Curaçao Red Cross hosts TWC refresher training

Twenty young people, representing nine Red Cross National Societies and Overseas Branches countries, participated in a five day training workshop for the Together We Can (TWC) program in Curaçao.

Territories represented were Aruba , Antigua & Barbuda ,Barbados,Belize, Curaçao, Grenada, Guyana, Suriname and Trinidad & Tobago. Venue for the April 1 - 5 workshop was the Plaza Hotel.

The first three days were allocated for the TWC refresher training; this was facilitated by Sub Regional HIV/AIDS Youth Officer Mobafa Baker, and regional trainers, Michelle Richardson-Thurab and Delano Thompson. The final two days consisted of a Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) workshop facilitated by Guatemalan Susana Rafael.

New to the group were two representatives from Aruba , and one from Guyana . All three showed great interest, with the Arubans hoping to set up the program on their island.

One session that was well-received was the presentation made by a person living with HIV/AIDS. His presentation was open and highly interactive, based on the numerous questions asked by participants. The Curaçao Red Cross expressed interest in working more often with the guest speaker in the future.

M&E workshop facilitator, Susana Rafael, did an excellent job despite her broken English. Spanish is her native language.

The group got to work with different M&E tools, starting with the tool for the peers and finishing with tools for Instructor Trainers. Although it seemed a bit tough at first, most participants were grateful for the workshop.

There was time to relax during the week with participants visiting Mambo Beach in the evenings. Dinner on the last evening was at the hotel's penthouse - a pleasant location to close a successful workshop.

Dr Angelo Ramirez, president of the Curaçao Red Cross, expressed his satisfaction of hosting the workshop and invited overseas participants to visit Curaçao again.