SOUTHERN AFRICAN WILDLIFE COLLEGE SAWC HIV/AIDs Awareness The College’s own HIV/AIDs policy is freely available for perusal on our computer server, from Reception, from union representatives, from SRC members, and from managers The College encourages students and staff to find out what their HIV status is, and puts those interested in touch with doctors and trained counselors. This information is kept confidential even from the College, unless otherwise requested by the individual The College’s weekly newsletter regularly carries information about HIV/AIDs and the College’s SHEC ‘Thought for the Day’ often carries a message about HIV/AIDs HIV/AIDs awareness is highlighted in each and every one of our training programmes and forms an integral part of our community environmental education programme

SOUTHERN AFRICAN WILDLIFE COLLEGE SAWC HIV/AIDs Awareness Proof of the success of our community school programme was highlighted during the last 3 years in our annual Inter School Arts and Drama Competition, where the message about HIV/AIDs came out very clearly in both drama and art entries from local high school students Our Resource Centre has posters, pamphlets, booklets and manuals filled with HIV/AIDs awareness issues The College is not shy to have controversial topics highlighted through our various communication channels (notice board, newsletters, posters, etc..) and we have covered topics as controversial as masturbation and date rape

SOUTHERN AFRICAN WILDLIFE COLLEGE SAWC HIV/AIDs Awareness Every year the College holds HIV/AIDs awareness training sessions with staff and students As a non-profit organisation, we tap into local HIV/AIDs awareness programmes Like ‘Love Life’ through the South African Department of Labour, and the HIT (Health Intervention Team) from Komati Water Basin Authority These groups provide free HIV/Aids awareness training and free awareness material We have used various awareness material, including providing students with playing cards printed with HIV/AIDs awareness methods

SOUTHERN AFRICAN WILDLIFE COLLEGE SAWC HIV/AIDs Awareness During 2002 we formally added HIV/AIDs awareness training to our Certificate and Diploma courses as a core outcome to be achieved Students are expected to be able to: Describe legislation (both in SA and in their own Countries, where such exists) relating to HIV/AIDs in the workplace Describe and analyse implicit organisational policies around HIV/AIDs in the workplace Develop appropriate HIV/AIDs policies for use in their own workplaces

SOUTHERN AFRICAN WILDLIFE COLLEGE SAWC HIV/AIDs Awareness Along with our awareness campaign we circulate a newspaper clipping file which includes articles from regional, national and international perspectives on the HIV/Aids pandemic and which discuss treatments, preventative methods and how to live with the diseases We also ensure female students and staff are aware of the affect of HIV/AIDs on their unborn children and how important it is to know their HIV status to try and avoid infecting their children during childbirth We link with local rape counseling groups to keep abreast of the statistics in this regard

SOUTHERN AFRICAN WILDLIFE COLLEGE SAWC HIV/AIDs Awareness The most effective message we found was to let our staff and students meet with HIV/AIDS infected individuals, to hear their stories about how they became infected, to help them realise that HIV positive people are just normal people living with a diseases, to illustrate that you cannot ‘tell’ if your sexual partner is HIV positive or not just by looking at them, and to provide them with the hope that they can live productive lives with HIV, but that ultimately prevention is still the best option.

SOUTHERN AFRICAN WILDLIFE COLLEGE HIV/AIDs Awareness HIV/AIDs Awareness It is estimated by 2005 six MILLION people in South Africa will be HIV positive and 1% of the entire workforce will be infected The UNAIDS December 1999 figures indicate that million people worldwide are currently HIV positive. The ILO Report of June 2002 states that ‘studies in Tanzania, Cameroon, Zambia, Swaziland, Kenya and other sub-Saharan countries have found that the rate of economic growth may be reduced by 25% over a 20- year period as a result of the HIV/AIDs pandemic’

SOUTHERN AFRICAN WILDLIFE COLLEGE The Threats of HIV/AIDs It is a threat to workers rights because the HIV/AIDs still carries with it stigmatisation and discrimination It is a threat to development with serious negative impacts on the economy, the workforce, business and individual workers and their families HIV/AIDs will have a serious impact on the make-up of the labour force because of the age, skills and experience of infected people who will be “lost” It is a threat to our future because it leaves many women without breadwinners and children without parents It is a particular challenge in terms of training because it results in a continual cost of training as those already trained become too ill to use their new skills

SOUTHERN AFRICAN WILDLIFE COLLEGE SAWC and HIV/AIDS For those of us in conservation education, it is a concern that we are losing motivated and trained people in the field The College embarked on active HIV/AIDs awareness training for staff, students, and communities in 2000 Our aim was not only to highlight HIV/AIDs issues to our students, but to motivate them to use this information to counsel and inform their colleagues, peers and the communities surrounding their organisations when they return home

SOUTHERN AFRICAN WILDLIFE COLLEGE SAWC HIV/AIDs Awareness The biggest challenge we have faced is in dealing with the many different cultures and backgrounds of our students, in order to get the full message across effectively We have found that the best approach has been to handle the issues in different ways and from different fronts We introduced a “Safety News’ Notice Board which regularly features articles and information about HIV/AIDs, STDs and sex Posters through-out the Campus remind everyone about the threat of HV/AIDs and also states that condoms are freely available on-site from Reception and from Student Representative Committee (SRC) Members

SOUTHERN AFRICAN WILDLIFE COLLEGE SAWC HIV/AIDs Awareness The most effective message we found was to let our staff and students meet with HIV/AIDS infected individuals, to hear their stories about how they became infected, to help them realise that HIV positive people are just normal people living with a diseases, to illustrate that you cannot ‘tell’ if your sexual partner is HIV positive or not just by looking at them, and to provide them with the hope that they can live productive lives with HIV, but that ultimately prevention is still the best option.