MYITKYINA, Myanmar (UCAN) -- The presence of Bishop Francis Daw Tang of Myitkyina at the opening of a recent five-day awareness course on HIV/AIDS for local Catholic youth emphasized the diocese's concern.

Sister Aswena Apao, a Filipino Columban sister and youth coordinator for the Youth for Christ association in St. Columban Parish, called the presence of the bishop and two priests "very special." Their attendance was aimed at encouraging youth to take the threat of HIV/AIDS seriously, she told UCA News.

About 40 young people took part in the Oct. 17-21 HIV/AIDS Awareness Course held at the St. Columban Cathedral hall in Myitkyina. But the aim was to reach many others by empowering participants with knowledge they could pass on to their peers.

The diocesan Youth for Christ unit organized the training, which included presentations by a representative from the Yangon-based HIV/AIDS department of Karuna Myanmar Social Service (KMSS), the social arm of the Myanmar Catholic Church.

Myitkyina, capital of Kachin State, is 950 kilometers north of Yangon.

The five-day workshop was crammed not just with talks but also with dramas and competitions to enable participants to learn and later share their knowledge about human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in various ways. HIV usually leads to AIDS, which is almost always fatal.

According to Augustine Piang, HIV/AIDS project assistant at KMSS, the participants learned how HIV can be transmitted and how to look after those infected with it.

Every evening they took part in short plays and quizzes highlighting topics such as the HIV risk involved in casual sex or drug addicts reusing hypodermic needles, as well as how to show compassion to people living with the virus.

A recurrent theme was the need for the young people to pass on what they learned.

Pan Aung, a parish youth leader, told UCA News he hoped to organize an HIV/AIDS awareness course for 100 youth in his area during the coming year. Others at the training also "promised to share what they have learned and to visit those with AIDS," he added.

Another youth leader, Matthew Ze Hawng, 24, admitted he attended the workshop because "nobody else wants to come to listen about HIV/AIDS." One important point he said he learned and would share is that HIV cannot be caught merely by visiting people with HIV or AIDS.

Many participants agreed that the sharing of three people living with HIV/AIDS and a trip to an AIDS hospice were highlights of the training. Two of these three presenters said they were infected through sexual intercourse, and the third by injecting drugs.

One sang a song he had written, My Love - We Are Apart Due to AIDS, which visibly moved the audience.

The hospice they visited was Respite Care House, run by the Columban Sisters, which has been open since 2004.

Sister Mary Dillon, a staff member, said the nuns accept people living with AIDS who are rejected by their family and ostracized by their community, who live far from a clinic or who face other difficulties.

Patients, the youngest patient of whom was 6 years old, according to Sister Dillon, receive medical treatment organized by an NGO or the local hospital, and the center has volunteers who visit patients living at home.

"When the youths visited our center, the patients were very excited because they are very lonely," she said, noting that they warmly welcome visitors and anybody that can offer assistance.

Following the visit to the hospice, the group held a prayer service, and each participant lighted a candle in memory of all the youths who have died due to AIDS, Piang reported. They also wrote personal wishes for AIDS sufferers and burned these letters as an offering to Jesus, the KMSS HIV/AIDS project assistant said.

After the prayer service, they shared with each other what they learned from the training and what they would share with other youths when they went home.

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