Buds of Christ

Community youth training: The second training for the community youth volunteers was conducted in September and in this training the young people shared the challenges that they had experienced in organizing meetings in the villages, especially among the young boys. They were also trained with the new sessions on communication and base line research process to identify the problems prevailing in the community. Community youth are young people who are selected from the 4 villages where health and HIV programmes were conducted last year. These young people are people who have committed to take the learning to new villages in the neighborhood and with their support 8 new villages have been initiated this year.

This year World AIDS day themed “Lights for Rights”, was commemorated by Vetri Kootam (young children –advocacy group) with the support of Buds of Christ. It was organised in three villages and was unique as it was a partnership programme between the vetri kootam and community children in commemorating this day. In a village near Velakoundanpatti, the village community center (Anganwadi) was used to conduct the World AIDS day on 8th December 2010 .The group enacted  a small skit depicting, how a youngster can be easily influenced by peers and become vulnerable to HIV. The play also depicted the need to have the right information and being safe. Following the street-play, one representative organised a quiz competition and there was an awesome response. In Tiruchengode Rural area, the Vetrikootam members organised an event commemorating the World AIDS day on 11th December 2010 in taking a pledge that awareness will be created widely and also ensure new youngsters are n...