Positive Vibes

Since 2004, Positive Vibes has developed a niche working with self-help groups of PLHIV, their children, and other community-based HIV initiatives. The methods developed and adapted by Positive Vibes were designed specifically to promote the meaningful involvement of people living with and affected by HIV, and there by promote personal and social c... hange. Such transformation has been elusive in the HIV response until now, the response having focussed on top-down, government and donor driven efforts that have, by and large, by-passed PLHIV and our families at a grassroots level. Positive Vibes' achieved clear success in facilitating the meaningful involvement of PLHIV at this level. The underpinning idea of Positive Vibes work is Paulo Freire's concept of conscientisation. The concept was developed as a reaction to the pedagogical approach of the 1950s, which was defined by didactic and fact-based approaches to education. Freire was a vocal critic of the entrenched, static education paradigm which he considered potential tools of oppression - in Namibia the Apartheid Bantu Education model is a case in point. The idea of Conscientization was to move beyond such prevailing traditions in education by allowing those being 'educated' to be part of the process of learning, thus making it real and relevant to their context.Read More