Dated: 12 November 2003
Jolted by the realization a year ago that the Caribbean has the second fastest growing infection rate of HIV/AIDS cases in the World after Subsaran Africa, the University of Technology (UTech) has since been seriously looking at ways and means of stemming the HIV/AIDS epidemic in their neck of the woods.
Their latest effort in this fight has recently manifested itself in the form a HIV/AIDS Awareness Day that took place at the university’s Sculpture Park.
“The innovative format of the events proceedings is and will continue to have a tremendous impact on our young people our target audience. Also, we are overwhelmed by the concerted efforts by the many partners who have joined us in the fight against this scourge. The synergy is most encouraging and already we feel confident that together we will overcome this dreaded challenge,” said Dr. Rae Davis, President of UTech.
The occasion, described by Dr. Davis, as "truly a significant and successful day for the University on many levels," showcased the works of both students and staff of UTech and UWI HIV/AIDS Response Programme (UWI HARP). The graffiti represent positive messages promoting awareness in the community to the dangers of the disease, how we should treat people affected by the disease and methods of prevention.
Dr. Davis said the exposition was in keeping with the University’s Organization Well-Being programme, which seeks to promote and foster wellness at the personal and corporate levels.
"In keeping with our commitment to develop the total being, special care is taken to foster the intellectual, spiritual, physical and emotional wellness of individuals in the UTECH community. Therefore, we have put together policies that will govern how we handle HIV/AIDS and people living with the disease. We respect everyone’s right to be part of a community and wish to promote a healthy and productive life for all," explained Dr. Rae.
He noted that there were some pretty risky sexual behaviour going on at that campus, but with raging hormones on the loose, can you expect otherwise?
Dr. Nancy George, UTech’s Director for Curriculum Development and Evaluation, and who heads its HIV/AIDS Steering Committee, didn’t think so, but explained that what they were seeking to do with the exposition was to engage the students in an experiential learning enterprise. "What we are doing is not writing papers about HIV/AIDS, neither are we doing research where highfalutin people are sitting in office or in a room someplace and talking about it. What we are trying to do is to engage the students through a series of interaction," said Dr. George.
She argued that as potential leaders of our economy, particularly the health and business sectors, it was necessary for the institution to get them engaged enough with the HIV/AIDS discussion, out of which they hope they would be sufficiently challenged to change their sexual behaviours as potential change agents for Jamaica.
"There are some who still think that HIV has nothing to do with them, and that’s a problem associated only with homosexuals and intravenous drug users," she said. "However, if they continue to carry on the way they now do, by the year 2010 we’ll have one-in-twenty people infected with HIV in the population, which is an extraordinary figure. The number of HIV positive people is expected to double by the year 2005, stressing that this would be the Jamaican figure,” she said.
There is no doubt there is ‘some pretty risky sexual behaviour going on at that campus, and according to Dr. George the only way they were going to bring about any meaningful change would be to actively involved students and faculty in talking about HIV/AIDS and so encouraged them to participated in the thinking and researching about the disease. "I strongly believe that this is the only approach that will have them thinking and talking about their behaviour, and actions and to bring about the realization that HIV is not somebody else’s problem," she said.
Unlike many institutions that are merely talk factories, Utech, which has a population of 7,000, seems to be an exception by actually developed a strategic plan with specific milestone achievement objectives for getting the University involved in combating the HIV epidemic. They have also sought to infuse discussions about HIV/AIDS and the exploration of the nature of the disease into as many courses as they possible can.
One exciting thing that came out of the expo was that the Caribbean School of Architecture had given their master’s students, as the first assignment this semester, the challenging task of designing prototype HIV/AIDS mobile units suitable for Jamaica. In carrying out the project, the students had to lots of research to become engage in what would a HIV/AIDS mobile unit look like and what will it have to do to be a part of the Jamaican culture. So they had a whole bunch of different interpretations and concepts and the students were so excited about it.
In creating his A-shaped-designed HIV/AIDS mobile clinic, Sheldon Mahung, excitedly explains that it was "real fun for we and the other guys doing the research and coming up with our own individual design. We were basically told that we needed to develop something that is simple and easily assembled within 24-48 hours. So, what I did was to create a A-frame-designed unit with a hinge on the top so that on assembling, it would just open very nicely and fall into place. The roof would be basically a tarpaulin that clips on to the roof, and would function as a simple mobile clinic that would function on a daily basis.” (See photo of A-Shape-Designed HIV/AIDS mobile photo)
The other thing Dr. George and her team seemed to have done were to have invited the students to form teams and do various graffiti murals addressing one of the three things related to HIV - prevention, abstention and caring for people who have HIV/AIDS.
The competition attracted some 20 entries, which exhibited the enormous artistic talent that is pent up there, especially when one considers that this is the University of Technology not the Edna Manley School of Visual Arts. It was absolutely extraordinary how those students have rose to that particular cause.
Corporate sponsorship of the event was indeed a testimony to the fact that the HIV/AIDS message isn’t falling on deaf ears within the business environment.
Heading the list of those who responded favourably with either cash or kind was mobile-phone giant Digicel, who was the major sponsor and who had allowed persons with Digicel phones to text-messaged in their vote for the winning entry. "They have also given us quite a considerable sum of money, which we used to mount the exhibition," said Dr. George.
In addition, the awareness of the HIV/AIDS Prevention Control Project, a World Bank loan to the Ministry of Health, put in some money to provide for some of the painting materials and memorabilia.
There were also a number of the banking sector institutions falling in line to support the project, namely Victoria Mutual Building Society (VMBS), which of course is their partner there on campus, JMMB and Manufacture Sigma Merchant Bank. Berger Paints and Sherwin Williams also chipped in to sponsor various entries, Berger five and Sherwin Williams four.
They, along with the HIV/AIDS & Prevention Project, provided painting materials paints and brushes - for the contestants. The University of the West Indies HIV/AIDS Response Programme entered the fray with one graffiti wall entry, plus their setting up of an information booth.
"One of the things we hope will come out of this expo is that more students will become peer counsellors for HIV/AIDS. If we are going to change behaviour, if we are going to stop the growth of this thing, then we will have to get more young people involved and engaged in a serious way in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
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