Key Features
During the 8 days of campaign, Action IEC team managed to promote the messages about HIV/ AIDS and VCCT to audiences by using the traditional performances with educational content and achieved high results as initially expected. Below is a brief description of information reported for each sector of activity.
Stage Logictics:
The stage is set up in the morning of each performance. According to the ancient Cambodian stage-art tradition, the stage must be facing to the east where the sun is rising - facing to the west can bring bad luck for the team and also the whole campaign. This tradition exists for a long time and the artists still keep this culture in mind.
As an anecdote, it so happened that one time during the campaign, when we were in Teouk Phos it rained in the middle of the day and the stage was facing to the western direction. However the performance continued until the late at night as planned.
The stage can support around 40 people. The team make sure about this security issue so that the stage does not collapse during the performances. The technical team working on the stage was trained in the University of Fine Arts in Phnom Penh.
Banners:
A group of health center staffs participated very actively to take care of the banners. They made sure of the best places to fix banners up (on the walls along the streets makes the banners more visible).
Even as potential audiences are moving on the roads nearby the location, they can see the messages of the banners and may be more attracted to come to the location. This increases the efficiency of the mobile promotion.
These messages were placed on 5 banners:
- Protect yourself and your family from HIV/AIDS
- Reduce discrimination in the community
- Every one has a role to play to prevent HIV/AIDS
- AIDS can not be cured but can be prevented
- People with HIV/AIDS need our support.
Health center team take care of the banners (photos) to make sure the people can see the message of the banners. The banner’s team worked very hard in the morning and also late at night.
Beyond putting up banners, they also go around in the community to help distribute IEC materials to the people. They answer many questions from the community members and help to build a good relationship with the target group. They invite the audience to join the performances of the night.
IEC Mobile Distribution:
In addition to the banner team, a group of artists takes care of the distribution of IEC materials. They do this initially by going around in the areas near the stage, by walking in the community to provide the posters and leaflets prepared in Phnom Penh. This is an opportunity to give information about HIV/AIDS to the community during the day time.
The distribution of IEC in the communities is a pro active way to ask people to come to the show while at the same time increasing HIV acceptance and awareness.
IEC is distributed at many times throughout the show (day time and night time). In total during this show, a total over 5 000 educational leaflets and over 1000 posters were distributed to the audiences, almost evenly throughout the five locations – with slight variations depending on the number of participants.
Clowns and day-time youth education:
The intended beneficiaries are very busy at day time in the field that is why we try to begin the performances a bit late in the night (to let them have enough time to prepare dinner with their families normally). However to avoid wasting precious time, the informal activities begin from 15h00 to attract as many people as possible during the daytime. This is done by using the clowns: Young people are very interested in this for example when the long-legged man walks around with the people along the roads. Another clown drives the mono-cycle and gives posters to the people staying with them.
The clowns and IEC team explains the messages of the banners and the topic of the performance to make the people feel interested. Many kids walk after the long-legged clown and some try to walk with the long wood legs, entertaining all.
At night time the clowns also give messages about 100% condom use and about safe sex: the young people need to be protected even if they feel that their partner is good looking and healthy. This clown intervention is very funny and amuses many groups who in this way received appropriate information. Condom use negotiation skills are also discussed through the clowns interventions. The performance presents the image of a sex worker with long legs with funny long shirts walking on the stage at night time after a hard working day.
Publicity team:
The publicity team (photo) prepares to announce the program of the performances for the night and also helps in the distribution of the IEC material to the people in the community.
Usually the people living in all the districts around the performing place are also informed two week before the teams arrive. Some are informed by the monks, some are informed by local authority and some are informed by the school teachers.
But to make sure that everyone is well informed of the coming of the show, the team also goes around within the community with the loud speakers to make the campaign more visible.
The road conditions in the rural communities are often very difficult that is why normal cars can not be used. The publicity team makes sure to repeat the announcements on the day of the show, to optimize audience attendance. The publicity team uses every available means to get the message to the people in the real rural area as that is our mission. Sometimes the oxcart is used, at other times a moto-cart is used....
Q&A HIV Education activities:
During the daytime and until dusk, the information and feedback agents also work hard: the table with IEC and Q&As make a lot of people happy and invites the audience to join our information agent that provides many question and answers on the HIV/AIDS topic.
The IEC delivery and feedback team helps to provide many IEC materials to the people( posters, leaflets and other educational materials) during this time. This activity helps to extend the educational scope of the project. Q&As are particularly successful in drawing crowds of up to 50 people. Prizes are rewarded to build the incentive for many to answers questions. In the process, everyone else is informed of the correct answers. The Q&As are also repeated on stage at night. In some area the people have basic knowledge about HIV/AIDS yet most need more Information, particularly those who still feel uneasy about talking about sex. It is seen in their shy attitudes.
The young are more clever than the old generation. Young kids are usually more attracted by the clowns but are still exposed to the education. The seeds are sown…
Data collection
Mrs Meas sunna 36 year olds house keeper proposes more cultural performance and educational messages to reduce fighting in theevents and provide news such as VCCT: this is new information for her and her husband.
Srey touch palm seller 35 year old widowwith 5 children prefers traditional performances and know a little bit about HIV /AIDS. She is asking for more entertainment with education.
Groups of youth in junior high school prefer modern concert with popular stars. They also feel a bit ashame to talk of sex – they know how to use condom. They are not clear about VCCTs but they are interested to talk about youth's issues. ‘Please come more often to the country side we need the new information as well’ said one student.
Navy Casino employee for 2 years is interested in pop music with the popular stars but the traditional performances attract her as well – she feels shy to talk about sex but she know how to protect herself from HIV/AIDS.
Daytime HIV Video show:
‘Film Road number six is a film produced by ACTION /IEC supported by UNESCO talking about HIV/ ADIS, Drug use and Trafficking: three topic combined together. The film is about different lives of street children and youths from high class family. The film brings messages about trafficking in the community.
The educational video on HIV/AIDS was shown and made the people feel very interested. By night fall, the film is projected on the big screen and it is made available for all people to see at the beginning of the performances.
The Fiction film ‘Road number 6 ’ plays an important role in the daily HIV/AIDS educational input. The way that the actors play in the film is very realistic and some of the audiences asked our team if the images/story were real?
Many street drug user watched that film very seriously and seem to be identifying with the actors and messages in the film
The children show more interest than most in the use of videos.
In addition to the fiction film, an educational film about discrimination in the community was also projected for the audiences to make the atmosphere more constructive and useful.
‘It is not so often that we have that opportunity to watch the education films like this in this area, Thai TV plays a big role for the Khmer audiences along the border’ said 25 years old cross- border worker.
‘the children seem to be like white paper if we paint black it becomes black if we paint red they become red’ said teacher in pagoda Kum Rieang district .
Large Screen HIV Video Show
With the night fall, we transfer the video show from the TV monitor to the big screen on stage. The big screen films are very useful to attract and give the messages to the audiences.
The medium itself is very attractive to most rural audiences who have never seen such a large screen and who are not exposed to the film media or televisions.
The people enjoy the film and the educational messages can be provided with more acceptance. This is one of the communication strategies of ACTION /IEC called ‘edu-tainment’. This idea exists not only in Cambodia but also in other countries in the world. Performances can attract communities and rural populations and integrate the content that we want to give to them in an acceptable way using arts.
Many audiences asked us to perform additional nights but that was impossible according to the project plan.
‘All the people are very busy with country side business but they like to spent time coming to big event especially with the traditional performances - Even when it was raining’!
This was the reality: no one forced them to stay under the rain to get the messages on HIV/AIDS from the film.
They continued to come even as the rain started some of them borrowed umbrellas from the monks - others used anything to protect themselves from the rain
"this film was so interesting in term of action and educational messages " said one girl 20 years old in Kravagn district
Staffs meeting
As usual living with a big group of 45 people and acting as educator on HIV/AIDS, the staffs is asked to meet every two days before the performances to make sure everything goes well and quality is upheld especially those who give the messages to the people. The meetings encourage the artists to do a more professional work.
Capacity building:
During the free time artists themselves need to learn more about HIV/AIDS especially about VCCT that was the new message for the artists and they need to know quite well before they go to meet the people. The meeting makes sure that all the messages are rightly understood and properly provided to the audiences.
Blessing ceremony
According to the Theatrical tradition, we always ask the monks to bless to all the members of the teams and ask for peace from the spirits of the mountain as well
The artists offer a few song of YIKE that made the sound quite interesting for the people in the pagoda.
Some artists are often visited by the ghosts and the spirits in their sleep in the pagodas. That was why the blessing ceremony is important in the mobile show when we have time we never forget to celebrate this ceremony. ' Last time we got trouble with the ghost because we did not do the blessing ceremony " said 19 years old classical dancer .
Contact with local authority :
Local authorities are very important to contact and to collaborate with. They help us a lot in term of security and to spread the information to the people to participate in the big events like this one. " I do not worry with this performance as it does not create a lot problems like the concerts in the village that always brings fighting between the gangs " said chief police in kra vangn
The chief of district always participates at the beginning to make sure nothing wrong happens, the discussion between local authority and the team responsible for the performances are always held before the performances begin.
Performances and Preparation:
At 17h00 when the daily activity are near their end, the other technical teams prepare for the big event at night to ensure that the show will be smooth. Actors prepare everything before dark to make sure all performances are successfully made. The show components are normally rehearsed months in advance at the Fine Arts School in Phnom Penh. On location, only a few parts of the shows or dances are adapted according to the logistical needs (some actors may replace others and need re-briefings). All actors and dancer receive HIV/AIDS training so that in case they are asked a question by the audience, they can answer. Most actors use a publication of NCHADS/FHI for this (100 questions on HIV/AIDS for Health workers).
The show itself is a series of highly cultural spectacles (as listed above).
The opening ceremony has uses the ‘wish’ dance. This almost became a traditional for all events to use this dance offering for good luck .
NCHADS with Action IEC uses traditional performances mixed with HIV/AIDS content in order to both help preserve the Khmer culture for the young generation and also try to teach the people to enjoy a better and a healthy life.
Cha Pey is one the favorite traditional Khmer instrument especially for people in the rural areas.
At night, the Chapey artist sings on the topic HIV/AID for the audiences in the pagoda. Mr pic Lon, 43 years old handicapped artist has trained for a long time as a peer educator for a local NGO and acts as an agent in the prevention of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
In this tour, he shared a story called : ‘how HIV/AIDS killed my family’. This story touched the heart of the audiences. The story mentions a man who passes HIV to his family and then dies, leaving 4 children behind and no one to take care of them.
Mr Pic lon also gave estimations of the number of people living with HIV in Cambodia and shared his experiences in the field of HIV/AIDS prevention. Sometime he acted as a parental guide, addressing the youth in the community on how to protect themselves from HIV/AIDS by using condoms. He used strong messages to invite the people to go to the nearest VCCT center in the community, ‘Don’t let AIDS kill your family like in the story and to reduce to a minimum discrimination.
HIV Puppet shows: attract many people who are reminded of their own culture and in the same time it provides the VCCT promotion messages. This makes the people from all generation laugh and think.
Action IEC uses Puppet show as the people in the country side appreciate the medium. Yet, unstead of using a traditional story, the puppet show is adapted with HIV/AIDS content. For example the story of this puppet performance (photo) is about a truck driver who was playing around and got scared. He tries to hide information from his family but after a good counseling session with a village volunteer, the man accepts and goes to the VCCT center to do a blood test by himself.
The audiences were very surprised to hear this story and enjoyed the small puppets show performance. One lady (34 years old) mentioned that it is the first time of her life to see the small shadow play with her own eyes.
Incredibly, nearly all of the under 20 years old had never seen the small shadow play theater. We are very proud to show this culture to our own people with added education.
-"The people here like to enjoy and spend night time with all the events but in the modern concert for us ( police ) it was more difficult than traditional performing as there are more conflicts and more fighting more gambling than with traditional performances - even if they attract the youth a lot – they make them crazy as well. I found less youth participated in traditional performances but the general population like that " said one police in Ba Phnom
-"HIV/AIDS still spreads out to the people - we have to keep talking about that issue otherwise the youth forget and get AIDS" said a young mother 24 year old
-"VCCT is the new information for me" said one truck driver
HIV Stage Quiz shows: are used to emphasize the most important messages and helps to clarify audiences’ misconceptions: many adults and youths actively participated in the Q&As related to HIV/AIDS and VCCTs. Many questions have been set up for the audiences. Those who can give the right answers will get prizes such as , bags, sarongs, Krama etc…
Many of the young and some people living with HIV/AIDS also participated on the stage to answer the Q&A.
It was a bit of a surprise that most of them could answer the basic questions about the disease. Sometime it was hard to justify who could get the first prize. To solve that issue we discussed with Dr Lan Van Seng to find out a solution that would make everybody happy while remaining fair. We used additional questions to split the champions apart.
Many uniformed services tried to give the anwser as well - some of them could anwser and some not but however the presentator encouraged them and gave the right anwser to them and gave some gifts
On the other hand, most of the candidates could not answer the questions related to the VCCT centers.
It seems that this type of information was new for them. ‘The young generation is more active than the old generation but they still need to support each other’ said a 56 years old man
The Quiz show gave the messages more clearly to the audiences than the performances themselves but we could use the Q&A only 4 times per night to avoid repetition and to avoid getting boring.
Traditional performances: are very popular among the general population in rural areas.
Sarith – soldier: " this campaign is very useful and enjoyable there are many things I had never seen before like clowns and YIKE. I only had heard from my parent about that kind of drama and VCCT message also new for me. I like a lot this event. We enjoy it and find it useful". Some of them like Karaoke very much especially the man if they have free time they go to Karaoke. If we have this entertainment with educational messages it is very useful
Savuth solider:
This event help me know more about HIV/AIDS ) many young people actively participated in the Q&A program some knew well some had limited knowledge and some could not answer but they still received gifts as encouragements
‘It was good that there was no conflict in the village because usually, in the modern concerts, when they dance, they fight each other and make troubles to everyone. This is more peaceful and the performances are good and there are beautiful artists’. His wife added: ‘I do not know so much about AIDS because I am so busy with my business.
The performances finish late at night and that is why the small children could not watch all of the show. But the fathers and mother decided to stay until the end of the performances.
The reason why they decided to stay up so late is that the show provides variety. This is quite rare and particularly if there is even more education provided.
Tum Tev (photo) is one of the most popular stories of Cambodia. This story is integrated in the junior high school program and also includes Yike (a kind of ancient and still popular type of drama. Traditionally, at the end of the rainy season the people have a lot of free time so if they have some events in the village even if it is far they will come and join. It is even better to play on the full moon this can help a lot to encourage the people come with the all the members of the family.
The old women want to see YIKE for the last time – ‘I do not worry so much about HIV/AIDS for myself but I need the information for the young people’ said a 65 years old woman
" I think it is clever to use the traditions mixed with the educational concept " said a village teacher
General Feedback:
In the crowd of people on the ground, the feed back agents ask questions to the people to find out what they feel, what they need more in term of information and about their suggestions. The people are generally happy to collaborate with our agents in order to find out better ways for the community. This man (Photo below - 36 years old) is asking for a peer educator in the village and more information (not only about HIV/AIDS but also such as how to reduce drug use in their village.
There were many different opinions about HIV/AIDS in the community. Some said: ‘if we promote without
limitations, it seems that we encourage the youth to get involved with sex. If we try to keep information secret it is also dangerous for the adults’
A teacher from a junior high school in Battambang suggested to find the middle way: a balance between the two points of view. This lady - 44 years old (photo on right) worries about the future of her son in a world with AIDS. She asked the government to do something again about that: ‘Please treat AIDS now’ she said.
At the end of the show the feedback agents collected a lot of
data about the perceptions of the rural audiences about the HIV/AIDS epidemic. This data can help us improve the future mobile shows and better respond to their need.
MOBILES SHOWS 
