San Francisco Chronicile - Friday, July 28, 2000
Jordan Robertson, Chronicle Staff Writer

Those hands belong to five young activists, ages 12 through 16, who call themselves the Nia Girls and who have organized Get Yo' Health On health fair and block party that will be held Sunday.

Nia Girls member Paulesha, 12, said she hopes that the fair will educate the younger neighborhood kids who don't understand the seriousness of AIDS.

"The little kids don't know no better," she said. They say, "`Girl, you got AIDS,' but they don't know what it means."

The Nia Girls -- named for the Swahili word for "purpose" -- were selected in February by Cecily Pennington, collaborative coordinator for the Girls After School Academy. The nonprofit academy provides tutoring, computer training, arts and crafts and other activities for African American girls ages 8 to 18.

The health fair, Pennington said, is "about making them see the connections that if you're having unprotected sex, if you're using drugs, if you're around people who are negative influences, how that impacts your life."

The event will have free HIV screenings, sponsored by the San Francisco Department of Public Health, as well as booths run by 18 health and community organizations, including the Red Cross, Black Coalition on AIDS and Sisters Working in the Community.

The Nia Girls staff members -- Paulesha; Cache, 12; Yvette, 15; Lakenya, 16; and Tomiko, 16; -- booked the tables for health organizations and community centers, prepared the menus, ordered the food and got the streets closed off. The girls didn't want their last names used.

Shortly after forming, the group petitioned Youth Initiated Projects, a San Francisco nonprofit group that funds community projects created by young people, to raise money for the event. In May, the group got $1,500. Part of that money was used to pay the girls' stipend -- $100 each.

Matt Rosen, program manager at the Youth Leadership Institute, the organization that runs Youth Initiated Projects, said the group made the grant because "the young people were really thoughtful about the kind of issues they saw their community facing."

Also, he said, the board saw that "the young people were really committed to helping other young people with their health concerns."

Tomiko said she lost three relatives in 1998 to diabetes-related problems. Her dad died from a heart attack and his two sisters died from diabetes.

"I'm scared I might get it because it runs in the family," she said on a recent Tuesday at the academy after booking the disc jockey for the block party.

Tomiko admits she doesn't know much about the disease. She said she believes -- mistakenly -- that she can prevent it by eating less salt. Eating less salt helps reduce high blood pressure but does not prevent diabetes, health officials say.

Tomiko said attending the fair will help dispel some of her own myths about diabetes.

It also will help educate other youths -- and adults -- about the dangers of sexually transmitted diseases.

"There's a couple people out here" who have STDs, Tomiko said. "Even my friend, she has crabs, she has (gonorrhea) -- uh! -- one had everything." She said it hurts her to see her friends suffering.

The toughest challenges the girls face, Tomiko said, is warding off sex-crazed boys who don't think about the consequences of promiscuity.

Brian Katcher, public health pharmacist in the San Francisco Department of Public Heath, said the girls have reasons to be worried about the physical health of their community.

Coronary heart disease, which is caused in part by diabetes, is the leading cause of death in Sunnydale as well as in San Francisco as a whole, he said. AIDS is the second largest killer, he said.

AIDS is the second-largest killer, Katcher said, an author of the department's report,"San Francisco Burden of Disease and Injury: Mortality Analysis, 1990--1995."

Katcher said that among African Americans 50 and older, 19 percent of men and 28 percent of women have diabetes. Katcher said exercise and refraining from smoking can help prevent Type 2 diabetes. But, he said, in areas such as Sunnydale, many environmental factors discourage people from staying fit.

"If there are cars parked on the sidewalk, if they're afraid of violence on the streets, that's a public health problem that could lead to lack of exercise," he said. "All these things are really interrelated."

A volunteer with the Nia Girls, Eya'anna, said encouraging people in Sunnydale to get medical advice is a big deal.

"Some people will be embarrassed to go to the clinics," she said. "People might see them on the streets, like, `Oh, that's the girl that got tested for HIV.' But since there's hecka people around (at the fair), they wouldn't be embarrased."

FAIR DETAILS

The Get Yo' Health On health fair and block party takes place from noon to 5 p.m. Sunday at the Sunnydale Boys and Girls Club, 1654 Sunnydale. Free. (415) 406-1936.

E-mail Jordan Robertson at robertsonj@sfgate.com.
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