The Importance of Doing Studies, by Ana Cornélio
When your study & preparation period begins, you will start to study some interesting subject like the Contemporary World, Health, The Rich and the Poor, Expressive Arts, and more.
Most of this knowledge that you will receive you will put in practise during the 6 months project-period in Africa or India. As a DI (Development Instructor) I was working in a SAARAI PROJECT – a project for family planning. Here I needed to be able to talk about the importance of planning your family, able to talk about contraceptive methods and some of the diseases that you can get if you don’t protect yourself.
Some of the countries in Africa have the highest level of HIV in the world, so all of the studies that you have about diseases are really important.
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As you know HIV is the acronym of the human immunodeficiency virus. The AIDS virus attacks the immune system, that is responsible for defending the body from disease. The most affected cells are the CD4 + T lymphocytes. And it is changing the DNA of these cells so that HIV makes copies of itself. After multiplying, it breaks lymphocytes and creates further infection.
Having HIV is not the same as having AIDS. There are many HIV-positive people who live years without symptoms and without developing the disease. But, they can transmit the virus to others through unprotected sex, by sharing contaminated needles or from mother to child during pregnancy and breastfeeding. So it is always important to get tested and protect themselves in all situations.
During this programme, maybe it will be you who help to share and pass this information on in some of the rural areas that your project is working in. Maybe you will work with people who live or were born with this disease. There is nothing better than to learn this way, both from your own experiences and with the material from the studies.
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