupils are taught about the role that education will play in their lives, peer-pressure, self-confidence as well as teenage pregnancy and substance abuse.
“The Life Skills programme which we provide in schools focus primarily on HIV/AIDS, which is a serious pandemic affecting our youth, partly because of lack of knowledge,” said Sibusiso Mthethwa, the HACT education manager. “Equipping our young people with the information and the change of mind-set they need, will help them make more informed choices for their lives and their futures.”
HACT’s Life Skill programme works with schools in underdeveloped, poverty-torn communities, where many of the children have lost parents and other relatives to HIV/AIDS. In addition to education, HACT assists the schools through a range of programmes, such as helping them to develop vegetable gardens, and organising school-based HIV testing and wellness days.
