Vietnam Newsletter in June

Proceeds from CAMA Festival helps to break the silence and taboos around HIV and AIDS

On the 8th of May 2010 the 4th Hanoi International Music Festival attracted a crowd of over 2000 Vietnamese and expatriate music lovers. The festival was organized by CAMA (Club of Art and Music Appreciation) in partnership with the World Population Foundation dance4life’s program. Proceeds raised by the CAMA Festival have been used to organize 16 workshops for 3200 students in 5 schools in Ha Noi, 1 school in Da Nang and 2 schools in Ho Chi Minh City. 3200 students have learned about HIV and AIDS and have met face-to-face with people living with HIV. All 3200 students have received books on Sexual and Reproductive Health and on HIV and AIDS.
More than a thousand people become infected with HIV in Asia each day. Most of them are young people (below 25 years old). These young people need proper education about sexual and reproductive health and HIV and AIDS related issues.
Tran Thu Giang, a student of Nguyen Thi Minh Khai high school was one of the students participating in a workshop paid with the funds from the CAMA event. “I think this is a very meaningful class. Through dance4life, I have learned much more about HIV and how to protect myself from getting infected. I also understand now that no-one should be blamed for being HIV positive. We should care about people living with HIV, not discriminate them”.
The student Tran Thu Giang is just one of the 6400 students that we reach this year through our dance4life program in Hanoi, Hai Phong, Da Nang, Ho Chi Minh City, Long An and Dong Nai. “The festival has been a great opportunity for dance4life to get our message out to young people, who play a central role in our project. Through music and dance, we will continue to connect with and inspire more Vietnamese youth to make a change and raise their voice to stop the spread of HIV and AIDS.”, said Jerry Clewett, Country Manager of World Population Foundation, concept owner of dance4life in Vietnam.
The CAMA Festival 2010 was made possible by the charitable support of our gold sponsors Corona, Jim Beam, Russian Standard Vodka and our media sponsors Yan TV, the Word, Le Media, Xone FM, NhacoNet anmd Sketch. We also would like to thank our silver sponsors UNAIDS, Hoang Long, Hoan Vu, Silk Path Hotel, Hanoi Hotel, Durex, Chinese Embassy, American Embassy and Santa Fe and our bronze sponsors Irish Aid, Highway4, Handspan, Son Tinh, Maison d’Hanoi, Fanny, the Warehouse, Al Fresco, Pane e Vino, Highlands, Tandoor,Indian Cuisine, Long Hai Security, SOS, Buffalo Tours, Exotissimo, Hanoi Grapevine. And last but not least thank you to all raffle sponsors!

The Staying Alive Foundation awarded grant to dance4life Vietnam
In June 2010 The Staying Alive Foundation awarded 38 grants to different organisations worldwide. Out of these grants, 23 went to organisations already supported by the Foundation, and 15 went to brand new projects. The dance4life School Team in Hanoi is very proud to be among the 23 organisation already supported by the Foundation.

RMIT Dance Club fundraising party
The Dance Club held a “Dance Festival on Sunday 13th December 2009” and hosted 8 other local HCMC based Vietnam Universities.

The RMIT Dance Club has donated the funds raised to dance4life! Thank you RMIT!

Heart Connection Tour

The dance4life Heart Connection Tour (HCT) team has started to travel between April and now to schools with a presentation that creates awareness on HIV and AIDS in a fun and emotive way—with music, dance, video, peer educators and young people living with HIV. The tour is personal, interactive, positive way and functions as a kick-off, motivating students to become part of further activities.

So far, 5 schools have been visited in Hanoi, 1 school in Da Nang and 2 schools in Ho Chi Minh city.
This year, the dance4life school tour Team will visit reform schools number 4 and 5 in Long An and Dong Nai. For the students in reform school this is a very special moment in the year as normally they do not get the chance to dance. It also gives them the possibility to meet and talk with other students from outside who will serve as a role model for them. For the peer-educators, trained by the World Population Foundation, working in the reform schools it is a chance to exchange ideas with fellow peer-educators. For the teachers it is a chance to see a another teaching method than the traditional one.

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