Life of Guangzhou - Dutch Woman Brings HIV Prevention Games to Guangzhou

In a room on the eighth floor of Guangzhou's Sun Yat-sen University Scientific Park, two groups of adolescents encircled tables spread with colorful cards. One youth picked up a card and described its contents to the others: "I think the boy in the photo does not feel good and lay in the bed."

Each group proceeded to use the cards to develop stories; one featured pregnant young girl and the other a boy orphaned after the death of his HIV-infected parents. As the storytelling ended, an elegant woman at the front of the room opened a dialogue about HIV/AIDS prevention.

Saskia at the workshop

Her name is Saskia Roos, and she is a Dutchwoman with a longstanding relationship with the city of Guangzhou. The wife of the former Dutch consul in Guangzhou, she now has another role: secretary of the Executive Board of the WEB Foundation, a non-profit organization focusing on HIV/AIDS prevention among youth. When asked whether her identity as a diplomat's wife has had an influence on her work in China, Saskia responded that her principle role is as a volunteer. "I didn't tell them who I am and my name is Saskia," she said.

At the workshop, Saskia had the students play "LOVE.check", a memory game designed to stimulate conversations about subjects like love, friendship, sexuality and HIV/AIDS. She also screened an animated film, "Story of Bobo," which narrates the story of the eponymous HIV-infected patient and features didactic songs about HIV/AIDS.

Participants play "LOVE.check" games

Although "LOVE.check" has been played in many countries, including South Africa, Namibia, Swaziland, Malawi and Kenya, it had never before been used in China. For its debut, Roos chose volunteers at Guangzhou NGOs that target rural education to participate. In her experience, “sex education in the countryside is a big problem." She believes that "love and sex is very serious. It is about our bodies and life," and she has devoted herself to spreading that message to youth around the world.

More information: http://www.lovecheck.org/english/home.html

(Written by Jessie Hwang, edited by Usha Chilukuri , photographed by Julia Zhou)