April 2009

EFA's first group of Peer Educators began training in March 2009 and the efforts were universally considered to be a great success! The Peer Educators spent three days learning about the program and gaining tools for educating association and community members about the particularities of HIV/AIDS and the best methods for prevention and protection. Peer Educators are now working to share their new knowledge with their colleagues. The next training is scheduled to run in June.

Background
Earlier this year, the EFA regional office in Maroua launched its newest Youth Network initiative: the creation of a Peer Education program. Each association in the network has selected two members to act as Peer Educators for their association. The Peer Educators act as the point people for all educational activities within the association including the education of association members and the coordination of community education campaigns.

About the Training Session
Once selected by their association, the Peer Educators traveled to Maroua for a three-day intensive training on various themes including behavior change communication, conflict resolution and HIV prevention strategies. At the end of the training, the Peer Educators were given a small kit of supplies for their use when conducting activities for their association.

What's Next?
Each year, the regional office will conduct 6 trainings for the Peer Educators. Each training will focus on a different theme or set of best practices or activities. Following trainings, the Peer Educators are responsible for distributing the information that they learn to the rest of their association members. Peer Educators will serve two-year terms.

During the first three months of 2009, EFA International worked closely with the Rebero Orphan Center to launch two new initiatives: an education program and a nutrition program based around a new community garden.

Education
In February, ROC paid school fees for all beneficiaries at the center. ROC also hired a dedicated full-time teacher who is now on hand every day to help the children with homework, to monitor their progress at school, and to provide supplementary classes in English, Math and Science. Curricula for the supplementary lessons were written with Rwandan National Curriculum goals in mind and were designed to support and expand upon lessons learned at school.

Nutrition
In January, representatives of Gardens for Health International volunteered their time to help the ROC staff to plant a new community garden at the center. As a result, ROC now has a large and healthy garden of cabbage, spinach, beetroots, carrots, tomatoes, onions, sweet potatoes, and peppers. Gardens for Health’s agronomist also led a series of educational sessions for the students about how to maintain the garden. A system is now in place to transplant the current plants into sacks (one for each child) and to distribute the produce, when it is ready, to individual children’s households. Since January, Gardens for Health has also been helping ROC to design a nutrition curriculum, which ROC’s teacher will be incorporating into the education program in the coming months.

Children are receiving clean drinking water every day from the Center, along with a protein-rich snack. In recognition of the community environment of ROC, nuts and bananas are bought from one of the mothers affiliated with the center. This is the first time that the children at ROC have had daily access to food and clean water.

EFA International is thrilled to announce the arrival of the newest member of the regional office staff! Caitlyn Bradburn is a Health Peace Corps volunteer who has been posted to EFA’s regional office for the entirety of her two-year service.

While in Cameroon, Caitlyn will be providing technical assistance to the regional office in program development and management, monitoring and evaluation activities. In addition Caitlyn will be devoting her energies to the creation, implementation, and coordination of the Peer Education program. She will also be contributing content to the forthcoming EFA International blog and working with the regional office to secure funding for youth network activities. Prior to moving to Cameroon, Caitlyn was an HIV counselor in Philadelphia, PA, and worked with HIV projects in Mozambique.

EFA (Education Fights AIDS) International is a non-profit organization officially incorporated in May 2006 to support African youth infected and/ or affected by HIV/AIDS. First started as a means for a group of Returned Peace Corps Volunteers from Cameroon to continue the work they started during their Peace Corps service, EFA International is now comprised of both Returned Peace Corps Volunteers and others that care deeply about the youth and development of Africa. The mission of EFA International is to promote the successful future of African youth infected and/or affected by HIV/AIDS through education and empowerment.