“Any disease is easier to prevent than to cure,” says a very old folk wisdom of a medical nature. Indeed, if you have elementary knowledge about the causes of the disease and follow them without question, the probability of getting a disease “as a reward” is much lower. Especially when it comes to dangerous diseases that are transmitted sexually. On the eve of World AIDS Day (December 1) Khmelnytskyi representative office of the "Kesher Project" held a meeting with 1st year students of the College Interregional Academy of Personnel Management (IAPM) within the walls of the Computer Class on the topic of preventing this deadly disease, sexually transmitted diseases, and also talked about a tolerant attitude towards people suffering from the "plague of the 20th century." The male and the students were not chosen by chance - even earlier, many of them had shown interest in the volunteer movement "Community" and the volunteer school.
At a convenient time after classes, the students arrived at the "Thia" OC of the Hesed Besht Children's Charity Foundation, where our CC is located. They are here for the first time, since most of the students are newcomers and are just starting to learn about the useful places of our city. The category of people of their age is in the risk group: most of them are just starting their sexual life, parental control has sharply decreased, and the options for various temptations have become many times more. School lectures on a healthy lifestyle have long been forgotten, and the environment of today's communication is simply teeming with various dangers: alcohol and smoking, the opportunity to try drugs; for someone - the first serious love or the freedom of promiscuous sexual relations. The consequences of such dangers can be both general degradation of the personality or problems with the law, and unplanned pregnancy, psychological trauma and the same venereal diseases. Today's meeting at the Kesher Project CC was supposed to "shake" the minds of students and direct their thoughts in the right direction, reminding them of the threat of dangers, especially using the example of AIDS.
What do young people know about acquired immunodeficiency syndrome? Having checked the answers to this question from those present, we assessed the knowledge as general and sufficient, but very incomplete. It was worth clarifying the difference between AIDS and HIV, talking about the ways of transmitting the virus and counteracting this process, dispelling or proving controversial facts about this disease. It is worth noting that the students showed activity in the dialogue and, despite the grief at the mention of sexual relations, asked questions or expressed their opinions. We also additionally talked about other diseases that are sexually transmitted and pose a considerable danger. We emphasized that the public opinion that such diseases are shameful or indecent is fundamentally wrong, and any such disease can be cured at the initial stage, without being ashamed to go to the doctors.
And what do young people know about violence? We checked this too. If everything is more or less clear with physical or sexual violence, then concepts such as economic violence and manifestations of psychological violence required more detailed consideration. We focused the students' attention on facts that are clear examples of rampant violence in the family, in relationships, in gender issues and in everyday life, thus illustrating different options. We also talked about the responsibility established by the Law and about places where they help to cope with manifestations of violence - public organizations, one of which is the "Kesher Project".
In the context of both topics, we also paid attention to the issue of integrating people with this disease into society, the importance of a tolerant attitude towards such people. The topic is especially relevant on the eve of the international campaign “16 Days Without Violence”, which is also actively supported by our representative office. The main thing that young people should have learned from the meeting today is that violence is insidious and multifaceted, but powerless against joint resistance. The main thing that young people should have learned from the meeting today is that violence is insidious and multifaceted, but powerless against joint resistance.
The event was attended by correspondents of a local news portal "Marichka NEWS", which indicates the significance of our work in modern Ukrainian society.
At the end of the meeting, the students received condoms – excellent means of contraception and prevention of the spread of diseases from our partner, the Association for the Fight against AIDS “Victoria”. This organization always supports the initiatives of the “Project Kesher” in educational or propaganda work. So today, the students received knowledge that can never harm anyone, but, on the contrary, should improve the situation in society!
