GET BUCK ON AIDS - Behaviour Change Initiative

In case you missed it, the local dance crew Predators won the GET BUCK ON AIDS krump competition recently hosted by the Youth of Choice Organization (YOC). They unseated the Spartans dance crew who wer...e the previous winners of this competition. This is a youth to youth led HIV/AIDS awareness related contest which is the project of YOC that uses krump (new form of hip hop dance) to accomplish HIV education, prevention and encouraging testing with an urban flair.

With the continued high rates of HIV infection amongst youth, YOC has found a new and innovative way to reach youth with prevention messages. The project targets young people with a cool X factor from previously disadvantage backgrounds. The project allows young people to be the voice for HIV/AIDS awareness and give them an exciting platform to exercise their creative dance energy and build their self esteem. The project has been themed “ GET BUCK ON AIDS” giving young people a creative, nonviolent outlet to be entertained and educated.

Krump (new form of hip hop dance) is gaining a lot of popularity across the youth and this is heavily influenced by television shows such as Do You Think You Can Dance and movies such as Step Up. The benefit for the project is that the young audiences identifies with the contestant, appreciate the creative approach, and are responsive to the prevention messages, and YOC hopes that young people will 'own' and promote the HIV/AIDS positive messages throughout their social circles.

When asked about the project, Jabulani Myeza the founder of the Youth of Choice Organization he said, “We see this as an effective model of communication and top of mind prevention strategy to encourage behavior change. Our research has indicated that linking popular youth culture and prevention messages will result in the adoption or maintenance of sexually healthy behaviors, the young people who are the creators and the consumers of these nontraditional interventions attest to hip hop power to reach and teach”.

Youth of Choice Organization is a new dynamic youth movement of choice for nurturing young minds, driving social change and building future leaders. Registered as a non profit and anyone wish to support their good causes can contact Mr. Sbonelo Mashimane on 082 6786309 or email info@youthofchoice.org. The next show will be at the Winston Churchill Thearte on 6 November starting at 10 and all interested groups to wishing to participate must contact Cecil Khumalo on 078 7734513 before the closing date, 29 October.