World AIDS Day 2019 – the 1st of December – was the biggest ever event of it’s kind in Bali, with thousands of students in Bali turning out to educate their communities.
Student Health Groups
Bali is the only place in Indonesia to have mandatory student health groups (known as KSPAN) in every high school. It’s a school club that students can choose to join as their extra curricular activity.
The idea of the student health groups are to promote healthy living in their schools and communities, with a special focus on HIV, AIDS and drugs.
These groups – made up mainly of female students – found themselves in a difficult situation. Without much support or even formal sex education in school, they were finding it difficult to have much of an impact.
Effective Student Health Groups
With Bali Children’s Project running health workshops in schools, it was clear that these groups needed support. This launched what would grow to be the biggest proactive education impact in the whole of Bali.
Setting up a new structure, our team began to develop a program where student health groups were involved in the delivery of the workshops. Not only that, our dedicated staff work with student groups to help them develop strategies for how they can impact their communities.
The project is bolstered by special “It’s My Life” booklets, a web based phone application, infosheets, materials and more – all designed to give student health groups the information they need to have their own impacts.
World AIDS Day 2019
It’s one of the biggest days on the calender of student groups – World AIDS Day. It’s a day where the world comes together to raise awareness and fight HIV.
And what a day it was in Bali.
Student health groups from hundreds of schools all did their very best to educate their communities. Reinvigorated by a new drive to educate, the groups came armed with new ideas and inspiration to educate their fellow students and communities.
It’s a shining example of what can be achieved when students are given the tools to make an impact.
What did the Groups Do?
Every group was encouraged to undertake whatever they thought was an effective way to reach their communities.
Tegallalang High School organised a street march where students broke off to deliver information leaflets to local shops and passers by, backed by their local police.
Sanur Tourism High School organised another march with massive banners, walking down the high street of Sanur – a popular tourist town.
Denpasar 7 High School took to the beach to hand out single red roses along with information leaflets about HIV and AIDS.
In Singaraja, students lit up the night sky with a huge awareness ribbon made from candals.
At the Hari AIDS Sedunia event organised by our friends at Yayasan Geresa and the AIDS Commission, two student groups supported by Bali Children’s Project recieved awards for their ongoing program in their schools.
Bali’s students even had impacts further afield. Wahyu – student from Mengwi High School – made the long trip to Bangkok to be Bali’s speaker at the Youth Forum for HIV and AIDS.
A Combined Effort
This was not just because of our inteventions. There are countless teachers, charities, local health officials, and government bodies all working hard to help stem the worrying rise of HIV and AIDS in Bali.
Most of all, we thank the student groups who are not only educating one day a year, but are delivering education to their fellow students year round. It’s a vital intervention that helps to plant the knowledge for people to make informed decisions about their lives.
In 2013, Bali had 12,145 confirmed cases of HIV and AIDS. In 2018, the figure was 27,225.
It is vital that we all work together to provide proactive education to prevent the spread of HIV and AIDS.
The effort does not end there. Bali Children’s Project will be hosting an awards ceremony in 2020 to recognise and further inspire these student groups. With continued support, we know these groups can improve and impact more people – helping to save lives.
In December, a weekly radio segment on Republic Radio Indonesia also starts every Wednesday at 5pm, while the team will be out and about undertaking more workshops.
Thank You Funders
The current Bali Children’s Project effort is all possible thanks to support from funders The Mel Wolf Foundation, Lucky Number 9, Three Monkeys Cafes, Como Shambala Estate, Bobbi, Grant and Sonia.
In 2020 we still need funders to make a larger impact. If you can help, please get in touch.
