Sr. Margaret Hosty
Sisters of Saint Louis
Brazil
Sr. Margaret Hosty, Sisters of Saint Louis in Brazil - AAVE Group
response to AIDS project communities.
The AAVE Group: Support, Life, Hope, in Goiânia, Brazil, has as its
mission to restore the dignity of people living with HIV by offering
them Acceptance, Respect, Orientation and Hope and to promote
education regarding HIV/AIDS in the community. During 2006 the AAVE
Group was enabled to carry out its mission, providing training to
people living with HIV/AIDS and promoting education/prevention,
through means of a grant from IMRS.
We provided computer classes twice a week; Arts and Crafts classes
twice a month; individual counselling daily and group counselling
once a month and education and prevention activities reaching a
minimum of 500 people per month.
The impact of the project has had far-reaching consequences
providing those living with HIV with skills that have become a part
of their lives and have contributed to their improved physical and
emotional health and overall well-being. The poor, including women,
have been empowered and have grown to believe in themselves and in
their potential. Some of those living with HIV have obtained
employment and others have been enabled to earn a salary thus
becoming more self-sustaining. Another important outcome of the
project is that it has provided people in the community with
accurate information regarding HIV/AIDS and alerted them to the fact
that we are all vulnerable and to the need for prevention.