An initiative called Stay Alive that teaches children throughout Africa to understand choices and consequences has been credited with eradicating teenage pregnancy at a high school in Kenya .  The five-year program targets children ages 9 to 14 to teach them about HIV/AIDS and how to make smart choices before they become sexually active.

Now, the Asayo’s Wish Foundation is partnering with the Trivani Foundation and United Families International to implement the Stay Alive program at the Children’s Village Orphanage for the 300 children who eat meals there.  The program will also be extended to Kaberamaido’s school district.

“Kaberamaido has [AIDS service organizations], but they usually work with the adults and people who are already infected,” said Sarah Asayo, co-founder of the Asayo’s Wish Foundation.  “Stay Alive is educating healthy people before they contract AIDS.  They put their roots in an area until they see some change, and I like that.  It sounds like something that can really help the community and the children.”

Researchers have credited the program with empowering children to understand that they have choices and their choices have consequences, some permanent.  According to Stay Alive’s website, more than half of children in one study expressed a perceived lack of control before the program.  One year after being taught the Stay Alive Program, children demonstrated a statistically significant improvement in describing the concepts of choice and were able to give examples of good and bad choices.  In addition, parents showed an improved level of communication with their children about sexual matters and HIV/AIDS.

In Kaberamaido, four headmasters, 28 teachers, and four matrons will be taught to administer Stay Alive, and each will have training capabilities to pass on this skill.  “It’s a highly sustainable project,” said Megan McMillan, Director of the Trivani Foundation.  “It has a huge success rate in other countries.  It’s very low cost.  Buying materials for schools is fairly inexpensive and the training is free, so it’s kind of a no-brainer.”

For more information about the Stay Alive program, see http://www.stayalive.org.