So, because HIV & AIDS is such a devastating problem here, Temwa's health education programmes have focused on HIV & AIDS education. So far, our diverse range of programmes have targeted many different groups within the communities of northern Malawi.

• HIV & AIDS Awareness
• Peer Education and AIDS Action Clubs
• Positive Living Training
• HIV & AIDS Awareness Films/Mobile Video Shows
• Mobile Voluntary Counselling and Testing

HIV & AIDS Awareness

Temwa's first project involved acquiring a television, video player and generator, as well as books and videos about HIV & AIDS prevention. Using this equipment we host video events at the community centre in Usisya, where popular films are shown alongside educational videos on HIV & AIDS prevention. We have also run a number of mobile video sessions within the wider population of Usisya.

The second HIV & AIDS initiative is the Stepping Stones programme. This was designed specifically for people in sub-Saharan Africa, and is based on a participatory approach to learning. A newly trained group of facilitators will continue to teach the local population about safer sex, relationships and life skills.

With funding from Bottletop Temwa has been able to run four HIV & AIDS educational workshops and coordinate the formation of a group of people openly living with HIV & AIDS (PLWHA). This is with support from the NAPHAM Group in Nkhata Bay who encourage the population of Usisya to be tested for HIV & AIDS and to be open about their status. 

We have also organised a community centre open-day which is focused on HIV & AIDS. This funding also covered a member of staff to coordinate these activities. The programmes that this grant will fund include a Knowledge, Attitudes and Practise (KAP) survey, and Peer Education and Behavioural Change Intervention courses.

The majority of these activities have all taken place in very remote regions of Usisya, bringing knowledge to people who have not previously been exposed to detailed HIV & AIDS information. These communities have also not had any previous contact with any other charities.

Peer Education

Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are a growing problem in the Nkhata Bay district, with HIV affecting a significant proportion of the population. Young sexually active people are particularly vulnerable to infection because they lack access to youth focused sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services and information.

This project aims to provide young people with the information that they need to avoid STIs and to encourage the uptake of voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) services. Temwa trains peer educators who can then go on to educate their contemporaries in their local area. The training covers issues such as communication, relationships, assertiveness and gender stereotypes.

Ultimately we would like reduce the incidence of STIs (including HIV & AIDS) amongst people between the ages of 15-24 in the Nkhata Bay district. This age group accounts for 10% of the country's population and is important to educate them because this is the age range which is becoming sexually active.

Objectives include:

• Improving young people’s knowledge of sexual and reproductive health (SRH)
• Increasing VCT attendance among females and males aged 15-24
• Training 9 young females and 9 young males as peer educators in partnership with the District Assembly
• Increasing condom use among males and females aged 15-24

When the project began in 2008, Temwa placed peer educators in 15 schools in the region. This expanded to 25 schools in 2011.

AIDS Action Clubs

This poses a danger to the next generation in the age range of 5 – 12 years which has a comparatively low prevalence rate of only 1%. If there are no significant changes in knowledge, attitudes and practices in our communities amongst the upcoming generation then these children will be wiped out by this pandemic.

The pre-adolescent population in Malawi offers a "window of hope" for containing the spread of HIV & AIDS. If we can catch these children before they are sexually active then they will be adequately empowered to make informed judgements and decisions on matters affecting their sexual and reproductive health.

In light of this, Temwa has established HIV & AIDS Action Clubs (AACs) in primary and secondary schools in the Nkhata Bay North region. These provide health education, income-generating activities for orphans and vulnerable children, sport/gaming activities, advocacy and support for youth. The objective of AACs is to help adolescents prepare to take responsibility for their own sexual and reproductive health in the fight against HIV & AIDS.

Using music, drama, dance and other creative expression, the AACs provide an innovative means for young people to learn how to protect themselves. The clubs also aim to provide hundreds of orphans and vulnerable children with school fees through their income projects, and to encourage students who have dropped out to return to school.

Temwa has established AACs in 25 primary schools and 5 secondary schools in the region. This project is funded by an anonymous corporate donor and Bottletop.

Temwa runs a 10 day training course on positive living. This course is given by trained facilitators (themselves HIV positive) and offers the participants the skills and information they need to live longer, healthier lives. Participants learn about nutrition, basic healthcare for opportunistic and common infections, communication skills and the facts about HIV infection. We hope this information will help to give people living with HIV & AIDS (PLWHA) the confidence to be open about their status.

The formation of the PLWHA group has been facilitated and supported by members of NAPHAM (National Association of People Living with HIV & AIDS in Malawi) who have visited from Nkhata Bay. The NAPHAM office there provides positive living training and sends two facilitators to carry out this training for Temwa.

Both films have received a very positive response because they are the first films of their kind to be made in Chitumbuka. We believe they will have a very positive impact in Usisya and beyond. It is incredibly exciting for the community to have something in their own language. They are more likely to attend – and to listen attentively – not just because they will understand the information better, but also because they are tremendously proud of their own culture and identity.

Temwa's Malawian staff regularly transport a television, DVD player and generator to the remote villages of the region to show these films. To date, these shows have reached over 3000 people in the area.

The language is spoken by some 2 million people in total, including many in Zambia and Tanzania and because of this Temwa has started distributing these films to other organisations that may be interested in using them in an HIV & AIDS awareness context.

Since February 2009, Temwa has provided an extensive HIV & AIDS Mobile Counselling and Testing (MVCT) project throughout the region. The MVCT clinics aim to reduce the spread of HIV and improve the health of those people living with HIV & AIDS.

In the first phase of the project, we aimed to test 200 people in the region and instead tested over 1000. By March 2011, we had tested over 3000 people. In phase three, which began in April 2011, we tested 6000 people.

This is a huge step forward for the people of Nkhata Bay North because 11,000 people live over an hour's walk from the only VCT clinic in Usisya, with some people living up to nine hours away. Mobile VCT clinics are something Temwa has been asked to provide by various communities in the area and we are very happy to now be in a position to deliver them. Many thanks to T & J Meyer Family Foundation for funding this project.