Dr. Chanda Graves of Grady Hospital's Infectious Disease Program and her Doctoral Intern, Joya Hampton, facilitated our HIV education workshop. In addition to HIV basics, we delved into bullying this year, including forms that most of the children were unaware of (i.e. bullying by exclusion). A robust discussion of how bullying is manifest in schools, neighborhoods, and in the lives of adolescents dealing with HIV took place. Next, Drs. Chanda & Joya explored practical methods of combatting bullying, which empowered our children to protect themselves as well as their peers. Finally, the kids did a fantastic job creating and acting out scenarios that depicted bullying and its countermeasures. This was a very enlightening workshop, which also served as a skill-building session for those in attendance. The teens were incredibly engaged throughout, and offer insightful commentary during conversation. In addition, Drs. Chanda and Joya were on site most of the week for individual meetings with the children, where they answered additional queries and addressed any psycho-social issues that emerged during camp.

 

For our annual HIV ceremony, children were invited to write their thoughts, wishes, ideas, etc. regarding their attendance at CHF on pieces of paper and drop them into a fire pit. They were also welcomed to share words of wisdom with their peers. A few of our children bravely disclosed their experiences contracting HIV, offered coping mechanisms to their fellow campers, and words of encouragement for the audience. HERO staff was proud of the way in which the children's peers and Camp volunteers embraced and supported those who provided their testimonies.

 

A highlight of this year's session was the involvement of the Project Impact Team from the Richmond County Board of Health in Augusta, members of which came out and hosted a paint party for the children (for which the Team donated all of the art supplies and snacks). This activity gave the kids yet another keepsake from CHF 2019. Children demonstrated their gifts during our annual dance and talent show, as well. We continued to implement our "Counselor-in-Training" (CIT) component, in which adolescents who have 'aged out' of CHF and 'sat out' for a year are invited back to train to become Counselors. CITs develop marketable skills while caring for the younger children at CHF.

 

In partnership with CTL and with the assistance of 19 dedicated volunteers, our children enjoyed a wonderful experience at Camp High Five this summer. This session was executed successfully due to the commitment of our Medical Director and Board Member, Dr. Sheryl Henderson; Camp Director, Starla Windsor-Chambers; Assistant Camp Director, Tylah Hankerson; Head Nurse, Michelle Strauss; Child Psychologists, Drs. Chanda Graves and Joya Hampton; CHF Founder, Bonnie Minter; Doris Pearson; the Camp Twin Lakes staff and various program representatives from our partner cities. Finally, we couldn't do this work without our fantastic nursing staff and team of volunteer counselors, who each donated a week of their time to help improve the lives of children affected by HIV and AIDS.

 

We would like to extend a special thanks to the following donors for their support of CHF 2019: