The Right to Know Initiative taps into the creative and transformative power of youth. Young people are at the center of the program in every country, as researchers, as creators, as communicators, and as true partners. Through the initiative, young people become activists for the cause of HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention as they research, design, and implement strategies for reaching out to other young people.
Annette
Annette Chingándu, 24, volunteers with Right to Know in Lusaka, Zambia. Having just finished her university degree in demography, she has had substantial experience doing research and is a member of the technical advisory group to RTK. Her eventual career goal is to work on her own as a researcher someday. Here, Annette discusses her experience working on HIV/AIDS issues, RTK, and research in her home country.
How she got involved in HIV/AIDS work:
I'd done research on HIV/AIDS before. For example, I worked on a survey of high-risk behavior among commercial sex workers, where you had to go to drinking places at night and talk to the women and the customers. There was another project looking at HIV in different age groups, and another on street kids.
It wasn't a conscious or deliberate decision to enter HIV research. Most of the research going on now in Zambia is related to HIV, so to get involved in research you have to do HIV. But everyone has been affected somehow by HIV. I don't know a single person who has not had someone they know die from HIV. Even me — uncles, aunts, cousins. Plenty of people.
What she does for RTK:
My major involvement has been with the research, helping formulate the research tools. A core group came together and developed research tools other than the particular tools that had been taught. We did not want to use typical questionnaires. Last weekend we did PAR [participatory action research] in Mtendere, one of the townships with a lot of youth and illicit sex going on. We interviewed the young people, had focus group discussions. We wanted to know what they knew — the facts, the myths, the misconceptions — and what the sexual behavior was like among the people we were talking to as well as in general. So we asked them a few specific questions among the general ones, like, “The last time you had sex, did you use a condom?” We talked to about a hundred people. It was pretty interesting. One of the guys on the team got solicited by a girl — he was just trying to talk to her, and she wanted to show him what she'd done. We all got tired, exhausted and dirty, but we had a lot of fun.
On participatory action research:
The new tools are wonderful. PAR is different from what we learned in the classroom, where you go out with a questionnaire, and most of the questions are pre-coded so that the person has a choice of answering ‘yes' or ‘no.' When you put in the participatory methods, you have a chance of really getting to know people. They are free to talk, so they go on and on. When you put the two together, the quantitative and the qualitative, you have a lot more information than when you use just one component.
What young people in Zambia know about HIV/AIDS:
Some interesting things came up during the field work. Most people knew that the main mode of transmission is through unprotected sex. But some people still have the misconception that you can get HIV from sharing utensils or food. Some of the kids I talked to, street kids at a drop-in center, were saying that if the parents are HIV-positive, their kids can get HIV if they eat off the same plate. One of our aims is to correct youth about some of the misperceptions that they have.
On the attitude toward HIV/AIDS in her country:
I don't know if it's specific to Zambia or common to everywhere, but there's a fatalistic attitude. Some people say it's a human disease, and we're human, so why do anything. Or there's an attitude of, we're all going to die someday anyway. It would be nice to know what type of people engage in risky behavior even when they know all of this information about preventing HIV. It seems people are just not listening.
Generally people are willing to talk about HIV — it is everywhere, there is no hiding from it, it is staring you in the face all the time. But if the person suspects they might be sick, then they are not so willing to talk about it. They are a little cold: “Why do you want to talk about it? Are you insinuating that I have HIV?” They're stigmatized. People feel sorry for them and don't treat them as normal. Also, if it's known you have HIV, people don't want to hang out with you. Even in the workplace, you get all these sideways stares, and you get the feeling that people are talking behind your back. Some people lose their jobs over it.
What she and other RTK volunteers have learned through RTK:
We have all come out of it with capacity building. Other than the people who had done research, most people went in as greenhorns and didn't know anything about research. They knew quite a bit about HIV/AIDS because most were from organizations that deal with HIV/AIDS among youth, but we all learned a bit about participatory research. That was the greatest part.
Jumbe
As a young person himself who works with youth organizations, 22-year-old Jumbe Kasongo has plenty of experience figuring out the best ways to work with young people. Here, he considers how to bring RTK's messages to the youth of Zambia and what they want to hear.
On his background:
I live in Libala, a suburb of the capital city. I am the second-born in a family of six — 4 girls and 2 boys. My older brother is self employed, all my sisters are still in school and my father works whilst my mother currently runs a small income business. I have a full-time job working with Youth Alive, an NGO in Zambia, as assistant administrative secretary. I also facilitate workshops and formations in line with Youth Alive programmes. I hope to practice law and hopefully become a legal counsel in three years' time, when I complete my legal studies.
How he became involved with RTK:
I and a female colleague from Youth Alive were seconded by our organization to attend a regional workshop on participatory action research (PAR) and RTK that was hosted by UNICEF Zambia. Since then we have been part of the core team that was established to implement PAR activities in our country.
What he's learned from RTK:
The RTK initiative has exposed me to various skills, especially in research and social work. So far I have discovered that it is really interesting to work and interact with community youth.
What young people would like from RTK:
Very few young people in my country have accurate information on HIV/AIDS. Many of them believe in misconceptions and myths. A lot of young people would like to get involved in the fight against HIV, but this is hindered because there are no resources to finance these programmes, especially at the rural level.
What he thinks is the best way to reach young people:
The best or most appropriate way of getting to young people is to find them were they hang out, in places like sports fields, nightclubs, schools, bars, homes, recreational centres, etc. If we can target these places with the hope of giving or getting information, we won't go wrong.
What messages RTK should bring to young people:
Young people are ready to implement interventions that they feel are socially, religiously and economically accepted by the community. Emphasis today is on interventions such as abstinence, condom use and fidelity.
