Starting in 1997 with a tour of the Northwest Province
of Cameroon where music, magic and street theater was used to illustrate
the principles for prevention of HIV/AIDS, a great relationship was sown
between Project Troubador and the women of Kongadzem. We continued to work
with this dynamic group of over 100 women leaders throughout the region in
‘99, ’01, and ‘02. Each tour would finish with a workshop on various theater
techniques that the women could use to adapt to their needs after our departure.
The last time we visited in October of 2002, we gave the Kongadzem Youth
Club a grant of $3000 to continue the fight against HIV/AIDS using the tools
shared by Project Troubador. Following are some thoughts from Mary Maimo,
Bamenda Branch President of Kongadzem:
There is nothing so great, exciting and fulfilling in life as making new
friends, enriching an experience and creating a long lasting relationship.
It all started like a dream - a dream come true. A longing for someone to
nurture us .... Project Troubador changed that dream to a reality.
To Kongadzem women, Project Troubador is more than gold and silver. We learned
that HIV/AIDS sensitization was not only lecture, lecture, lecture! It could
also be very successfully done with sketches, drama and music. They widened
our scope, made us more popular, reinforced our skills through the training
workshops they organized for Kongadzem women and the Youths’ Health Club
on sketch writing, mask making and Playback Theater. Our organization has
gained a lot of respect because of what we are able to do on HIV/AIDS. Government
and non-governmental organizations now get us involved when it comes to HIV/AIDS
because to them we are an old hand in the fight and have gained a lot of
rich experience working with Troubador.
Recently we facilitated a “training of trainers” workshop
on the community participatory approach for the fight against HIV/AIDS, funded
by the Provincial Technical Group for the fight against HIV/AIDS and Project
Troubador. We worked with six communities, six days per community. During
this training Kongadzem women and the Youth Club thrilled villagers and students
with Playback Theater skills learned from Project Troubador.