One may be forgiven for thinking that Atlantis is a sleepy town on the outskirts of buzzing Cape Town. The tree lined street leading into Atlantis gives one a sense of a quiet, sleepy town reminiscent of a bygone era. But when the town awakens to the news that one of Cape Town’s favourite sons and renowned comedians, Joey Rasdien, will be visiting, an exited buzz can be heard throughout the town.
The question on everyone’s mind that chilly Friday morning in Atlantis was “why would Joey be visiting us?” The answer, according to Joey was “...to show Atlantis how to Scrutinize.... eliminate the element of surprise and flip HIV to HI Victory!”. But why choose Atlantis to spread the Scrutinize message?
It seems apt that the organisers and funders of the Atlantis World Cup Game On Festival would choose Atlantis as a site. With HIV prevalence at 16%, chronically high unemployment rates and long standing problems of alcohol and drug abuse, teenage pregnancy and domestic and gang related violence, the community of Atlantis would be well served with such interventions. But it was not just Joey’s presence that excited the community.
The Western Cape Department of Health, Johns Hopkins Health and Education in South Africa (JHHESA), Sonke Gender Justice and Footballers for Life joined local organisations to put on a month long program in Atlantis focusing on youth and adult men in the community. The Scrutinize campaign, already well established among youth audiences in South Africa, presented a great opportunity for Atlantis youth peer educators to learn some new skills through the Scrutinize training presented by DramAide. Once trained and equipped with Scrutinize tools, peer educators were ready to reach out to their peers, with a little help from Joey.
The feverish preparations for the “concert” which peer educators planned for their peers created an excitement these peer educators have not experienced in a while. They worked on incorporating messages relating to risks of having many sexual partners, sugar daddies and mummies and abuse of drugs and alcohol, into drama, song, dance and poetry performances. After all the preparations, Friday, 18 June finally rolled around and it was time to sing, dance and spread the message.
The sounds of the DJ “spinning the discs” was the catalyst for the influx of young people into the venue. And what a performance it was! The audience was entertained by their own peers, now Scrutinize ambassadors. As for Joey, the words by Grant Monareng, JHHESA co-ordinator, best describes his contribution: “When someone like Joey speaks to young people, they listen. He speaks to them in a way that lets them know that he understands their plight, and he does so in an entertaining way. He is also able to motivate them to take responsibility for their well being by exposing the behaviours that put them at risk, in other words “..to know your risk, means you are able to eliminate the element of surprise.... and scrutinize”. An exhausted group of peer educators went home that day with the confidence to speak to their peers in an engaging, fun and interesting way. As one of the peer educators put it “Scrutinize is here to stay in Atlantis!”
Sean Thomas from a youth organisation called All Stars in Atlantis had this to say about the Scrutinize in Atlantis:”I would like to congratulate you on the excellent work and positive impact that you are doing here. The youth are speaking about the Scrutinize project to their friends and are more aware of dangers with regards to multiple partners.”
