AIDS Education and Schooling for Girls in Mozambique

According to reports issued by the United Nations , one out of every three sexually active adults in Mozambique is HIV positive, as are many children of HIV infected parents. Girls who stay in school are more likely to delay marriage and motherhood. This reduces the spread of AIDS and slows the rate of population growth. In addition, girls who finish upper primary school (sixth and seventh grades) are also more likely to become community leaders, acquire the capability to earn extra money for their families, and see that their children attend school.

The Unitarian Universalists of the Cumberland Valley  (UUCV) in Boiling Springs Pennsylvania are partnering with the United Church of Canada and the Christian Council of Mozambique to support AIDS education through schooling for girls from rural villages in northern Mozambique. For the past two years, UUCV's Social Action Council has raised "bursary" funds, to support girls so they can attend upper primary school and vocational schools.

The program started with twenty-four girls in 2005 and was expanded to forty-eight girls in 2006. All forty-eight girls have successfully completed their 2006 school year and UUCV plans to raise the funds needed to support six additional students in 2007. The 2007 goal will be $16,200 which will provide $300 for each of the fifty-four girls. The bursary girls range in age from eleven to seventeen. Some will be starting sixth grade while several others who have already completed eighth grade and the first year of a two-year teachers college program will be certified as elementary school teachers when they complete the program this coming year.

The retention rate for the bursary girls is remarkable, especially because these students have had to leave their families to live in government residences while they attend school. One of the major reasons why these young Mozambican villagers are doing so well in school is that they have been identified as good students who have completed the top grade in their villages and are also active participants in one of the after school AIDS prevention clubs initiated by the Christian Council of Mozambique (CCM) for girls who are ten to fourteen years old.

The work of the CCM is supported by the United Church of Canada (UCC), a liberal Christian church that shares many values with Unitarian Universalism, and UUCV is proud to play a small part in helping UCC with the outstanding sustainable development work it has undertaken in Mozambique.

The organizers of the after school AIDS prevention clubs, Karen and Bill Butt, will visit UUCV in early December to lead worship and discuss their work on AIDS prevention and education for girls. In recognition of 2006 World AIDS Day, UUCV will sponsor a free public showing of the Butt's film, "Sanho Nocturno" (Night Dream), a recently released DVD produced in Quelimane, Mozambique. The fifty minute long film uses music and dance to dramatize AIDS awareness in Mozambique and is based in part on Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream." The free public showing will be followed by a discussion with the Butt's.

For further information on the work of the UUCV in fighting global AIDS contact Priscilla Laws .

UUA President and UU Congregations Prepare to Observe World AIDS Day

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