Today 7News not only found children inside the y pool learning how to swim and how to do it safely but inside the YWCA building a much older group of persons were learning about what they can do to help protect their customers against HIV and Aids. Well the Y is taking the awareness message inside barber shops and beauty parlours. The barbershop programme is coordinated by Marcie Martinez and she told 7News that while they had expected a greater number of participants at the first of the two day workshop she remains optimistic that the programme will be effective.
Marcie Martinez,
“We believe that these HIV information can be delivered in those settings because you know when we hear about barbershops and beautiful parlours there are a lot of conversations going on with the barbers and the beauticians and their clients so we came with the idea where we equip these barbershops, these barbers and beauticians when it comes to HIV/Aids and how to deliver these messages to their clients and YWCA in collaboration with the US Ambassador Fund as well as UNFPA they have been the ones funding this program at the YWCA and we believe this is a creative way we should say to deliver the HIV/Aids message.”
The barbershop programme also includes the distribution of free condoms. The participants are only from Belize City. According to the YWCA the pandemic has claimed the lives of twenty five persons in the fourth quarter of 2008 in Belize alone.
