My main project right now is a SIDA/VIH (AIDS/HIV) awareness project. I am currently collaborating with about ten other volunteers and a local SIDA organization just outside my town.
The Organization with which we are collaborating does SIDA education in the several towns near mine. Their main focus is on educating prostitutes, boys ages 14-21 and truck drivers on different aspects of SIDA including transmission, ways to protect oneself, and the impacts SIDA can have on ones life.
A recent and primary role of ours, while working with this organization, has been to share ideas and techniques of transferring information in a way that people can be receptive to it. We first sat in on a presentation to high school students about the topic of SIDA. The lecture was a few hours long, it was a PowerPoint and kids were coming and going at their leisure. From our perspective, no one wants or has time to sit for that long. No one wants to be talked AT about a subject that makes him or her uncomfortable, with three people to a desk, in a small classroom of 70ish people.
From here we were able to have meetings with the organization and discuss some of our ideas. For example, come up with a one-hour presentation that can be repeated over and over. This way students have time to stay for the presentation, it keeps their attention longer, and they get all of the information.
I’d like to think even just sharing little ideas like this makes some sort of difference.
Now…the next part of our project has to do with the Rose Festival that takes place in RoseValley every May. PCVs are known for putting up a SIDA booth to help make people aware of the impact SIDA(and other STIs) can have in their lives . There are also a high number of prostitutes in RoseValley (Though by no means unique to RoseValley) and their work increases tremendously during the Rose Festival. People come from all over the country to visit the Rose Festival and it is not unlikely that many men will take that opportunity to visit prostitutes.
We are working with this same organization to do training with the prostitutes and their Madames and Pimps about two weeks before the festival in an effort to increase their knowledge of diseases and the benefits to protecting oneself. We are hoping that by putting a financial spin on it and an emphasis on the fact that a sick sex worker cannot continue to work and make money that they can benefit from protecting themselves. I would like to think that just talking about the fact that protection is important for their own health and for the sake of their own well being, would be enough but…its not. And currently a person pays more to have sex with a condom than without.
Another facet of the Rose Festival SIDA awareness campaign will be directing our energy towards women. We have always had one booth to talk about SIDA but clearly women and men will not feel comfortable coming to the same tent. Our goal is to get an extra tent or make our own under the pretense that we are doing a women’s wellness campaign. This will allow us to not only speak about SIDA but the mudawana (family code,) STIs, maternal health among a variety of other subjects. It also gives some anonymity to the women that are taking advantage of the booth to educate themselves about SIDA and other STIs..
A third facet of this SIDA project is our goal of securing an ALCS (association de lutte contre la SIDA, The Association to Fight Against AIDS) vehicle to be present at the festival. They bring a bus in which people can get tested for SIDA, similar to the way we have buses that go to different events in which we can donate blood.
So, why SIDA/STIs? Is SIDA really prevalent in Morocco? Are people uneducated about SIDA?
We are focusing on SIDA for several reasons. For one when we are talking about SIDA we hope to include other STIs in our education. People in Morocco know what SIDA is and know that it can result in death but they are uneducated about other STIs and the fact that they can be equally as detrimental to their lives and their families.
Secondly, marriage in Morocco tends to be a contract between two people to make a family. There is no real sexual exploration and women in general don’t get a lot of say in how sexual relations play out. If men want to have a baby they have sex with their wife. If they want anything else they often go to a prostitute.
Thirdly a woman doesn’t have a lot of power in the bedroom when it comes to whether or not their husband uses a condom. Asking them to use a condom implies that the wife thinks the husband is “dirty.” And a wife doesn’t necessarily know if or how many prostitutes her husband may be sleeping with.
In addition sex and sexuality is taboo and there is no formal education on the topic. People learn about it predominately from friends, porn, or visiting prostitutes. If all of your knowledge about sex and sexuality comes from porn and prostitutes it is bound to be a little twisted.
In Morocco(2007) , according to UNICEF, there is a prevalence rate of .1% and approximately 21,000 living with HIV/AIDS. It is expected that the number has increased since then. This is relatively low but when diseases grow exponentially each year the scale can tip rapidly. And in addition the amount of people with STIs are likely significantly higher.
Anyway, As we do this work we are in full collaboration with different members of Moroccan society. Moroccan counterparts give lectures and will be at the booths disseminating information at the Rose Festival. Our role is to find people to distribute information and with whom we can share activities and ideas. We rely on Moroccans to spread the word. People are way more likely to be receptive of this information when it is coming form their peers when it is coming from a strange foreigner. Anyway… all that to say…Inchallah …wait… NO, not god willing, just protection protection protection!
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