By Dr. Pasquine Ogunsanya | Executive Director
On May 2, 2018, Alive Medical Services launched Positive. Powerful. Alive. (PPA), a participatory storytelling project meant to empower and educate youth living with HIV. The project, which lasted until May 11, engaged 24 young people in total. PPA brought youth together to film, edit, and learn about videography, at the same time opening up discussions around HIV. We were so thrilled with how the project turned out, and we are so grateful to all our partners for supporting us in the process.
“It felt good to finally tell someone out there my story,” said Daisy, a 19-year-old participant in the project. “It felt like a relief.”
Throughout the two weeks of the program, we watched participants transform: many youths who were previously quiet, reserved and timid commanded the stage while they told their stories; youth who entered the project with hesitations ended up asking their films to be shared both online and on television health education screens at around the clinic. Friendships were built, skills were learned, and stories were documented, all because of generous individuals like you.
Each film is now posted online and will be used to inspire other HIV positive youth. We also gave each participant a DVD of their film, allowing them to share their work with their own networks. By posting these films online (and airing these films on the television screens at AMS), project participants are showing other HIV positive individuals that they can overcome their challenges – and that they are not alone.
“People might expect me to say, given a chance, I would go back and change my status,” Vivian, a 25-year-old project participant said in her film. “But this is it…I believe everything happens for a reason… And I’m happy.”
Because of the success of this project, we will now be able to offer other trainings in the future, including a more advanced training for participants incorporating additional film techniques and editing skills.
“I was happy to join together as a family during the training,” one participant said in their feedback survey. “I think we should practice [filming and editing] every month.”
Thank you so much for supporting Positive. Powerful. Alive. You can watch the videos by clicking here - and please don't forget to share! We are so grateful to have partners like you.
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