World AIDS Day this year is about “Getting to Zero: Zero new HIV infections, Zero discrimination and Zero AIDS related deaths.”
As part of Cheerful Hearts Foundations’ desire to fight HIV/AIDS and our commitment to the AIDS Day Celebration theme, we organized an HIV/AIDS Awareness talk at the Maranatha Preparatory School in Kasoa, Central Region of Ghana on Wednesday, November 30th, 2011.
Kendra Denise Droppers, an intern from the U.S., spoke to a group of junior high students ranging from the ages of 13 to 18 years old about how being educated about HIV will not only protect them individually, but has the power to protect and impact society around them and create a healthier Ghana for the future. She tackled issues of transmission, prevention and stressed the importance of battling stigma around the globe which all in all ties together with the goals set by the World AIDS Day promotion.
Students were in tune and seemed to have reached the reality of the seriousness AIDS holds in their lives. The session ended with an enthusiasm of questions coming not only from the students, but from the attending professors as well, demonstrating that there is a need to spread HIV education and awareness to every audience in Ghana.
Students asking questions about HIV/AIDS
In honor of World AIDS Day, Kendra advised the students to spread their new understanding and information to their surrounding peers: family, friends and neighbors. In order to finally “get to zero,” correct knowledge about HIV needs to be shared, therefore everyone knows how to protect themselves and our brothers and sisters secretly fighting the virus can get the help and support they deserve.
Special thanks and appreciation to the staff and management of Maranatha Preparatory School, Kendra Denise Droppers, Helen Denyer, Eric Opoku Agyemang and Bright Fiatsi for making this celebration a success!
To read more information on 2011 World AIDS DAY, Click on the link below
