John Keells HIV and AIDS Master Trainers from different BUs came together at the JKH auditorium for a two day workshop to update their knowledge on HIV and AIDS. This was the first time a Master Trainers’ workshop incorporated enhancement of presentation and communication skills as well.

The workshop was conducted by Hans Billimoria of The Grassrooted Trust. His animated and positive energy emanated throughout the workshop and captivated everyone’s attention.

Nadija Tambiah, Head of CSR and Carmeline Jayasuriya, Head of Operations, CSR were also in attendance and thanked the Master Trainers’ for their commitment towards John Keells HIV and AIDS Awareness Campaign.

All the Master Trainers were given a mug as a token of appreciation with the words “A proud HIV & AIDS Master Trainer/ I will empower 500+ lives this year” to encourage them to create more awareness.

A cake was cut to celebrate our Master Trainers’ achievement of impacting more than 16,000 lives this year

Hans conducted several activities to engage our Master Trainers and instill key information into their memory…

Master Trainers were asked to draw an HIV positive person and indicate what they were thinking, feeling and saying as well as society’s feelings towards them…

The Master Trainers also took part in Role Playing…

Acting out a person’s immune system and how HIV weakens it.

…and how a fatal accident between an HIV positive person and their friend may/ or may not lead to a risk of contracting HIV.

Hans conducted several demonstrations….

How to put a condom on…

…and how resilient a condom is.

How drug-users inject drugs and incorrectly clean the needle.

The training programme also emphasized on team work as Master Trainers had to get into groups to complete tasks…

Each group was allocated a topic and had to create a presentation incorporating the new knowledge and skills they had learnt

The presentations were very impressive and the Master Trainers showed a stark improvement in their knowledge and delivery of information

As the workshop drew to an end, the Master Trainers were introduced to Hans’ assistant, Pandula- an HIV Positive person.

Pandula shared his story as an HIV positive person and his gratitude towards the Master Trainers for their commitment towards the HIV and AIDS cause.

Priyanthi Silva, Project Champion for HIV and AIDS, gave a closing speech thanking Hans and the Master Trainers for their participation. A special token of appreciation was also given to Inoka and Wasana, two HIV positive persons who often accompany and support our Master Trainers during their awareness sessions.

As the workshop ended, the Master Trainers set an ambition target of sensitizing 500+ lives each accumulating to a total of 100,000 lives together.