presentation at the dar chebab for World AIDS Day

On December 1st we had a presentation/discussion on AIDS (or SIDA as it's known by its French acronym). A cool thing about this was that a lot of it was run by the students themselves in addition to several adult participants. Three of the students presented facts on AIDS including a definition, transmission, prevention, and treatment. My students who came to summer camp and participated in AIDS activities there used that experience to help here. We did an activity (the one with red and clear water in cups) to demonstrate how HIV/AIDS spreads and to show the effectiveness of preventative measures. Everyone also took home a rather good and simple brochure explaining all these things with illustrations and written in Arabic and French as well as information on how and where to get a free anonymous HIV/AIDS test. The hope is that they will share their knowledge with friends and family. After the presentation there was a question and answer session that turned into a discussion/debate on many related (and controversial) issues. It was interesting trying to follow it as it went between Darija (Moroccan Arabic), FossHa (Standard Arabic), Tamazight (the local language), as well as the occasional French and English thrown in.