One of the core activities of Yelula/U-khâi is training community members and staff around HIV and AIDS issues. This training enables groups and individuals to personalise HIV and AIDS, and gain formal skills and an understanding of the approaches Yelula/U-khâi uses. All training is offered in both English and the local language, which makes the training accessible to all.

There are three key themes in Yelula/U-khâi training:
• Personalised awareness raising
• Capacity building
• Mentoring

Peter Busse was a well-known and inspiring South African HIV and AIDS trainer and activist, who lived with the HI virus for over 20 years. Peter was diagnosed in 1985. He had no counselling and was in complete shock. A doctor gave a bleak prognosis, which could only be interpreted by Peter as a downward dive towards imminent death. He did the only thing he could think of, which was to become a counsellor, so that others would not have to receive a positive diagnosis without a counselling and support framework. It turned out to be a way of stretching his own future horizons, as he learned and shared coping strategies and discovered his flair and passion for training.

His experiences led him to crystallise a number of core principles, which he began to apply to his famous “AIDS and Development” training methodology. The first is to personalize HIV and AIDS awareness raising, the second to demedicalise HIV and AIDS language used in training, thirdly to have fun while unpacking sensitive issues, such as gender and sexuality, and the fourth to galvanise personal and workplace action. Ibis worked with Peter from 2001 onwards to use this methodology as the springboard for mainstreaming HIV and AIDS into Ibis development work. It has been an inspiring process, which has seen the resulting ‘AIDS and me’ methodology become the cornerstone of both Yelula/U-khâi’s and Positive Vibes’ work.

The AIDS and Me workshop is an example of Yelula/U-khâi’s Inside-out Approach and is the foundation for all subsequent activities. It enables participants to explore and assess the impact of HIV and AIDS on their lives by personalising and internalising HIV and AIDS related issues.

The workshop provides participants with information about HIV transmission, how the virus and treatment works in the body, and explores issues of stigma and discrimination, gender, reproductive rights and disclosure. Where possible, AIDS and Me workshops are facilitated by trained people living with HIV and AIDS.

Other kinds of training offered include:

• Positive Speakers
• Video Facilitation
• Small Grant application training
• Small business training
• School board training
• Body mapping
• Herobook/memory work
• Adventures unlimited
• Nutritional training
• Bereavement training and child-headed household and family-care training

Please read the Yelula/U-khâi brochure available for download on the ‘resources’ page for more detail.