Internationellt KulturUtbyte Visits Mgbala Agwa Youth Organization

By Stephan Bren, Mgbala Agwa Youth Forum
Wednesday, June 6, 2005

IKU Östersund representative Marielle Paulov posing with leading members of MAYF and the community

LAGOS NIGERIA: A representative from the Swedish youth organization, Internationellt KulturUtbyte (IKU), recently traveled to Lagos, Nigeria, to meet with Mgbala Agwa Youth Forum (MAYF) and community leaders, to explore ways to improve AIDS education and other health issues through collaborative projects and workshops.

IKU Östersund is a non-governmental youth organization working to address international issues and to establish relationships with other non-governmental organizations around the world. For many years, IKU Östersund has searched for an organizations in Nigeria with which to collaborate in addressing such challenging social issues as HIV/AIDS. After learning about MAYF through its website, IKU Östersund contacted MAYF to explore possible collaborative projects together. MAYF then invited representatives from IKU Östersund to learn more about MAYF and its community first hand. Marielle Paulove was sent by IKU Östersund to meet with MAYF and community leaders and initiate a partnership between IKU Östersund and MAYF. Marielle has been to Lagos before, while working as a volunteer over a six month period the previous year.

MAYF is a community- based organization (CBO) registered with the local authority as a Youth Forum. It is the first of its kind in Nigeria to function as a resource centre for in-depth research into history, prevention, control and management of HIV/AIDS and Sexual Transmitted Diseases. It targets an estimated population of about 450,000 Nigerians in rural extensions and is focused on HIV/AIDS, Educational Awareness, Environmental Technology, Youths empowerment in Mgbala Agwa, a rural community in Imo State, Nigeria.

Mgbala Agwa Health Center

Over an event-filled four day period, Marielle met with MAYF and community leaders and youth, observed community health practices and education programs, and worked with MAYF staff to develop two projects: one involving the development of an awareness campaign on community health issues and the second focusing on teacher training in HIV/AIDS at government schools in the surrounding area.

A government school in Mgbala Agwa community

Marielle noted the significant challenges facing the MAYF with regard to community health issues. One challenge involves healthcare. The Mgbala Agwa region has a rural population of approximately 100,000, but is served by a single government subsidized health center, which is staffed by a single nurse, and having few medical supplies. Another challenge involves funding for development of the new MAYF library, which local government is not able to fully provide due to limited resources. Lastly, one of the greatest challenges that the community faces is simply inadequate education. the Mgbala Agwa region has just three small schools serving over 600 children. So small are the school facilities that not all children can fit into a classroom at once, during instruction.

Marielle Paulov meeting with children in Mgbala Agwa

Additionally, some classrooms are not adequately equipped with tables and chairs and only feature a blackboard and a stone floor. Community families cannot send all their children to school at once, since they are needed to assist with farming, which is the primary means of livelyhood in the region. Despite such challenges, Marielle was impressed by the commitment and dedication of MAYF anc community leaders to address these challenges and find solutions to them.

The lack of adequate education in the community is one of the primary challenges that MAYF faces in its efforts to fight AIDS. The importance of education in addressing AIDS was clearly noted by Marielle in her many conversations with community members. For example, one young girl that Marielle interviewed thought that AIDS was a disease transmmited through dirty toilets. The importance of edcucation is well-understood by the MAYF coordinator, Nduka Ozor, who considers education the principle and most effective means by which he can address the painful impact of AIDS within his community. Nduka is particularly interested in educating the young, since "If no one teaches them, sooner or later someone will teach them the wrong thing, and that is why we have to catch them young."

Currently, IKU Östersund is working to obtain financial support for a future project with MAYF, planned for 2005.