a1602: Teens talk to teens about controlling AIDS (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Posted on Thu, Mar. 21, 2002

OVERTOWN
Teens talk to teens about controlling AIDS
BY MARC MATHIEU
Special to The Herald

Geraldine Pierre and Veronica Phillips readily admit that they are not in
the most popular club at school. They are members of Miami Central High's
Rocket AIDS Awareness Program, a peer advisory group to teach AIDS
prevention to high school students.

Peer advisors must complete four hours of training that emphasize how the
HIV virus is transmitted and what methods are effective in discussing safe
sex with their peers. Geraldine and Veronica say most teens would rather
talk about fashion, music and relationships. But, they believe, their
message of abstinence and safe sex is having an impact at school.

''It's encouraging to see how many people are getting involved,'' said
Geraldine, president of the group. ``My aunt died of AIDS, so it's personal
for me.''

Teens have to ''think differently,'' Veronica said. ``We have to know what
our partners are doing, because our lives are on the line.''

The AIDS Awareness Program is administered by the speaker bureau program of
Miami-Dade Public Schools and sponsored by the Florida Department of Health

Geraldine, Veronica and some 60 students of Miami Central High, William H.
Turner Technical Arts High and Coral Reef High discussed ways to stem the
spread of AIDS among teens as part of an Empowering Youth forum held
Saturday at the James L. Knight Center in downtown Miami.

The session formed part of the second annual Empowering You! conference
sponsored by the Miami-Dade HIV Partnership.

Mark Trimmings, who helped organize the conference, said more attention must
be focused on teenagers, because they sometimes don't realize the
seriousness of the HIV virus.

''One of the things about youth is that they have a not-me perception. They
view the AIDS epidemic as they see it, not as it is. We need more open
dialogues so that they can ask questions and get answers,'' he said.

Trimmings said he was a member of a committee that persuaded the school
district to establish the speaker bureau in 1995 to give youth a forum to
discuss sex.

''They speak the same language,'' he said. ``When we speak to them, they
might think we're lecturing them.''

Turner Tech junior Grechen Gutierrez agrees.

''We're more comfortable speaking with each other about sex,'' she said.
``It's just a teen thing. We have our own language.''

Turner Tech has 12 peer advisors in its program. For AIDS World Day, they
created a quilt for relatives and friends who have died of AIDS.

Most of the students at the forum said peer pressure remained their biggest
challenge. Parents could help their children cope with such pressure by
talking to them, said Emmanuel Hilaire. His primary focus, he said, is
Haitians.

According to Miami-Dade's Office and Management Budget Title I Program,
Haitians account for 12 percent of HIV/AIDS cases in the county, even though
they are less than 5 percent of the population.

The reluctance of Haitian parents to discuss AIDS and sex is cultural and
has devastating results, Hilaire said.

''Haitian parents are afraid to talk about sex because they think if they
talk about it, they are condoning it,'' he said. ``Sometimes, they're
embarrassed; sometimes, they just don't know what to say. Both parents and
children need to be educated about it [AIDS].''

The youths also heard from John Muhammad, chairman-elect of the Miami-Dade
HIV Partnership, formerly known as the HIV Council, which was formed in 1998
by several community groups to lobby for people with HIV or AIDS.

Muhammad, who has HIV, told the teens his story as both a warning to those
engaging in risky behavior and as encouragement to those who have AIDS. He
said he contracted the disease in the U.S. Virgin Islands in 1987, at a time
when it was not discussed much. He said he could have avoided it if he had
been more careful.

''My message to you is to change your lifestyle if you are taking risks,''
Muhammad told the youths. ``You are not invulnerable. Don't let your guard
down because you think those new wonder drugs will protect you from AIDS or
cure you. They won't.''

But having AIDS is not an automatic death sentence, Muhammad said.

''You can survive it, you can live with it and you can thrive despite it,''
he said.



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