World AIDS Day luncheon hosted by Cayman Islands Red Cross

On Thursday, November 30th, the Cayman Islands Red Cross held a special luncheon at its headquarters building to commemorate World AIDS Day, internationally celebrated on December 1st.

The Patron of the Red Cross, His Excellency the Governor, Mr. Stuart Jack, was joined by Peer Educators, Instructor Trainers and National Trainers of the internationally recognized Together We Can HIV and AIDS Peer Education Programme (TWC).

John Gray High School (JGHS) students and Instructor Trainers Leany Bodden and Brittany MacVicar, and Peer Educators Stephen Nickelson and Saneata Smith, also from JGHS, delivered presentations to Mr. Jack on behalf of fellow educators and trainers about the programme.

“I am really proud and happy to know that I can give correct information to my peers that they may not have received otherwise,” stated Ms. Bodden.

“When I first started the programme I was very shy and wasn’t comfortable with speaking in front of people,” stated Ms. MacVicar.

“Now, after going through both the Peer Education training and the Instructor Trainer training I feel a lot more confident and it has really helped develop those skills,” she continued.

After listening to their presentation, His Excellency then delivered a special address as Patron of the Cayman Islands Red Cross to the Peer Educators to commend their work.

The youth of the Cayman Islands, His Excellency stated, continues to astound him.  He too commented on how the TWC programme was obviously developing skills that went beyond HIV and AIDS information but extended to other communication and interpersonal skill building.

Once the formal programme was completed, the students had the opportunity to interact informally with both Mr. Jack and Mrs. Jack during lunch.

“Young people in this country are intelligent and opinionated, and they think about and do a great many deal of things which they are not given credit for. We are very pleased that the Governor was able to accommodate this luncheon in his schedule. We think it was a tremendous opportunity for all those present as we all have much to learn from one another,” stated Branch Director, Jondo Obi.

Before departing, however, the participants were given a special treat as the Red Cross Disaster Manager, Hemant Balgobin, and the programme Manager, Carolina Ferreira, unveiled its newly acquired “Awareness Cow”.

“The staff of the Red Cross has been enamored with this cow for as long as it has been out and about,” she explains. 

“The good people at Vision Marketing and Signs of Paradise were kind enough not only lend her to us, but to also give her yet another identity for the next two days as our “Awareness Cow”.  She’s going to be getting around quite a bit over the next two days”.

On the work which the Peer Educators are doing in the school, Ms. Ferreira had this to say:

“These kids are amazing.  The work which they are doing goes beyond what we can measure.  We know how many students they have reached in the classroom, but it is impossible to measure the true impact of their training because we will never know how many myths and misconceptions they have corrected in every day conversations with their friends.”