Unite to Fight AIDS Speaker Tour 9th- 20th October 2006

The Tour

The Unite to Fight AIDS Speaker Tour is now entering its fourth year. This year the tour will bring four dynamic young AIDS activists from three different continents to speak to students at 17 Universities nationwide. Come along to one of our events and hear these amazing people share their experiences.

The Speakers

Dingase Mvula - a young Zambian woman. Dingase has been actively engaged in peer education initiatives to raise awareness about HIV amongst the student population, since high school. She trained as a peer educator and counsellor, giving regular talks to her fellow students. Alongside this she volunteered with the YMCA, working on outreach programmes to out of school youths and street children, providing basic counselling and referral services. Since qualifying as a teacher, Dingase joined SPW Zambia and volunteered for 11 months in a school where she facilitated workshops on voluntary counselling and testing for teachers, and ran life skills classes for students. Using non-formal education methods, drama and music she helped organise community events to raise awareness of HIV and reduce the stigma associated with the virus. Having finished the 11 month programme, Dingase remains actively involved with the SPW ex-volunteer network; volunteers at the Mahatma Ghandi Youth Friendly clinic and works for a door to door voluntary counselling and testing service with the Central Action for HIV/AIDS initiative in collaboration with the Ministry of Health.

Richard Wanzala - a young Ugandan man. Richard became personally involved with the fight to stop AIDS when his Uncle died from an AIDS related illness in 1994. Whilst studying at Makerere University in Kampala he joined the Family Planning Association of Uganda, and worked as a peer educator advocating for positive behavioural change among the youth around the city suburbs. Having graduated from University with a BA in social sciences he went on to volunteer as a peer educator for SPW Uganda’s Health Education Program, working with young people in and out of school who were infected or affected by HIV/AIDS. He is currently working in support of SPW Uganda’s program and is studying part time, researching gender issues through the Centre for Basic Research.

Katie Chalcraft - a young woman from the UK. Katie began to take a real interest in the global AIDS pandemic whilst studying at University. She trained initially as a volunteer with the university’s sexual health drop-in centre and then became involved with the Student Stop AIDS Campaign. Deferring her course for a year she spent 3 months as an intern with ICW (the International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS). Following this in January 2004 she volunteered with SPW in Zambia for 8 months as a peer educator on an HIV/AIDS education programme. During this time she conducted research for her Social Anthropology dissertation on the relationship between traditional cultural practices, the spread of HIV, and human rights. Katie is currently working as a project worker at a small HIV charity - St Peters House Project, where she provides practical and emotional support for people living with HIV in Surrey.

Johnny Guaylupo - a young man from the USA. Johnny realised he was gay in his early adolescence, but never told anyone. He had been sponsored to attend a local private Catholic school, and whilst there began having unprotected sex with a man 20 years older than him. By age 17, Johnny started getting bad stomach pains and was taken to the emergency room. Two weeks later at his follow up visit, the doctor and social worker told him he was HIV positive. Now, at age 24, Johnny is educated on HIV/AIDS and works as a youth advocate and activist. He hopes that every time he tells his story, he’s touched and educated someone else. He currently works at Housing Works, an organization focused on ensuring that adequate housing, food, social services, drug treatment services, medical care, and employment opportunities are available to homeless persons living with AIDS and HIV. Johnny works as an Intake Specialist for Adult Day Health Care Program, where he does Intake/Case Management. Johnny has been very active in the Campaign to End AIDS (C2EA)–a diverse, exciting new coalition of people living with HIV/AIDS in the US, their advocates and their loved ones. He served as an organizer and activist for the C2EA Youth Action Institute (YAI) last year and is currently playing a lead role in planning the second YAI. Johnny presented and spoke to over 300 young people at the 2006 Ryan White AIDS Conference in Philadelphia, PA and was recently part of the civil society youth caucus at the United Nations 2006 High Level Meetings on HIV/AIDS. He is a leader and champion on HIV and AIDS issues, specifically when it comes to access to information for young people. Johnny Guaylupo organized the Youth Action Institute where 30 young activists from the United States went for a 5 day Grass roots Training in Chicago. He was awarded the Tasha Durant Award for National Youth Leadership at the Ryan White Conference last year in Philadelphia, Pa by the National Association of People with AIDS (NAPWA).

The Speaker Tour is an initiative of the Student Stop AIDS Campaign and is co-ordinated by Students Partnership Worldwide (SPW), an international development charity that recruits and trains young adults (aged 18-28) as volunteer Peer Educators, to lead programmes that address urgent health and environmental issues in Africa and Asia.