Breaking the Silence - Caribbean

Breaking the Silence is a free, out-of school workshop series designed around the idea that knowledge is power. The combination of media arts and HIV/AIDS prevention education is meant to help teenage girls in the Caribbean overcome poverty, develop autonomy, fight for their rights as women, and take concrete action to support the well-being of their families and neighbours. The programme uses a face-to-face capacity-building approach to empower these young women with:

• facts and resources for HIV prevention
• self-esteem and values awareness
• experience with creative self-expression and critical thinking
• peer leadership training
• vocational skills and teamwork practice

Specifically, as part of the pilot programme, 13 teenage girls were trained in use of video production and editing equipment over the course of 6 weeks. Participants explored various aspects of videomaking, including media literacy, collective brainstorming, idea development, scripting, storyboarding, analysing images, directing, shooting, and non-linear editing. Through this process, the girls created a 30-minute HIV-intervention video addressed to their peers. The video focusses on teaching youth how to respond to peer pressure and recognise risk factors for HIV so that they might decide for themselves the terms on which they make sexual choices. It also highlights the intersections between poverty, gender, and HIV/AIDS.

This video has been broadcast on major television networks in St. Lucia (where the pilot project took place), and has also been screened in other countries. For instance, it was screened in Seattle, USA in celebration of World AIDS Day 2003. The video is also circulated through schools and community health networks on the island and throughout the Caribbean. The purpose of the video is to stimulate dialogue; organisers hold that when girls learn how to have an open dialogue about sexuality, they develop self-confidence, strengthen relationship skills, and increase their knowledge of sexual health.

In addition, each participant uses his or her own copy of the video in ongoing peer leadership presentations. To prepare the girls for this activity, interactive exercises with health education professionals stress facts about HIV/AIDS and practical prevention strategies. Ongoing peer leadership training is designed to give the girls skills and confidence in passing on their new knowledge to others.

Organisers explain that the Caribbean is the most AIDS-infected region in the world outside of Africa; AIDS is now the leading cause of death for all youth in the Caribbean. Girls are the hardest-hit demographic. A UNICEF study shows that 2 out of 3 sexually active girls in the Caribbean think they have no risk of contracting HIV/AIDS. In the Caribbean, girls are 7 times more likely to contract HIV than boys the same age (UNICEF).

"I joined the program to help spread knowledge about HIV/AIDS," says Camilia George of St. Joseph's Convent Secondary School. "I learned a lot more than I bargained for. I learned how to relate to people, how to express my feelings, and how to deal with people. I also learned how to use a video camera and how to interview people..."