This weekend I volunteered at Teen Club, which is organized via Baylor International Pediatric AIDS Initiative. The club is set up for HIV positive youth, ranging from about 8 to 18. Although, in Swaziland they all look much younger as they are so small due to the high level of malnutrition. It was amazing to be involved, they meet monthly and run a series of workshops on different themes, which vary from helping the teens understand what HIV is, why their medicine is important, things around disclosure of their status (there is still a lot of stigma in Swaziland about being HIV+ even though one in four people are). This weekend it was about dealing with stress, there were three different workshops which they participate in each lead by a Swazi teen leader who themselves participated in teen club. In one workshop they discussed what kinds of things may help them deal with stress or increase stress levels and thought about what they could do to increase the things that decreased stress. In another workshop they tried out different methods to reduce stress such as breathing techniques and meditation techniques. Then they end each club meeting with a singing along to a song by R Kelly called ‘I am the world’s greatest’ complete with actions to go along with it, it is very sweet. I will definitely going to try and help out at some more of the meetings…. And hopefully get some photos!
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