The following insights into peer education in an Angolan school are contributed by David and Miriam Trott.

“The neighbors could hear cheers and applause coming from the public school across the street. The ‘Life Abundant’ group had finished another presentation on HIV, AIDS, sexuality, and self-image to 7th and 8th graders. Music, drama, and humor make the program memorable and popular.

The selection of peer educators is critical. A talented group of twelve young people from various churches completed the training. Schools have afternoon and morning sessions, so we have two teams. The peer educators are students themselves, so those who go to school in the morning go back to do the program for the afternoon classes; those who go to school in the afternoons are presenters in the morning sessions.

The feedback we get reveals that the program touches on issues that are close to home. The peer pressure is very real, and there are a lot of cultural myths about sex and AIDS. When the program is over, many students ask how they can be part of our group. One of the new components we added this year is a monthly meeting off campus for continued interaction including spiritual follow-up.

The key lessons we have learned facilitating peer education in schools are:

1. Keep the peer educators motivated. Ours are volunteers and the satisfaction of a successful program, inclusion in an elite group, and seeing the effect in the lives of their peers is payment enough. However, we also let them know verbally and in other ways such as treats and retreats how important they are.
2. Prepare them spiritually. We make sure that each of our peer educators has a good testimony in their church, school, and community and that they are growing through some form of discipleship and accountability. We expect them to be able to give an account for the hope in them when their peers ask.
3. Listen to them. Our best ideas for drama and music have come from the peer educators themselves. We let them express the concepts of the program with their own "youth" language and culture. We have also found it helpful to let them evaluate themselves to encourage one another and suggest ways to improve.