During 2022, ACET Nigeria has been expanding its relationships and sex education program, training teams at children's homes to run Esteem Clubs for the young people in their care.
An expansion of their successful, tested model of running Esteem Clubs for teenagers in schools and churches, the project aims to reach the most vulnerable children in society, those who have lost their parents and communities.
Since the initial training of staff from 10 Children’s Homes earlier this year, 8 Esteem Clubs have been created in the homes, all of which have been welcomed enthusiastically by the Association of Orphanage Homes in Nigeria.
The children themselves have been excited, look forward to club days, and their participation in club activities has helped them open up to the facilitators. With the introduction of the Esteem Club manual, the facilitators have a wealth of activities to engage the children.
Younger children in the orphanages have also been keen to join in, so ACET Nigeria now plans to train more orphanage staff to run Children’s Clubs so that they can provide age-appropriate relationships and sex education and life skills sessions for the children aged 12 years old and younger.
"We have a lot of children in the North Central who have been displaced by ethno-religious crisis and, they didn’t choose it, but they found themselves in orphanages. They have lost their communities, they have lost their parents, they have lost their identity. Some of them are filled with grief, anger, unforgiveness, pain and trauma. This training has opened our mind to so many things we can do with these young people, looking at the peer pressure and the kind of lies they hear from their pressure groups. We need to equip them to be their own individuals. The training has been very broad, on self esteem, sexual health, teenage pregnancy and all that the adolescents actually go through on a daily basis. I know that we are all leaving the training better informed and better prepared, because we now know the right language, the right tone, the right techniques, the right approach." Children’s Home staff
HIV testing and education
Nigeria continues to face the devastating consequences of having the 2nd largest HIV pandemic in the world.
Children and young people have been significantly impacted by this, as there are a shocking 220,000 children (14 years old and younger), and 240,000 adolescents (between the ages of 10 and 19) currently living with HIV.
Consequently, more than 47 Nigerian children and adolescents die EVERY DAY from AIDS-related causes.
The pandemic has also created a large population of orphans and vulnerable children, with 1 million children orphaned by AIDS each year.
Because of this high HIV burden, ACET Nigeria's HIV prevention services are really vital.
The ACET project team provides HIV and AIDS education, counselling and testing for HIV, as well as hepatitis B and malaria. In a year, they reach 5,000 of the most vulnerable people in Abuja, Benue, Kogi, Nassarawa and Plateau States.
Based on past testing, it is estimated that at least 2% of these 5,000 (100 people) will test positive for HIV and so will receive support in accessing antiretroviral treatment and further counselling.
Fundraise for Nigeria!
The Big Give Christmas Challenge 2022 will take place from noon on Tues 29th November to noon on Tues 6th December. During this week, donations to our work will be doubled! This year we will be fundraising for ACET Nigeria’s work with children.
It would be amazing if you could run a fundraising event during the week, in exchange for your friends and family making a donation in the Big Give - to take advantage of this chance to get their gift matched!
It could be a coffee morning, a quiz, a sponsored challenge - whatever is your cup of tea (or coffee)! Drop us a line at info@acet-uk.com for our help.