Today, as part of the “Bridging the Gaps” program in Kyrgyzstan, AFEW and Dance4Life are successfully implementing the “Journey4Life Plus” initiative for youth. The goal of the program is to support young people and improve their access to sexual and reproductive health, HIV and drug services.
Adele Omorova (21) is one of the Dance4life champions. She told AFEW International how the project changed her life and how her knowledge influences her generation.
How did you come to the Dance4life project?
Once I was told about a great opportunity to be part of the Dance4Life project. I saw bright, interesting photos and videos and became very enthusiastic about that. So, I applied and was waiting for an answer. At first I thought I didn’t pass, but later I was informed that I am in the project. I was very happy!
After the selection, we started to go through training sessions, where we were taught how to work properly as facilitators: how to conduct meetings, Dance4Life travels, how to establish contacts with the participants.
What does it mean for you to be a champion of Dance4life?
For me, being a leader means taking responsibility for yourself and the people around me. To be a Dance4Life Champion, in turn, means sharing your knowledge about Sexually Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR), benefiting society and changing people’s minds. We try to overcome stigma, teach people to accept sexual health as something normal and not be ashamed of questions. I can confidently say that guys change after each of our meetings and all our efforts are worth something.
What the participation in this project gave to you?
This project taught me how to work in a team. We train in pairs, when you just start this kind of activity, all the time you have to think about the fact that you and the co-coach are a team. We both support each other all the time, we plan, we make arrangements. We learn to respect each other’s opinions and ideas.
What I like most about the project is the feedback that we give to each other. We get together and share what we do and what we need help with. We give advice, suggest ideas on how to improve sessions with our own experience.
How does the project help you in life?
You know, I met some friends on this project. Now I am completely immersed in our travels and studies, so I spend almost all my free time in the walls of the Youth Center. The champions have become a big part of my life and now it is very important for me to have them there. In the south of the country, it was very difficult to talk about the Sexually transmitted infections (STIs), I was told: “Ouch! Uyatyn jokpu?” (Hey, do you have no conscience at all?) Now it’s easier for me, because Champions guide and support each other in all endeavors.
Dance4life aims to work with young people to develop leadership and maintain reproductive health, prevent HIV and sexually transmitted infections. How do you feel about these topics in your environment?
Once at university I started talking to friends about SRHR and found out that many people did not know anything about reproductive health. I started asking them leading questions to make it easier for them to understand what it was. Then I shared with them my knowledge about contraception, STIs, and I saw that they were interested in these topics. In the past, some classmates were negative about these discussions, but now they agree on what they need to know about their reproductive rights.
The main barrier you face?
We Champions fight against stigma in society and also educate our generation. We have faced the fact that youth doesn’t know enough about HIV and therefore believes that there are bananas with HIV. They may worry about that somebody can add blood to bananas, and that is very dangerous. After our sessions, we see how the attitude towards HIV is changing, how the worldview of the participants is changing.
