“See I am sending you like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as cunning as snakes and as innocent as doves “(Math. 10, 16) Under this word the 48 Peer Educators of the Action Group of Tshepanang (Trusts each other!) came together on 10.01.2015 in order to prepare for their teaching in 20 primary and middle schools.
In the meantime they have been assigned periods by the teachers of the subject life orientation and have mastered their first lessons. In total they reach 3900 students. With their lessons which are based on stories they advocate trust, respect, self esteem, perseverance, self control and the building of trusting and lasting relationships in a society, in which these values are subject to a rapid erosion.
On this background it is to be understood why the AIDS epidemic in Southern Africa still continues to grow. While for the higher age groups the number of the new infections and the number of AIDS related deaths decreases due to the introduction of antiretroviral treatment (ART) these figures continue to rise for the age group of 10-19 years (particularly for the girls)! Lesson that deal with “sugar Daddies”, teen age pregnancies and those that confer a basic knowledge about HIV/AIDS try to address these challenges.
“The wolves“ are also the adverse conditions, which our Peer Educators in the schools meet: Classes with up to 60 pupils, frequent changes of time table or: „Today you cannot teach, because we need your periods the for the preparation of the sports competitions or the choir contest “.
There are also some pupils, who sometimes behave like „wolves “: Children, who grow up without or with alcohol-dependent parents and then display aggressive behaviour in school; children whose concentration span due to the influence of the modern media has dropped to a minimum or those who make fun of the Peer Educators: „Here she comes again, Ms AIDS“. That is for someone, who grew up in a shame culture not easy to take.
It requires to be really cunning in order to identify the windows of opportunity in these trying circumstances and to use them accordingly. And even more it requires a clear and unambiguous motivation!
Our Non profit organization Tsibogang Christian Action Group supports the peer educators by reimbursing them for their transport and food expenses and by paying them a small incentive. In total one peer educator may receive up to R 1200 for teaching in one school.
Wolfgang Hermann