HIV and AIDS - Changing children's lives
Project learning - influencing cultural change
HIV is highly influenced by national and local culture and practice. Culture influences how the viruses spreads, how openly people people communicate about HIV and how people respond to the reality of the pandemic.Three cultural practises that memory work focuses on involve:
- tackling issues of early marriage
- participation of children in the family and community
- succession planning including property inheritance and will writing.
Strengthening girl's choices and futures
Memory work takes place with both boys and girls. Within families, girls
are often expected to take on more 'caring' roles, and are less likely to
have an education. Early marriage of girls, is often the norm, reducing
the likelihood of girls completing their education, and increasing the likelihood
of early pregnancy and an unequal power in the relationship.
The
emphasis in memory work on discussing future plans with children, provides
an opportunity for girl's voices to be heard within the family, and makes
it more likely that these are taken into account when planning the family's
future.
"Now parents, even those who haven't had attended school themselves
are pushing girl children to go into school. We are now seeing a drop in
early marriages, a significant drop - more than 20 young girls have delayed
marriage. Those who receive the training are sharing what they have learned
with others, so even girls who haven't been to the training are delaying
marriage."
Sr. Celestine, Kasana, Luwero Diocese, Uganda
Recognising the participation of children in family life
A significant culture change, is the increased involvement of children in
family discussions. Prior to memory work, children were rarely, if ever,
involved in discussions about their future and never involved as serious
participants. This highlights the role of child-centred approaches (with
memory work as an example) as valuable and appropriate ways of facilitating
children's participation.
Planning for the future
Willing writing is not a common practice in many of the communities where
the IMP partners work, and there is often a belief that writing a will can
pre-empt death. Inheritance information is, therefore, passed on from the
individual, orally, just before death.
"My group is the Triple A group, Army Against AIDS. In the Triple
A group, all members are positive (men and women), so I was welcomed in
the group. The group does Income Generating Activities (IGAs) now and the
income is to support the group members when they are bedridden or need money
for medication. We have 3 IGAs now. 1) We well clothes. 2) We make tablecloths
for sale. 3) We do soap making. Monday is reporting day. We discuss if anyone
has any urgent problems who needs help. If not we save the money."
Jane's story, Nairobi, Kenya
Influencing cultural change
HIV is highly influenced by national and local culture and practice. Culture
influences how the viruses spreads, how openly people people communicate
about HIV and how people respond to the reality of the pandemic.
- Enabling individuals to discuss HIV with family and members of the wider community. A culture of openness allows people to access information on HIV, discover their HIV status and receive treatment, care and support.
- Build individuals's skills and confidence, so that they can interact with a range of different service providers to get the care and support that they need.