Themes for the 2003/04 HIV/AIDS Campaign
The Steering Committee agreed that there should be four themes woven into the activities of the HIV/AIDS Education Campaign in 2003/04. These themes addressed international initiatives and also included the need to address issues related to stigma and discrimination. The four themes were linked around the theme of stopping HIV/AIDS:
- Abstain
- Be faithful to one partner
- Wear a condom every time
- Respect people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA)
HIV/AIDS Fund-raising/Awareness-raising Car Wash, June 2003
As its initial activity,
the Organising Sub-Committee mounted a car wash, in which many members of
the UTech staff participated, either by washing cars or having their cars
washed. The Sub-Committee partnered with Supreme Ventures, who provided T-shirts
for the car washing team.
Graffiti Competition, October 2003
As part of the major HIV and AIDS education initiative in 2003, the Steering Committee mounted a University-wide competition to develop graffiti messages on the zinc fencing surrounding a construction project on the campus adjacent to the Caribbean Sculpture Park, where the first HIV and AIDS exhibition was scheduled to be held in late October 2003.
The Graffiti Competition challenged staff and students alike to develop positive messages related to HIV prevention, consistent condom use and caring for persons living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHA), incorporating the four themes guiding the HIV/AIDS education programme for the year at the University.
The competition attracted 134 entrants working in teams ranging in size from 2 to 14 persons and resulted in 20 extremely impressive pieces of graffiti art. One entry was done by the University of the West Indies HIV/AIDS Response Programme (UWI HARP) at the invitation of the UTech Steering Committee.
An external panel of experts consisting of a professional artist who uses graffiti in her work, a member of staff from the Edna Manley School of the Visual and Performing Arts, and a practising graphic artist judged the entries using criteria that had been developed for that purpose.
Berger Paints Ltd. and Sherman Williams Jamaica Ltd. provided support for the Graffiti competition by sponsoring entries in the competition and providing paint for the entrants. The Ministry of Health HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Project's HIV/AIDS Demand-Driven Sub-Project (HADDS) contributed brushes and other materials for the entrants.
Digicel as a major partner for the Graffiti Competition and the HIV and AIDS Awareness Day supported the competition by providing a name plate for each entry and a telephone number which visitors to the HAAD could use during the event to vote for their favourite entry. The visitors' votes were calculated and combined with the judges' scores in determining the winners of the competition.
The entries were so impressive that instead of identifying three winners, the judges also identified an entry for Honourable Mention. The visitors' favourite entry also received recognition and a prize.
The President of UTech awarded the prizes at a special presentation on World AIDS Day, December 1, 2003.
Graffiti Competition - winning entries
Following is a list of the winning entries
First Prize: "Condom
Man" submitted by Marven Myers (team leader), Rory-Leif McPherson, and Linton
Calder, School of Computing and Information Technology
Second Prize: "Compassion
AIDS Unity" submitted by Lori McIntosh (Team Leader), Sheldon Ricketts and
Jeremy McGhie, Caribbean School of Architecture
Third
Prize: "Be Responsible, Walk Away" submitted by Robert Williams (team leader),
Lasandra Lee, and Jerron Britton, School of Hospitality and Tourism Management
Honourable
Mention: "Crossworld" submitted by Matthew Walker (team leader), Giovanni
Smith, Lauren Dash, Shawn Archer, and Adrian Price, Caribbean School of Architecture
Visitors'
Choice: "HIV/AIDS on the Road of Life", submitted by Elvis Byfield (team leader),
Ricardo Hewitt, Andre Smith, Davio Robinson, Daniel Marto, Phil Rodriques,
Toni Lee Lewin, and Martin Barrett, School of Building and Land Management.
The UNESCO Office for the Caribbean, seeing the potential for replicating the project elsewhere in the world, supported the development of a CD-ROM documenting the process and results of the competition. Vilcomm International developed the CD-ROM, the text of which was written by the HIV and AIDS Steering Committee, and produced by the Steering Committee and the UNESCO Education and HIV/AIDS Specialists. A copy of the CD-ROM is available free on request from UNESCO (contact m.mizuno@unesco.org).
The competition has been promoted both regionally and internationally through the CD-ROM, a conference presentation at the UNICA Conference in Trinidad in November 2003, an article in Caribbean Quarterly and the UNESCO HIV/AIDS newsletter. The Graffiti Wall was also recognised by The Gleaner newspaper in its 2003 list of achievements, and continues to be the subject of numerous enquiries at the University. At the XV International AIDS Congress 2004 in Bangkok, the CD-ROM was distributed widely through the UNESCO booth at the Congress.
Following the HIV/AIDS Awareness Day and the conclusion of the 2003 HIV/AIDS education activities, the Graffiti Wall remained on display until the construction was completed and the zinc fence was dismantled in late January 2004.
Several secondary schools brought students to see the Graffiti Wall after the competition was over.
Although the Graffiti Wall has been dismantled, pictorial records of the Graffiti Wall and images of the entries remain with the University. The copyright of the graffiti entries belongs to UTech. For permission to use the visuals of the graffiti entries and associated copyright fees, please contact ocde@utech.edu.jm.
The Inaugural HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (HAAD) 2003
The Inaugural HIV/AIDS Awareness Day was held on October 30, 2003 in the Sculpture Park of the University. The Honourable John Junor, Minister of Health, opened the event.
Twenty-four exhibitors from the UTech faculties, the University of the West Indies HIV/AIDS Response Programme (UWI HARP), government Ministries, international agencies, the private sector and NGOs involved in the fight against HIV/AIDS mounted exhibits displaying their activities in the fight against the disease.
A highlight of the HAAD was the Caribbean Launch of the UNESCO "World Youth Debate" CD-ROM, which documents a week-long series of international videoconferences in which young people from 52 countries around the world explored their greatest concerns and challenges related to the fight against HIV/AIDS. The World Bank Institute's Global Development Learning Centres around the world recorded the World Youth Debate in five languages during the week leading up to World AIDS Day in 2002. These discussions were edited into a 45-minute CD-ROM that has been translated into five languages and distributed throughout the world. Copies of the World Youth Debate are available through the UNESCO Office for the Caribbean, by e-mailing m.mizuno@unesco.org, or by e-mailing UNESCO Paris s.detzel@unesco.org. The afternoon ended with the ASHE Troup's performance of "Vibes", the HIV/AIDS edutainment targeted to youth, which was mounted in the Alfred Sangster Auditorium. Victoria Mutual Building Society provided the funding for the performance.
Support for the Inaugural HAAD was provided by Digicel, Jamaica Money Market Brokers, Scotiabank Jamaica, and Capital and Credit Merchant Bank, Victoria Mutual Building Society and a cross-section of private donors.
"Project Smiles"
Under the leadership of the Care and Comfort Sub-Committee of the HIV/AIDS Steering Committee, the University participated in the Jamaica AIDS Support's collection of toys, clothes and food items for distribution to persons living with HIV and AIDS in December 2003.
The University-wide collection was highly successful, resulting in 15 boxes of toys and goods being delivered to Jamaica AIDS support, including items as diverse as teddy bears, new children's clothes, board games, a variety of food items, staples - and even a tricycle!
Ministry of Health Condom Machine Research Project
In early 2004, the HIV and AIDS Steering Committee and the Academic Board agreed to participate in the Ministry of Health's Condom Machine Research Project.
The Ministry was interested in learning how clients would respond to making condoms available through condom machines at tertiary institutions, hotels and entertainment establishments. UTech was the very first institution to join the research project and mount a condom machine on its campus.
The first condom machine in the research project - and in Jamaica - was located outside Farquharson Hall, the University's cafeteria, near two of the men's dormitories. The Official Launch of the condom machine's operation was held on March 18, 2004.
At the launch, Dr. Peter Figueroa, Chief Epidemiologist at the Ministry of Health, emphasised the importance of consistent condom use for those who were sexually active in the University community, and noted the value of having condoms available through a condom machine, since a machine had no closing hours and could not be perceived as being judgemental about who was using it.
He also encouraged every faculty at the University to infuse information about HIV and AIDS into their curricula, since there is no facet of society that is not potentially threatened by the pandemic.
A second condom machine was installed in the quadrangle between the School of Business Administration, the School of Building and Land Management and the Faculty of Health and Applied Sciences in October 2004. Monthly reports on condom purchases from the two machines indicate that the machines are very actively used during the semester.
An attitudinal survey on condom machines and condom acquisition conducted at the second annual HAAD in November 2004 indicated that respondents felt that the machines should remain on the campus.