UNITE FOR CHILDREN UNITE AGAINST AIDS

March 1, 2008

Young monks and HIV/AIDS

I was recently invited to attend the first Buddhist life skills training held for young monks in Laos. On the way to the training, I was thinking about the possibilities of expanding the network between newly trained young monks and the Metta Dhamma monk team (a project of the Lao Buddhist fellowship) to scale up community mobilization activities for HIV prevention among young people and to reduce stigma towards people living with HIV.

I arrived at a big temple where the Buddhist College is located. This is one of the Buddhist colleges that train monks to become high school teachers. I think that college is an important entry point for the involvement of young Buddhist monks. An innovative component of the Lao Buddhist Leadership Initiatives has been the development of a Buddhist life skills education programme supported by UNICEF. The life skills programme mobilizes young monks to participate in the response to the AIDS epidemic by teaching Buddhist life skills to students.

When I walked into the room, the training had already started. I saw that the participants wearing orange robes were divided into two big groups of 20. It was an interesting picture to see the young monks sitting in groups on the floor in the corners of the meeting hall. I sat quietly behind one of the group to observe how the training was progressing. I was personally impressed to see that the final year monk students, aged 20 to 25, were actively participating in the lively training. The first group discussed the Buddhist life skills principles with a focus on building psycho-social and emotional competences that young people need to protect themselves. It also discussed promoting student learning and how to use Buddhist principles to cope with issues related to interpersonal relation and self esteem.

I then moved to observe the second group. The group members were divided into four sub-groups. The members were enthusiastically discussing a picture scenario about two young men on their pay day and what they planned to do after work. The participants had spoken openly about the scenario and agreed that young men with money would tend to go drinking, get drunk and engage in risky behavior. This is an issue that many young people in Laos are currently facing and the young monks also acknowledged this problem.

During the coffee break, I chatted with some of the participants about the training. The monks found the experience very useful for them and their work in the communities. One monk told me that he felt very lucky to have the chance to participate in this training. I was glad to hear that he thought the training had helped participants to better understand the importance of the monks’ roles in helping Lao society. Another young monk said he would use the knowledge and skills gained during the four-day training to help his community when he returned to his village in the northern mountainous area.

Coming back from the training, I was satisfied with what I saw, especially with the potential of the faith-based organization. Efforts put in are now showing progress. Further discussion and planning will need to take place with the monks from this project. The project needs to involve more young monks to respond to the rapid changes taking place in Lao society. With more people joining in the fight against HIV and AIDS, I think together we can make a difference.