HIV Prevention Classes | The Imani Project

The HIV education that the Imani Project does in Kenya takes place on many levels, in many ways, and in many venues. The more formal education takes place at village meetings and in school classrooms.

Teaching adults about HIV/AIDS

Each year Imani Project volunteers go to villages throughout the area we serve, holding community meetings where men and women are taught in separate groups about HIV and about how to avoid becoming infected. We have taken the message of HIV prevention to thousands of people in dozens of villages; perhaps it is one reason that the rate of HIV infection has dropped dramatically since the Imani Project’s involvement in the area.

HIV Classes for Women

Teaching school children about HIV/AIDS

Every other year, on the years when we do not conduct medical clinics, Imani Project volunteers go into classrooms with interpreters and teach basic knowledge about HIV and HIV prevention to 6th, 7th, and 8th grade children in the village schools. We have been to dozens of schools over the years, reaching thousands of young Kenyans.

HIV Classes for Men

Training villagers as educators

Another way HIV education is passed on through the Imani Project’s work is in meetings with local Community Health workers, and through the training of Kenyan Imani Project volunteers, so they can continue the work of HIV care and prevention throughout the year, with the goal of becoming self-sufficient in their work as they educate people in their villages about HIV and AIDS. Informal education also takes place daily, as well, as American and Kenyan volunteers talk one-on-one to the people we meet about the work that we do and about the importance of HIV prevention. The people we work with and for in rural Kenya know firsthand the effects of the HIV pandemic. They have experienced the economic impact and the personal losses, and are fully committed to stopping the spread of HIV in their communities. We are there to help.

Working one-on-one

2013 Kenya Trip

The annual trip to Kenya for American volunteers was in September, 2013. The focus of this trip was HIV education.

We taught 2000 school children in four remote villages.
We taught 800 adults in men’s and women’s classes.
We administered HIV tests and referred those with positive results to the hospital in Malindi.