This is a Tanzania Program and Our program focus on teaching and raising awareness to community members and school children on how to protect them from HIV and how to care for those who are already infected by AIDS.

As a volunteer under Amani Hostel you will be living with a host Tanzania family for the duration of the program time as your main work tasks under HIV/AIDS Program will be dealing with and running awareness campaigns within your target community, school, orphanages, and other learning institutions as most of your time will be spent teaching, lesson planning and training peer educators, although you will likely also involved in community assessment work within your village.

Peer-to-peer learning has proven to be an effective model for behavior change communication among adolescent people in African countries and peer education is a particularly powerful method for reaching youths, Amani Hostel’s peer education program targets both government and private primary and secondary schools. Peer Educators are nominated and elected by teachers and fellow students, and they are among the brightest, most outing students in their grade.

Each peer educator program begins during an awareness campaign in the Program area. Volunteers and program officers provide training for peer leaders and a three-day seminar for peer education teachers. Amani Hostel and the field officers maintain a continuing relationship with schools and different community projects stakeholders, helping peer educators to organize special events such as PE Days, exchange learning visits, and competitions within and among schools.

 Using dynamic education techniques such as songs, dramas, debates and poetry these students engage other youths and encourage them to think critically so that they can choose behaviors that lower their risk of getting HIV/Aids. Empowered with life skills and education techniques, the peer educators can lead the way to a world without AIDS.

This requires that we teach the basic biological facts about the virus, the progression of the disease in the body, the primary modes of transmission, and the most effective methods of prevention. While teaching, we encourage students and community members to share with us what they had already knew about HIV/AIDS. This allows us to assess their knowledge of HIV/AIDS and design an appropriate workshop. In the end, the goal is to give the audience the tools that they need to make informed decisions. Our main point is to help African Youth to think rationally about HIV& AIDS and determine for themselves if what they are hearing is true.

Amani Hostel participants use different methods to get our message across including games, role play, lectures, question and answer sessions, music, and skits. To convey basic information, an introductory talk is often necessary Participants should also be aware that many Tanzanians already know basic information about HIV/AIDS. It is imperative that Amani Hostel participants try to find out the knowledge base of the focus group.

Volunteers will have the opportunity to help develop extracurricular activities in schools and groups including sports, drama, music, poetry, dance, and other activities which can be utilized to build relationships with youth.