Sunday Times (Johannesburg) - September 25, 2005
Ilse Fredericks and Thandisizwe Mgudlwa

Pupils at Pineview Primary School in Grabouw are putting on plays at schools and farms to teach adults and children how to protect their bodies against the virus and living with HIV.

Red two-litre bottles placed in the shape of an Aids ribbon decorate a garden at the school and pupils can sign posters, pledging to protect their bodies.

The school is one of 22 in the Overberg region taking part in the Health Promoting Schools project, an initiative by the Department of Health, Department of Education, University of Cape Town and Elgin Community College.

Some of the schools use puppet shows, rap groups and poetry to convey the message.

Nicky Hartzenberg, co-ordinator of the project which was launched in 1998, said it aimed to improve the physical, social and mental wellbeing of the entire school community by working together.

She said it educated children and the community on HIV/Aids, life skills and drug awareness.

"One of programmes is the child-to-child project where we use children to educate their peers. We believe that children learn better from other children," she said.

Watching a play by the children was a life-changing experience for Elize Mans, 46, a secretary at an apple farm. It changed her view on people living with HIV.

"I always feared the illness. And after I saw the drama I knew how you can contract it and how not. It changed my view completely. I'm more positive towards HIV-positive people as I now know how to approach them," she said.

Mans described how she had used bleach to wash out cups after discovering that an HIV-positive person had been a guest at her house.

"But now I know that this wasn't necessary," she said.

Mans said a member of her in-laws' family had contracted HIV and, after having watched the play, took it upon herself to educate the family about the disease.

"I explained to them how to approach the (HIV-positive) person and I also told my children as they were just as afraid as I had been. But now everybody knows about the disease and they know how to react," she said.

Myrtle Philander, a teacher at Pineview, said one of the plays focused on a young girl from an affluent home who goes to university and contracts HIV. She and her family have to learn to live with the stigma.

"If we get a speaker for a day the children might listen, but will forget after a while," said Philander.

"We constantly have to instil these values in them. Last year for example we had an Aids-awareness programme for the whole of September which included teachers telling pupils about healthy eating, the drama groups performing and then we had posters up where children could pledge to protect their bodies. For a long time afterwards we would see pupils looking at the posters and remembering what they had pledged," she said.

Richard Moses, a Grade 7 pupil and a member of the drama group, said it was important to teach fellow pupils about HIV.

"There are several other illnesses people with HIV are susceptible to and we teach them about this. We also tell them how they can contract HIV," he said.

Another Grade 7 pupil, Phillip Henecke, said the play would help pupils make the right decisions. "We hope to send out a warning to pupils and that this will help them to be more careful about the decisions they make," he said.

Pupil Natalie Abrahams, in Grade 7, who attended one of the performances, said school was the only place she was told about HIV and drug abuse.

"I really enjoyed the drama. It was done in a fun way. I now know how people get HIV and I know once you get it there is no medicine that can cure you completely," she said.

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