Date: Sat, 9 Mar 1996 11:12:08 +0100 (MET) From: skolander@bahnhof.se (Bjoern Skolander) Subject: Triangulo Rosa: First 90 Days Date: Fri, 8 Mar 1996 23:23:31 +0600 From: rastern@sol.racsa.co.cr Subject: TR TRIANGULO ROSA: REPORT OF OUR PROGRESS: FIRST 90 DAYS Overview: Triangulo Rosa officially received its Cedula Juridica in September of 1995 and became the first legally chartered gay organization in Central America. In December we received a grant from the Netherlands which enabled us to expand our programs in the area of AIDS prevention and move to our new community center in Alajuela. Triangulo Rosa seeks to assist and empower the Costa Rican gay community on many levels. One of our main priorities is the work we are doing in the area of AIDS Prevention. Seventy percent of all cases of AIDS in Costa Rica have occurred in the gay/bisexual community. This means that over 500 gays now have AIDS. Unfortunately the number of HIV+ persons in Costa Rica is estimated to be 20,000 and it seems very probable that more than half of these are gay or bisexual men. There is an urgent need for a massive and highly effective prevention campaign in our community. Programs: We are now in the first phases of this campaign. We are running "integrated prevention workshops" in Alajuela and also we are just beginning programs in Limon and Puntarenas where we now have trained facilitators who will be working with the gay population. One of the obstacles in the first two months of our operation has been the lack of a telephone, but in spite of this, we have been able to at least begin all of our important programs. Another aspect of prevention as we it see is the creation of a community center with a variety of programs that enable gay people to feel part of a group and to improve there self esteem and ability to express and share feelings. We see prevention not just as taking place in "workshops" as such but also by means of other activities. Our center in its first two months of existence now offers a variety of programs. Monday nights: English Class Tuesday nights: Dance Classes Wednesday night: Political programs and programs focussed around human rights Thursday night: "Taller Integral" focusing on prevention of AIDS Friday night: First three Fridays of the month: Gay youth support group for persons under 22 years old. Last Friday of the month: Parents and friends of gays and lesbians. Saturday afternoon: Aerobic Exercise Saturday evening: Coffee house and general meeting for the gay and lesbian community. As of March lst approximately 100 people are using the center on a regular basis to assist in one or more activities. Volunteers: Additionally, we have succeeded in involving 17 people as volunteer coordinators of programs and activities. These people give from 3 - 6 hours of their time each week to participate in and direct the above listed activities as well as other programs we are trying to start such as a library, special cultural activities directed at the community, and recreational activities such as trips and dances. We encourage that all volunteers taking part in important decisions regarding their programs as well as the overall functioning of the center. In this sense we are communicating to them that they are able to have an impact on their environment and to take control of there lives. This will assist them in dealing with problems they face in the community at large, as well as in the areas of sexual communication and sexual health. Empowerment and Involvement: Our philosophy is that any interested member of Triangulo Rosa may attend the meetings of the "Junta Directiva" and participate and provide input or suggestions. We view ourselves as community based programs whose role is to respond to the needs of the community that we work with. We will be expanding the number of elected officers from six to twelve in our upcoming elections so as to further seek participation from as many members of the community as possible. We also recognize the need for members of our community to assist and fund raising projects to help us to meet our economic goals and needs. No NGO in Costa Rica as yet as has practiced what we call empowerment and community building with the gay community here. Previous attempts to work with the community have conveyed the philosophy "we will do this for you and we will make decisions for you about your resources." This in the long run has maintained the gay community in a fragmented and vulnerable state, and has not fomented the development of meaningful AIDS prevention efforts to the extent that would have been possible. The message we that we are trying to give to the gay community is that "you have the ability to take control of your lives and the decisions that affect you." Our goal is to have an extended network of gays through the country who make decisions about themselves and their programs and are actively involved in efforts having to do with AIDS prevention. We want our center in Alajuela to develop as a "model" center of the gay community that can be replicated in other provinces such as Limon, Puntarenas, Guanacaste, and Heredia. INTEGRATED WORKSHOPS FOR PREVENTION OF AIDS: We have developed a model for our workshops that integrates various elements that we consider to be important to be able to work effectively with our target populations. We recognize that not all gays come from the same background and that although they have many elements in common that there are also differences. Our model is eclectic and flexible and designed to address the needs of the general population but to also address the needs of any individual person who participates in the workshop. We focus on areas related to self-esteem such as expression of feelings, as well as relationships with family, friends, and we place all of this in the context of the process of self-acceptance and "coming out of the closet," in a way that we hope is realistic and meaningful. We encourage growth and change but we recognize that different people suffer from different degrees of oppression in the culture and need to go at their own pace as they change and grow. We try to model the process of empowerment by our own communication with each other as facilitators and by encouraging participants to take an active role in the workshops as they evolve. We focus on the impact of the "patriarchal, machisto culture" on gay people as a group that is marginalized and oppressed in Costa Rica. We help the participants to learn about these issues and to be able to look at their world and environment with a better range of understanding of what happens to them and with more specific skills that are related to problem solving. We deal very directly with gay sexuality and with the problem of sexuality in the same machisto society as it has impacted on the development of the sexual practices by gays in Costa Rica. We talk a lot about alternative sexual practices that are pleasureable and that are much lower risk than penetration. At the same we recognize the importance of anal sex in this culture and we place emphasis on the correct use of the condom. We also consider the area of "Sexual Communication" to be very important and we try to help participants develop a range of skills that will enable them to negotiate safer sex with their partners. Our workshops are generally 8 - l0 weeks in length and we consider "follow-up" to be very important in terms of involving participants in other activities in the center and encouraging them to take an active role in the growth and development of our programs. In summary, our goal is that the community building process that we are proposing will enable gays and lesbians in Costa Rica to have a broader perspective about their own destiny and human rights, and to be able to act in a way that will help them achieve these rights. If you want to contact us you can write to us at: Triangulo Rosa Apartado 1619-4050 Alajuela, Costa Rica, Central America Fax or Phone: (506) 234-2411 e-mail rastern@sol.racsa.co.cr ****************************************************************************** To send a message to the entire list "queerplanet", email queerplanet@abacus.oxy.edu To subscribe to the list, email MAJORDOMO@abacus.oxy.edu the one line message 'subscribe queerplanet'. 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