Siyafundisa

"teaching our children"

FreshMinistries and the Church of the Province of Southern Africa have created a coalition assisting Southern Africa in combating HIV/AIDS.

The partnership allows the Anglican Church in sub-Saharan Africa to expand its HIV/AIDS prevention programs, including the teaching children how to avoid contracting the virus.

Youth outreach workers help recruit and train community members to advocate abstinence until marriage and faithfulness after marriage. They work throughout the church province, which includes South Africa, Mozambique and Namibia. Indigenous leaders are also recruited and trained to disseminate positive health messages in age-appropriate ways.

The program’s focus is on children and young adults, those who are most vulnerable to HIV/AIDS and sexual exploitation.
To see Siyafundisa’s video

About HIV/AIDS in Africa

As many as 14 million children have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS in sub-Sarahan Africa, according to The Most Reverend Njongonkulu Ndungane, the primate of the Province of Southern Africa and former Archbishop of Cape Town. In another six years, that number will nearly double.

The Role of the Faith Community

The Anglican Church’s presence in Africa make it one of the continent’s dominant religions, and it already provides a range of services related to HIV/AIDS, including prevention, education, care of the sick, care and education of orphans, voluntary counseling and testing, education and vocational training for those already impacted by the disease.

Siyafundisa (Zulu for “Teaching Our Children”), will focus on:

• Teaching abstinence until marriage
• Teaching secondary abstinence among those unmarried people who have already initiated sexual activity
• Increasing fidelity in marriage and monogamous partnerships
• Decreasing harmful behaviors
• Increasing the number of people who know their HIV status
• Increasing open discussion of HIV/AIDS and decreasing stigma.

The program is modeled on best practices pioneered in Uganda with documented success. Uganda’s HIV/AIDS rates have dropped dramatically due to a change in the behaviors of the population.

The Teaching Our Children program is education-based, encouraging broad community discourse on the topic of HIV/AIDS, reinforcing the protective influence of parents and caregivers, and addressing sexual coercion and exploitation of vulnerable groups, particularly women and children.

For further information on south Africa’s fight against AIDS visit:
Be The Change International
Anglican AIDS and
USAID
Funded by USAID

• Siyafundisa triples its peer-educating force in 2008
• Siyafundisa's HIV/AIDS in Africa program working
• Dr. Grob attends HIV/AIDS conference in Mexico City
• President's “Compassion” conference selects Siyafundisa video in top ten
• Siyafundisa HIV/AIDS in Africa program adds peer-to-peer component to its curriculum