{"id":2097,"date":"2010-06-23T15:30:04","date_gmt":"2010-06-23T15:30:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.africlub.net\/awdf\/?p=1206"},"modified":"2010-06-23T15:30:04","modified_gmt":"2010-06-23T15:30:04","slug":"peace-augustine-an-hiv-aids-peer-educator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/awdf.org\/OldSite\/peace-augustine-an-hiv-aids-peer-educator\/","title":{"rendered":"Peace Augustine: An HIV & AIDS Peer Educator"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The display of youthful exuberance, intelligence, confidence and beauty attracted me to this young lady sitting in the mist of older ladies and who occasionally would chip in useful information about the organisation\u2019s activities at a meeting with some staff members of Heal the Land Initiative, a grantee of AWDF at Akwa Ibom state in Nigeria. Ms. Peace Augustines is the third of six children born to Mr & Mrs Augustine from Abia States in Nigeria. Peace as she is affectionately called is 21 years old and lost both parents in 2002 to HIV&AIDs.<\/p>\n

Soon after the death of her parents and at a young age of 16, Peace begun to feel the impact of HIV &AIDS as it perpetuates the cycle of poverty. As an orphan from a poor home she and her siblings were thrown out of their parent\u2019s home, she abandoned her education and each one of them had to take care of themselves. The issue of survival becomes very critical here! Peace was lucky enough to have moved into her grandmother\u2019s house, at least there shelter was assured, but then she had to assume a new role as head of the household at the expense of her education. Peace quickly found her survival strategy to raise income for her household\u2019s upkeep; street hawking of pure water in the busy streets of Abia State was her new income generation activity. It was during one of her hawking activities that she was spotted by Ms. Doris Ugwu, the Executive Director of Heal the Land Initiative who also knew about her parents death. Doris, knowing this young lady decided to give her a chance to live a better life. Doris is HIV&AIDS positive and the first to publicly announce her status in Akwa Ibom. Understanding the impact of the disease on families and children especially, Doris decided to seek permission from Peace\u2019s grandmother to allow her to sponsor Peace\u2019s education whilst she continued to live with her grandmother to sit her West African Examination Council (WAEC) papers.<\/p>\n

In 2008, Peace moved to live with Doris in Akwa Ibom State. She has written the joint matriculation examination board and will soon be writing her aptitude test to guarantee her a place in the university. Peace is a very ambitious young lady; she is looking forward to going to the University of Oyo to read psychology. She also dreams of being a philosopher, Peace believes she possesses a wealth of knowledge which she would like to pass on to other people to shape their lives for the better.<\/p>\n

Peace has increased her knowledge on HIV&AIDs through her personal life and also through her engagement with HEAL the Land Initiative where she volunteers her time when she is not in school. Obviously Peace has had huge challenges in life, from her childhood to date; experiencing the suffering and death of her parents and its repercussion on her growing up. She said to me \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter what you go through in life you just don\u2019t have to give up. I have learnt to improve on my knowledge, be vigilant and not to be taken advantages of by boys or men and to trust in God<\/em>\u201d.<\/p>\n