GRS Ethiopia June 2014 | Page 7

Impact on Community

“The oldest participant from my first intervention came to me after the program and shook my hand and thanked me for bringing this program to his small town. When I go out to a café for coffee I can over hear people say "here comes Ronny, he is teaching HIV at the soccer field."

“My official health office counterpart wanted to attend the graduation ceremony. He also coordinated with the town's publicity office to bring one of the town's cameramen to the final sessions and graduation. We all gave speeches, including one male and one female student, and he also recorded a bunch of candid footage. Hopefully they will turn this into something useful to share with the community. Anyway, my GRS counterpart and HO counterpart were both happy to see the rewards of their hard work.”

“My counterpart really loved GRS. She said that even herself she learned a lot she did not know about HIV/AIDS. She also said it was great to work with the girls outside of school in such a fun way.”

”I would say GRS has been one of the best things I have done in my site so far during my PC service. It was so fun to get the girls involved in a project and teach them something so important. It was great to see them learn so much. Overall it was just a great experience.”

Impact on Participants

“As usual, youth participants loved GRS. They were always attentive, supportive, fun, and enthusiastic. You could spot the leaders among them as they took turns answering questions, leading energizers, and helping my counterpart and I with other logistical tasks. They were fantastic participants!”

“The youth absolutely loved the training. They were attentive and also extremely intelligent. I know they were engaged and interested because many of the students would seek me out after the training to ask questions and discuss topics from the sessions”

“After every post-quiz I give I always do "take a stand" with a personal question; "the GRS program is necessary for the students of Anbesame." (Anbesame is the name of the town where I live) All students agree that it is, and that is why I continue to do the program”

“Most of the girls said they really enjoyed the program and learned a lot. Several of them even asked if they could help during the next intervention and maybe recruit some students themselves. Every girl except for one came to every practice which was fantastic to see.”

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