A Peace of Me: HIV/AIDS Staff Training

So as mentioned in the previous post, I have been working diligently over the past few weeks to have everything organized for our project which is a result of our grant proposal. This grant project originated from the Behavioral Change Communication workshop that I attended in May (see blog post (HIV/AIDS Behavior Change Communication) USAID, a U.S. international developmental agency coordinated this three year grant for HIV/AIDS education and outreach for the most-at-risk populations here in the Philippines in efforts to help alleviate the staggering cases of HIV that are on the rise here in the Philippines while other countries have decreased or stabilized.

First I applied for the grant funds. There is a requirement that each agency requesting the funds must match at least 25% of the grant contribution. My site and I requested P28,200.00 to conduct our trainings over the period of 5 days. Our match was P18,175.00 which made the total grant amount $1,024.54. We had the venue, technical equipment like laptop, projector, projector screen, printers, etc. I'm lucky that my agency does not need much to carry out the trainings. Once the funds were deposited into my account I had to buy all of the supplies needed and keep track of all of the receipts. I was balancing the budget by day and still figuring out what else was needed at night. Being the Principal coordinator of a grant is no light work while still being active in the project implementation, monitoring and evaluation .

Next was organizing for the project. This was a bit of work because this is not a popular topic here in the Philippines among the natives and getting people to attend a training on their day off is even more unpopular. Not to mention the week prior we had meetings and trainings which were boring. I had to organize the houseparents for the girls weekend camp. Before we did not have unity and I was worried how this event would turn out. So what entices our participants . . .Food of course! Games and a lively facilitator! Me!

The project was broken up into three activities. The first was a 1 day HIV/AIDS training for all staff of both of my centers; RSCC and Haven. The second was a 1 day facilitation training for houseparents of Haven, to help them better facilitate the topics of safe sexual behaviors and HIV/STI's. The third was a weekend camp for the girls and women to discuss healthy relationships, STI's HIV, self-esteem etc. When I wrote the grant it did not seem like alot BUT it was and if I had to do it again, (which I would) I would break it up throughout the month.

So how did it go? Here is day 1.

Today was a great day, a fantastic day, the day that I have waited for for some time. Today I grew my wings, wasn't nervous and presented! I was not nervous and facilitated sessions! All glory be to God for working through the difficulties of the day. First I awakened to no electricity in my town which meant none in the center. I thought to myself, this will complicate things a bit but not too much because the venue has plenty of windows and is well lit. Side note I want to give KC, Mabel, and Macel a special prize. They were so helpful to this event. We had 25 participants attend this event voluntarily! Woot! Woot! I expected to only have 15 per my grant proposal!

So we begin the day at 9:00am and not 8:30am. I did not administer the pre test bc they were not printed off. Neither were the posts test. But the packets were and note to self, print everything at one time. We began with a prayer and I gave the opening words. It was good. We started with going over the RH bill which was informative. I'm glad I downloaded the videos in Tagalog! Good for you! The money was good too! Yay! Then we went into the group discussion of Aida. That Also went well. So were the balloon games and toast game. They understood the information and asked questions. Everyone appreciated the extra pens.

The afternoon had a late start and I used all the condoms for the balloon game! So bring extra tomorrow. But the myth game was good and our talk about condoms was good bc they don't use them and were curious about them. In the future we will have more trainings! After lunch we discussed the situation in the Philippines and at risk groups and behaviors. We finished with looking at stigma and how to combat it.

All in all it was a great day! The day before the event I was stressed and leading up to the event I was becoming stressed but I think I work best under pressure. I did a good job making sure all if the games were ready and we did great. I was nervous that Macel would not be a good facilitator but she was! Great job. I think I did magnificent as well. I came out of my shell! I hope KC learned a few things too. :)

So as you can see we still went on with the training although we had no electricity in the morning. We had contingency plans and show must go on. Here are a few pictures from day 1.

Here is my co-facilitator Macel leading the discussion about HIV transmission!

Yes! This is the day I have been waiting for since I wrote the grant!


The tarpulin reads "Region V Haven for Women & Girls in collaboration with the United States Peace Corps presents:		Hawak Kamay Series: Healthy Relationships, Healthy Living Training

Some of our information posters.

Play money as an incentive for our participants.

One of my helpers before our event started. The poster says "I have AIDS but it is safe to hug me!"

Our supplies for the day; condoms and glass cups to demonstrate transmission.

My co-facilitator and I.

A few prizes thanks to my mother and things I had around my room.

Preparing a few notes.

Macel reading over her notes prior to the event.

I swear I never leave home without my scarves and it was so freaking hot that day without fans!

Our participants discussing a case study about a women who contracted AIDS unknowingly and gave birth to her daughter who died of the disease.

Our participants watching a video about the RH bill.

It's me!

More group sharing.

Our participants engaging in a transmission game. Those with the balloons tied around their ankles are the human body. Then there are two groups, one group to protect the balloons represent the immune system, the other group trying to pop the balloons are the HIV virus.

No more balloons.

This was our second game wildfire. The participants mix the contents of their cups with someone else. At the end they see how quickly and unknowingly people can be infected with HIV. We used cornstarch and iodine to show the people that were infected. Cups with cornstarch in the milk turned purple. Those not infected remained white.