MADISON, Wis. — Twenty-seven credit union leaders, volunteers and members from the Mwalimu SACCO (credit union) recently completed a 10-day intensive training program on HIV/AIDS prevention in Nairobi, Kenya as part of the World Council of Credit Unions' Cooperative Development Program.
These participants are the first group of peer leaders at Mwalimu. The next step for these peer leaders is to train five selected peer educators, also from the credit union's membership in order to receive certification as an HIV/AIDS peer leader from the JHPIEGO Corporation, the nonprofit health organization affiliated with Johns Hopkins University that is implementing the training and certification of the peer leaders program, according to WOCCU. The training course includes segments on presentation skills, basic facts about HIV/AIDS, comprehensive HIV/AIDS care and prevention, assessing HIV/AIDS risk and behavior change.
Agnes Kamene Muema, a teacher at the Kinyui Girls Secondary School in Tala, Machakos and a member of Mwalimu SACCO, said the training was valuable.
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"There are a lot of rumors and myths around HIV/AIDS. Most people do not know the facts," Muema said. "This training will strengthen my self confidence to talk with my colleagues at school about the facts on HIV/AIDS, the very personal behavioral issues around it, and also with the girls I teach."
The Mwalimu SACCO was a natural choice to participate in the Peer-to-Peer education program, with its membership being made up of 45,000 secondary teachers throughout Kenya, said Catherine Ford, manager of World Council's Cooperative Development Program.
"Who better than teachers to educate credit union members and the community," Ford said.
Participants were chosen from more than 400 applicants in eight different regions of Kenya that applied to attend the two-week educational program on HIV/AIDS prevention.
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