The wonderful talk on HIV/AIDS

It started off as a usual day for us but with excitement in the air. Mr. Suraain arrived to give a talk on how is HIV/AIDS is transmitted and a lot of many other useful information. The students were very excited especially Arjun Krishnakumar and Tharmelinggem from 2 Amanah. Even some of our school's infamous students who were at the talk listened attentively. The students and teachers were listening with all ears. It was indeed an interesting talk.

Mr. Suraain is a volunteer from the Malaysian AIDS council. He has been with them for four to five years. He first set foot in this non-goverment organization when he was 19 .

We set up a booth to sell our merchandise such as books, handmade brooches and badges. We also distributed free AIDS ribbons that were handmade by the group members and volunteers. This was done to raise awareness among the school students as the slogan goes "Wear a Red Ribbon - Help Us Win This Battle." The main target of this talk and distribution of ribbons were the teenagers as there were a drastic increase in the cases reported involving teenagers aged 14 to 16 years old.

The talk started off with a brief introduction from the Project Leader of Youth Advocates of AIDS Awareness and Volunteering Services to the Community, Hong Kah Mun and volunteer, Alysha. The rowdy bunch of Form 2 and Form 3 students started to quiet down. The speaker, Mr Suraain was not what everyone expected him to be. His tall and lanky frame caught everyone's attention. He introduced the topic, AIDS by asking us about our general knowledge on HIV/AIDS. Only then did the students realise what they actually knew barely scratched the surface. He showed the students a few interesting and intellectual slides.He did not used technical and scientific terms that would cause confusion among the students. Instead, he kept the presentation simple yet imformative.

During the talk, we learned about how this virus could be contracted and how it destroys our immune system. Mr Suraain even had a short sketch about how HIV/AIDS attacks our immune system with the participation of some students. The participants were later given a complimentary gift which is a book on the experiences of AIDS patients. He also threw in a few interesting facts and corrected some common misconceptions about HIV/AIDS. After that, he quizzed the students on what he had presented. The students were eager and anxious to answer his questions as he had generously prepared some prizes for them.

He also showed us a short video clip that he had extracted from Channel [V]. It was about the public's opinion on HIV/AIDS and it was found that many Malaysians are ignorant about these subjects and had considered it as a sensitive topic. It was clear that Malaysians were narrow-minded about sex education and safe sex. After the talk, the students had a new perspective about this deadly virus.

Lastly, a token of appreciation was given to Mr. Suraain for his precious time spent on creating awareness among secondary school students. His effort was much appreciated. Thank you Mr. Suraain.

Pamphlets supplied by the Malaysian AIDS Foundation or Malaysian AIDS Council were distributed by our members and a group of volunteers.