ON MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN MY COMMUNITY , exrcise 1b.

THE AIM OF MY PROJECT.
My project;YOUTH AGAINST HIV/AIDS, Is aimed to raise aweraness (the causes of HIV/AIDS, its grave consquences on both the individual and the country, and about the initiatives that can be taken to stop the rapid spread of HIV/AIDS like actively participating in clubs an other communal activities to fight against HIV/AIDS)among high shool students.

THE BACKGROUND SUMMARY OF MY PROJECT.
My project whose aim has been discussed above is a target to 35 high school students from different schools as representatives of the rest of the students in their schools across Musanze district. This number has been choosen with the view that the knowledge and new skills that will be got from this training will be easily spread across Musanze district by these students from differents schools.

These students of Musanze district have been targeted because they study and live in an environment vulnerable to HIV/AIDS as research has shown that where cities are growing with different commercial activities and a high population there is always a likelyhood to be acts of prostitution, drug abuse and different beliefs and attitudes among the youth which can easily lead to the high rate spread of HIV/AIDS.

THE SOCIAL LIFE OF THE TARGET GROUP(high shool students)
In Rwanda, Musanze district in particular people are friendly and even get closer to each other according to the age groups. Parents are friends and their children especialy teenagers associate much. This seeting makes it hard for parents to get time to discuss with their children issues such as HIV/AIDS and creates more of the peer pressure to the teenagers due to associating much with their agemates. In most cases this can result into sexual relationships which can even lead to contracting HIV/AIDS. More to that according to the sharing culture of the Rwandese people can share things up to sharing sharp skin piercing instruments especialy when attending to traditional practices like circumscion. All this increases the risks of young poeple like high school students to contract HIV/AIDS.
Therefore my project will meet the need for the youth in Musanze to have enough knowledge about HIV/AIDS.This project is scheduled to take place in the holidays when the students are available and will be facilitated by guest speakers like a medical personnel who will give light about causes of HIV/AIDS hence addressing the problem of ignorance about HIV/AIDS.

ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES OF THE TARGET GROUP.
The opportunities for high school students in Musanze district to get jobs is limitted. Here the jobs that are accessible to students are working in market places and shops in times of the holidays which can be got by the few lucky ones. However on the other side many of the other students do not got enough money from their parents at the time of going back to school; where this money can be used to shop fashion clothes causing high school students to become soft sexual targets for the old rich people who can get them this money they need with certain risks like getting HIV/AIDS.

OBJECTIVES OF MY PROJECT.
1. To have an one day event in 2011 high school students holidays which will gather
35 student representives from different schools in Musanze district who will be
educated about HIV/AIDS. This objective will help students from different schools
around Musanze learn about HIV/AIDS from their representatives who will have been
educated at this event. At the event there will be these activities;

- have 2 guest speakers at the event. One medical personnel and a government
officer. These two will explain the causes and effects of HIV/AIDS to a person
to the whole country in general. This will lead the students to know
through which ways HIV/AIDS is spread and how they can take initiatives to protect
themeselves and the rest against it.

- bring the new knowledge that will be acquired to daily life experiences through watching a
movie about the methods of preventing against HIV/AIDS,its causes and
consquences so as to understand it better.

- Make sure that every representative goes back with a DVD and a booklets containing clear information about HIV/AIDS. This is to make sure that also the other students who were represented get clear and accurate information they need to understand fully about HIV/AIDS.

2. Provided that most schools in Musanze district have the ANTI-AIDS clubs, select the club with a good HIV/AIDS song and sponsor them take it to a studio. This club will be selected through a competion among these clubs. This is to help spread the message about fighting against HIV/AIDS among high school students and to the rest of the people when this song will be played.
3. Have one story in the media (newspaper) so that even other high school students in other districts get the message we are trying to convey;that of fighting against HIV/AIDS.
RISKS AND CHALLENGES WHICH MIGHT BE INVOLVED.
1.As this project is about sexual health,the students may not be open to discuss on the topic and ask freely their questions.
2.There might be a risk of not getting study aid materials about HIV/AIDS like documentary movies and booklets with information about HIV/AIDS.
3.Getting a network of the people to work with as this project requires some experts like good medical personnel.

HIV/AIDS ISSUE UNDER TREE ANALYSIS

HIV/AIDS IS THE ISSUE AM GOING TO RAISE AWARENESS AGAINST, as a target of my project after this project management course. The tree approch towards HIV/AIDS above shows cleary the contribution of causes of HIV/AIDS to having the high population of this disease's victims. Here the tree branches are showing the consquences of HIV/AIDS in my target community.
HIV/AIDS is my tree trunk in this case. And the roots it's causes. These causes include; sharing sharp skin piercing instruments like razor blades, having unprotected sex, delivering of babies by prignant mothers at home and later resulting in breast feeding cases where it was not supposed to be leading the new born baby contracting HIV/AIDS. This is all because of ignorance about causes and effects of HIV/AIDS on both the individual and the country in general.

Then among the consquences of HIV/AIDS as illustrated by the tree(branches and leaves) we have among the others; lack of labour which has effect on the overall economy, added pressure on the health sector as a result of many infected individuals, then comes also reduction in incomes of individuals and their cut on consuming necessities like electricity and food in some in homes, then also the education sector being affected as ill teachers and orphans of HIV/AIDS misses school. Through my project (RAISING AWARENESS AGAINST HIV/AIDS) i hope to address the most contributing factor (ignorance about HIV/AIDS) where many young people in my community believe in taboos and wrong information!

Introduction; All you need to know about me; Dieudonne.

My names are Irankunda Dieudonne, 18 years and Rwandese. I am a student currently admitted to attend the African Leadership Academy in South Africa(A-level high school)on merit due to academic achievements, leadership potential and entrepreneurial spirit.
Before i used to study at sonrise high school since 2006 where i served as a discipline prefect in the students' government in 2009, here i initiated the students'discipline committee to advise and guide fellow students out of acts like smoking and drinking alcohol in school.
In the same year i was Vice president of the anti genocide club where my role was to fight against tribal discrimination of hutu and tusti which lead to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. With the help of friends we initiated an environmental project which took care of our school environment that was being destroyed .
I represented the nothern province of Rwanda in the presidential summint meeting 2009 of East Africa after contributing my ideas in the Essay about 'how the governments of East Africa can unite to fight against HIV/AIDS.
And now here i am studying project management with hopes that it will enable me to develop the world around me through efficient projects.

Welcome!

Hello every one. I am currently taking the aid for smiles e-course for the next five weeks. I will be documenting my progress here on this blog. I will therefore like your comments on my work and your ideas and advice will be highly appreciated!