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The GoodLetter Thursday, December 19, 2002
GoodThings, Inc. :: Stories, actions, ideas, and greeting cards that connect us.
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Greeting Card of the Week
Holiday Card Offer: Be good and be mine
Thanks to all of you who have taken advantage of our special holiday card offer. You may know that through the end of the year, if you order a pack of GoodThings holiday cards from the top row of cards (see below), you'll get the GoodThings Valentine's Day card below it as a free bonus. Simplify your life and your card buying -- send a few GoodThings holiday cards this year and get a unique Valentine's Day card well in advance. Please remember -- we cannot guarantee shipment in time for Christmas for orders placed after December 13. And don't forget -- every card you send helps us continue to foster awareness of progressive actions and ideas around the world. (We print all our cards on recycled paper using soy ink.)
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This Week's Feature
Breaking the Silence
by Fiona Otway
Alarmed by recent reports of the toll of HIV and AIDS on the young girls of the Caribbean, a woman with a passion for film dedicates its transformative power to tackling the crisis.
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Dear GoodLetter readers,
As cold weather descends upon us here in the Pacific Northwest, as the long, dark days invite daydreams of sunny, tropical beaches, I want to tell you a little story that will sail you away to an island in the Caribbean. This won't be your typical tale of palm fronds, juicy mangos, and tan lines. The story has a sad beginning. But ultimately it's a sort of love story, and I think you'll feel warmer in the end.
A year ago, I learned that the Caribbean is now the worst-hit region in the world for AIDS outside of sub-Saharan Africa. An estimated 50% of these HIV cases are among youth, ages 15-24. And in the Caribbean, HIV/AIDS is a disease that disproportionately affects girls. For me, this news hits home. Half of my family is rooted in the Lesser Antilles of the Caribbean. I have four St. Lucian cousins under the age of 24, all female.
A UNICEF study shows that one in three youth in the Caribbean have little or no information about sex education or AIDS, and that lower income, rural, and black folks report higher levels of feeling uninformed. Almost two out of three sexually active girls in the Caribbean think they have no risk of contracting the deadly disease. The reality is that throughout the region girls are contracting HIV/AIDS at a rate seven times higher than boys the same age. Sadly, in the island of St. Lucia, girls account for 92% of the HIV infected youth population.
Why are girls the most at risk? I wanted to find out.
I heard from Hortense, age 19:
"POWER. AIDS preys most on those who lack power and girls are the most vulnerable. Girls are often pressured or forced into having sex, or are denied information they need to make informed decisions. Girls frequently lack the skills to negotiate with boys or men and lack the confidence to challenge them; girls fear that being too assertive will make them unpopular. Even when a girl makes an informed decision, she may be unable to negotiate safe sex. Just knowing about HIV/AIDS is not sufficient to change the way we behave."
I did some research and began to understand. Gender inequities and poverty are complicit in the AIDS pandemic. Some points to consider:
-- Stereotypical gender roles place young women in a position of having little control over when, where, and how sex happens.
-- Fear of violence, retaliation, and stigma in homes, schools, and the workplace are significant factors in a girl's choice of contraception or monogamy.
-- Many young women are kept in the dark about sex, as if ignorance preserves their purity and innocence. Access to information is denied.
-- The despair of widespread poverty also forces many girls into sexual slavery, particularly in tourist economies, increasing their chances of being infected and infecting others.
And then I began to wonder what I could do to make a difference. I sought out organizations in St. Lucia working on AIDS issues with youth.
I spoke to the St. Lucia Red Cross where Marva Edwards -- the youth programs instructor -- emphasized the importance of educational intervention:
"When you educate, you empower girls so that they can negotiate. They become self-confident and realize that they don't need to rely on sexual activities to maintain themselves or their self-esteem."
Joan Didier, executive director of the St. Lucia AIDS Action Foundation, echoed Marva's sentiments:
"If we can help our young women develop vocational skills and realize the power that lies within, we are well on our way to creating change."
A plan started to form in my mind. I began working to convince a coalition of organizations in St. Lucia to join forces with Seattle-based 911 Media Arts Center in implementing a new program called Breaking the Silence.
"Breaking the Silence" is a free, five-month workshop series targeted at St. Lucian girls, ages 14-18. The program combines media literacy, hands-on digital video production, peer leadership training, and interactive HIV/AIDS education.
The "Breaking the Silence" program brings together a group of St. Lucian girls once a week after school. Health education professionals from the St. Lucia Red Cross will present essential information about HIV/AIDS prevention. The St. Lucia Planned Parenthood will train the girls in peer leadership so that they can pass on their knowledge to others. Finally, through fun, experiential exercises modeled from 911 Media Arts Center's award-winning Reel Grrls program, each girl will learn every aspect of videomaking.
Practicing everything from storyboarding to editing, the group will develop the skills needed to create a 15-minute educational video of their own design. "Breaking the Silence" girls will be able to broadly communicate their knowledge, fears, ideas, and hopes for addressing the AIDS pandemic -- and make a provocative and powerful statement about gender, poverty, and AIDS in the Caribbean.
Of course, the power of media is that it can be used as an awareness-raising tool. The completed "Breaking the Silence" video will be distributed to thousands of viewers in classrooms, health centers, television broadcast audiences, and video festivals both regionally and across the globe. Because these messages are created directly by the girls, the video will speak directly and powerfully to those most at-risk for contracting HIV/AIDS.
And as Marva Edwards of the Red Cross says:
"For the girls to realize, 'Hey, but I'm one of the very first St. Lucian females to actually handle the camera, to do the videotaping, do the editing, and put a video out in the world' -- that is another kind of power we can give these girls, a power that boosts up their self-esteem and gives them independence."
The "Breaking the Silence" program is slated to begin in July 2003, so we are busily fundraising over the next few months. We are applying for grants through various foundations, we are throwing all kinds of fundraising parties, and we are accepting cash and equipment donations. These efforts will ensure that there are professional staff supporting the girls, that there is appropriate equipment available for video production, that the video is widely distributed, and that there is an evaluation process in place so that the "Breaking the Silence" program can become a model for similar projects throughout the region.
In the end, our hope is that the "Breaking the Silence" girls will face their future with the protection of education, the practical training of video production, and the power of voice.
:: Fiona Otway
Seattle, Washington
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