More youth are impacted by the HIV/AIDS pandemic in southern Africa than anywhere else in the world. That’s why TWR and Kerus Global Education have developed a unique approach to HIV/AIDS prevention there. They teach children and teenagers that it takes courage to make healthy, wise choices just as it takes courage to face an aggressive lion. The training sessions taught by the Kerus team are based upon its It Takes Courage! curriculum.
TWR, in partnership with Kerus, also has developed a dramatic radio program for children and youth. It reinforces the on-the-ground training in areas where the It Takes Courage! curriculum is being taught. The pilot dramas, initially titled Magogo’s Village, are centered around a fictional African town and a grandmother, Magogo, who is raising her two AIDS-orphaned grandchildren. Some of the problems her grandchildren face are personal struggles, such as the temptation to cheat on a math test. But others, like turning the tide against the stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS, could change the world. Throughout the broadcast series, Magogo encourages her grandchildren--and the many children listening to the program on the radi--to have courage in the face of adversity, and grow up to be men and women of good character.
Several young people in Mozambique have spoken with the coproducer of the Kerus Xitshwa language radio program, Kulaveka ku Tiya. They told him they liked the program and that is changing lives. A boy named Alexandre said: “The program is a success because it is changing the attitudes of some people here in the village. It is an educational program, therefore it emphasizes abstinence before marriage and conjugal allegiance, which is the philosophy defended by the churches. This has helped many to pay attention to the problems related to HIV/AIDS.”
And a girl named Ana shared that she lost her brother to AIDS. “He came back sick from South Africa, and all my family was worried about him,” she said. “We tried to support him in what we could, but he did not survive. I don’t want to see other people experiencing what we lived through. I support Kulaveka ku Tiya. It’s an educational program for all of us.”