Peers Connecting With Peers To Fight HIV

Teenagers from central Indiana are preparing to travel to Africa on Wednesday, where they will work to impact the lives of kids dealing with HIV/AIDS.

The Peers Leaders for AIDS Free Africa and America made the trip to Swaziland in 2013, and this week another group of students are going to the country in southern Africa.  

Seventeen-year-old David Price, of Carmel, is one of 13 Hoosier students that have been training for a year. He says he feels prepared to address the issues that also hit close to home.  

"Because we’ve learned a lot about drug abuse and alcohol abuse and that’s a big contributing factor and we can also bring that back to our communities," says Price.

That’s one of the goals of the program that is sponsored by Indy nonprofit Saving Orphans through Healthcare and Outreach.  To prepare students with information that’s relevant in Indiana, currently in the middle of a HIV outbreak, and Swaziland, a country with the highest HIV infection rate in the world where more than a quarter of the population is HIV positive.

Amanda Neves, a 17-year old from North Central, says they will be arming the Swazi teens with knowledge. Using presentations, games and small group discussions, the peers will tackle serious issues that contribute to the HIV epidemic.

"Hopefully by us teaching them ways to say ‘no’ that will prevent more people from getting into human trafficking or getting raped," says Neves.

The students have prepared by engaging in humanitarian training, cultural competency sessions and health lessons.  While in Africa, they will address school conventions, meet with civic leaders and conduct community clinics.

Emily Perry, who would like to go into the medical field, attends Christel House Academy.  She says the opportunity to connect with kids, peer to peer, can make an impact.  

"For us to go over there and talk to the kids, it’s going to be easier for them to understand what we’re talking about instead of an adult saying ‘you need to do this and you need to do that,’" says Perry.

According to the Indiana State Department of Health over 11,000 people in Indiana were living with HIV/AIDS by the end of 2014 and numbers continue to increase.