Staff from the DUT HIV/AIDS Centre together with first and second-year Child and Youth Care students, peer educators and a few DUT students put on their walking gear on Thursday, 30 August 2012, and took to the streets, walking for abstinence.
The walk, which forms part of the “Graduate Alive” programme, launched in 2010, is aimed at encouraging students to abstain from sex. This, according to HIV/AIDS Centre Information Officer Ntokozo Zondo, is the best form of HIV prevention.
The participants chanted songs and danced as they walked the streets, a clear indication of their pride in their decision. They began walking from the corner of Ritson and Steve Biko Road proceeding down Winterton Walk, through to the Ritson Campus until they reached the Fred Crookes sports field at the Steve Biko Campus, where Voluntary HIV Counselling and Testing (VCT) and soccer games took place.
According to DUT HIV/AIDS Centre Information Officer Ntokozo Zondo, this year’s event was bigger and better than before.“When “Graduate Alive” first started two years ago, it was just a programme aimed encouraging students to know their statuses and to protect themselves from contracting HIV to assure that they graduate alive. Whether diagnosed HIV positive or HIV negative, students were advised by counselors to take care of themselves and live healthily. The abstinence walk was introduced last year to promote abstinence. This year we have partnered with various organisations and we have added medical male circumcision as another item,” said Zondo.
She affirms that this programme has been effective, adding that more and more students are showing interest to participate. The partners of the HIV/AIDS Centre this year were the Soul City Institute for Health and Development Communication, Footballers for Life, Brothers for Life and Y2K.
Boxer Superstore sponsored T-shirts and refreshments for the entire event. SABC radio station Lotus fm was also broadcasting live from the sports field.
— Naledi Hlefane
Pictured: United for the sole cause of encouraging students to abstain from sex, these were the participants of the Abstinence Walk, an initiative of the DUT HIV/AIDS Centre.
