The last
week of September Drs. Ronna Krozy and Rosanna DeMarco from Boston College led
workshops with our health promoters on HIV and AIDS. Rosanna developed a teaching film with poor black
women of South Boston who are living with AIDS.
In the film, titled Women’s
Voices, Women’s Lives, these women speak honestly and from the heart.
Despite
the fact that our health promoter Jessenia was in the hospital, we had
excellent participation that improved as the week went on and more people
learned about the workshops. Martha, our
nurse, did a wonderful job stepping in to help in Jessenia’s place.
Health
promoters, new mothers, and men from a gay and transgender group all
participated in four different trainings.
Health promoters wanted more training.
Rosanna and Ronna came with questions and answers written.
Both women
have the personality and openness to elicit questions and discussions and
Martha did a wonderful job of helping them put the material into the Nicaraguan
cultural context. Rosanna talked to the
women especially about how women will not take care of themselves but instead
put husband and children first…you could see the nods go around the groups as
these women who also constantly put others first.
Participants
were also impressed that the women in the film had lived with HIV for 15 and 20
years. This makes testing easier when
they realize that a positive result is not necessarily a death sentence,
especially if HIV is caught early.
Each
workshop started with showing the film, then questions. We are going to continue this model with the
film and a donated portable DVD player in homes in Nueva Vida. We are looking for donations to purchase rapid
HIV tests to test people who have been motivated by the workshops to get
tested.
Nicaragua
has the lowest HIV rates of any Latin American country…testing, education and
prevention are the only ways to keep Nicaragua healthy. This is critical in a poor country. We are grateful for Ronna & Rosanna’s
help and the boost of energy they brought to for more community education. -Kathleen
