The VSO World Youth Programme provided the So Safe Project with 10 Young People aged between 17 and 25, from Nigeria and the UK . These Young People committed to the So Safe Project for 2 days every week for a period of 10 weeks in the London Borough of Hounslow.
They worked on a voluntary basis as Millennium Volunteers with the aim of promoting cross-cultural and global understanding / diversity / practical value to young people. There overall focus was to educate themselves and getting the message of HIV/AIDS to Young People in the community of Hounslow.
So Safe Project devised a programme that meets the VSO Project's aims and objectives as well as SAFE Projects.
Icebreakers were carried out every session; lead by staff, and over the weeks, the Young People would also lead on Icebreakers. The Icebreakers were extremely important as it provided them with energy, motivated them, helped them to focus, and get to know and trust each other better.
Via the Group Exercises they worked in team and learned various skills that will be very beneficial for them long term. It gave them the opportunity to develop on personal levels and learn their own skills, strengths and weakness.
The group attended Youth Centres during sessions to learn more about Youth Work. A few Young People had the opportunity and cooked Nigerian food for a Youth Centre during there event for Black History Month.
The Young People did have several social activities during the Project. This was in order to keep their interest and motivation within the project and as a reward for all their hard work. These social activities also resulted in a closer relationship between the So Safe staff and Young People as both parties got to know each other outside the working environment. Although in Youth Work this would not usually be appropriate, it was appropriate and important for this particular group due to age and they role as volunteers.
As planned during the Project, the Young People educated in the following Health Workshops, which were facilitated by a Health Professional:
These Workshops were very successful and gave the Volunteers a good understanding and knowledge in the above areas.
The long-term workshop was the Drama Workshop. Various elements were involved in this workshop as it via this workshop they were able to produce the play on HIV/AIDS. The following are some of the areas they worked on…
The volunteers who were involved in the production worked extremely hard and achieved their personal and professional aims and objectives via the So Safe Project. This is what they have informed the So Safe Staff during the end of project evaluation day. Several different evaluations and methods were carried out on the last day and So Safe Project has received very good feedback from them.
Overall the Project was a great success. It was toured to several Youth Centres, Schools and Community events in the borough and has had great reviews. An Article has been published in the Informer Newspaper and BBC Radio were very interested to watching the play and interviewing the young people which unfortunately was not possible due to bad timing.
A DVD of the play has been produced which will be screened at other youth centres and used by Health Information Project to educate young people in schools on HIV/AIDS. You can watch the DVD of "The Red Ribbon" here: