Vanessa Keo, 16, gets some help from music instructor Sophan Nol during a class on traditional Cambodian music at Neighborhood House at Rainier Vista. (Joshua Trujillo / P-I)October 14, 2007
By CHERIE BLACK
P-I REPORTER
Seattle Post Intelligencer (Seattle, Washington, USA)
On a windy Saturday afternoon, three Cambodian women sit in a corner and sew. They attach buttons on a coat, or work on costumes for their children's dance performance.
Around the corner, teenagers are learning to play Cambodian music on traditional instruments. Beside them, younger children are learning traditional dances in time with the melody. Upstairs, about a dozen Cambodian-American children are learning how to speak their parents' native language.
They meet every week at the Neighborhood House at Rainier Vista to share similar backgrounds and heritage. But discreetly integrated into the social events is a program to raise awareness of HIV and AIDS -- a disease that ravages Cambodia and is a high risk to Cambodians living in Seattle.
Cambodia has the fastest-growing HIV/AIDS rate in Asia, and Washington state has the third-largest Cambodian refugee population in the United States, with most living in Seattle/King County, Warya Pothan said.
Pothan is a Cambodian immigrant who was hired by the non-profit Neighborhood House to direct Project HANDLE.
A 2003 assessment by the University of Washington of Cambodian-American youths involved in area groups found that 93 percent did not talk to their parents about HIV, sexually transmitted diseases, sex or reproductive health problems. About 83 percent became sexually active at the age of 16 years or younger, compared with 33 percent of American youths overall.
"AIDS is highly stigmatized in the Cambodian community, so we must integrate HIV education into existing activities to get people to listen," Pothan said.
So far, Project HANDLE, which stands for HIV/AIDS Network Development and Life-skills Experience, has collected more than $1.5 million in multiyear federal grants. It has used the money to run a mix of peer education, tutoring, prevention classes for parents and youths, dance and music classes, parent training and job skills preparation.
Its aim is to help Cambodian refugees and young Cambodian-Americans avoid behaviors that can lead to AIDS and substance abuse.
More than 150 young people have been trained during the past three years so they can visit with youth groups to talk about the disease.
Cambodian parents say the program provides a place not only for children and adults to gather, but also to address an issue most would never talk about on their own.
Mollina Nguyen, 8, bottom, Sovannarith Khem, 9, Selena Keo, 10, Savanny Yen, 11, and Darleen Sean, 11, practice writing Cambodian characters at Neighborhood House. With help from federal grants, the non-profit provides a variety of educational programs. (Joshua Trujillo / P-I)
"In our culture and community, we have food and come together and talk and share things with each other, but it was embarrassing at first to talk about AIDS," said Sokha Keo, who comes to sew costumes for her daughter's recitals. "We hide things like this in Cambodia. It's better to talk about it, like we do in the U.S."
Alex Keo, 16, has been coming to music and dance classes at Neighborhood House for two years, and became a peer educator for HIV/AIDS. He talks to Cambodian youths around Seattle about the disease.
"We don't just talk about HIV, we also talk about how it relates to life through stereotypes, drinking and risky behaviors that can lead to HIV," he said. "We're not just teachers to them, we're their age and can relate to them."
Because of its success in meshing HIV and AIDS education into existing programs, the group has received a $2.5 million, five-year federal grant to expand the program to African-Americans and to immigrants from East Africa and Vietnam. The expanded program will focus on youths 12 to 17 and on women. It also will provide HIV testing, counseling and referrals for substance-abuse treatment and mental health services.
Pothan said she hopes that expanding the program will help more people gain access to information they otherwise would be limited in receiving.
"There really isn't a lot of HIV testing and counseling for these populations," she said. "We want them to have stability and connect with their culture and learn life-saving information at the same time."
P-I reporter Cherie Black can be reached at 206-448-8180 or
cherieblack@seattlepi.com.
Around the corner, teenagers are learning to play Cambodian music on traditional instruments. Beside them, younger children are learning traditional dances in time with the melody. Upstairs, about a dozen Cambodian-American children are learning how to speak their parents' native language.
They meet every week at the Neighborhood House at Rainier Vista to share similar backgrounds and heritage. But discreetly integrated into the social events is a program to raise awareness of HIV and AIDS -- a disease that ravages Cambodia and is a high risk to Cambodians living in Seattle.
Cambodia has the fastest-growing HIV/AIDS rate in Asia, and Washington state has the third-largest Cambodian refugee population in the United States, with most living in Seattle/King County, Warya Pothan said.
Pothan is a Cambodian immigrant who was hired by the non-profit Neighborhood House to direct Project HANDLE.
A 2003 assessment by the University of Washington of Cambodian-American youths involved in area groups found that 93 percent did not talk to their parents about HIV, sexually transmitted diseases, sex or reproductive health problems. About 83 percent became sexually active at the age of 16 years or younger, compared with 33 percent of American youths overall.
"AIDS is highly stigmatized in the Cambodian community, so we must integrate HIV education into existing activities to get people to listen," Pothan said.
So far, Project HANDLE, which stands for HIV/AIDS Network Development and Life-skills Experience, has collected more than $1.5 million in multiyear federal grants. It has used the money to run a mix of peer education, tutoring, prevention classes for parents and youths, dance and music classes, parent training and job skills preparation.
Its aim is to help Cambodian refugees and young Cambodian-Americans avoid behaviors that can lead to AIDS and substance abuse.
More than 150 young people have been trained during the past three years so they can visit with youth groups to talk about the disease.
Cambodian parents say the program provides a place not only for children and adults to gather, but also to address an issue most would never talk about on their own.
Mollina Nguyen, 8, bottom, Sovannarith Khem, 9, Selena Keo, 10, Savanny Yen, 11, and Darleen Sean, 11, practice writing Cambodian characters at Neighborhood House. With help from federal grants, the non-profit provides a variety of educational programs. (Joshua Trujillo / P-I)"In our culture and community, we have food and come together and talk and share things with each other, but it was embarrassing at first to talk about AIDS," said Sokha Keo, who comes to sew costumes for her daughter's recitals. "We hide things like this in Cambodia. It's better to talk about it, like we do in the U.S."
Alex Keo, 16, has been coming to music and dance classes at Neighborhood House for two years, and became a peer educator for HIV/AIDS. He talks to Cambodian youths around Seattle about the disease.
"We don't just talk about HIV, we also talk about how it relates to life through stereotypes, drinking and risky behaviors that can lead to HIV," he said. "We're not just teachers to them, we're their age and can relate to them."
Because of its success in meshing HIV and AIDS education into existing programs, the group has received a $2.5 million, five-year federal grant to expand the program to African-Americans and to immigrants from East Africa and Vietnam. The expanded program will focus on youths 12 to 17 and on women. It also will provide HIV testing, counseling and referrals for substance-abuse treatment and mental health services.
Pothan said she hopes that expanding the program will help more people gain access to information they otherwise would be limited in receiving.
"There really isn't a lot of HIV testing and counseling for these populations," she said. "We want them to have stability and connect with their culture and learn life-saving information at the same time."
P-I reporter Cherie Black can be reached at 206-448-8180 or
cherieblack@seattlepi.com.
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