Star School Project

KZN’S STAR SCHOOL PROJECT RECEIVES INTERNATIONAL AWARD FROM THE GBC

In the presence of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon Swedish entrepreneur Dan Olofsson received a prestigious award on behalf of the Star School project (click here) at an international gala in New York on Monday evening. The prize was awarded for the efforts made by the Star School project at limiting the spread of HIV-AIDS in South Africa. The project currently involves 62 000 young people throughout the province of KwaZulu-Natal.

10 June 2008

The Star School(click here) project received commendation at the 2008 Global Business Coalition Awards for Global Business Excellence Gala in New York on Monday evening. In addition to Ban Ki-moon, the 700 guests included the managers and envoys responsible for both the UN and the Global Fund’s programmes against HIV-AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. The gala was held by the Global Business Coalition (click here) , a coalition of 220 of the world’s major companies that are making significant progress in the battle against HIV-AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. “Reinforces knowledge and self-confidence” The Star School project was initiated by Dan Olofsson’s Thanda Group in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal. The project is currently being implemented in schools throughout KwaZulu-Natal and Namibia. Star School aspires to reinforce young people’s knowledge and self-confidence and thereby their choices – especially in areas where they run the risk of infection by HIV-AIDS. The programme was initiated in 2005 and now actively involves 62 schools and around 62 000 young people whose families are also being touched by the project. “Contributing towards reinforcing young people’s confidence in their own future and provision of knowledge about HIV-AIDS allows everyone to make wise decisions that benefit them personally. This means that we have seen positive effects regarding both school work and patterns of sexual behaviour. Young people, teachers and parents have thus taken to Star School,” says Dan Olofsson. "The award from the Global Business Coalition is further acknowledgement of the committed work being done on the part of those employed within Star School. We are proud and happy about this recognition."

John Tedstrom is the Global Business Coalition’s Executive Director. “We’re proud to be commending Thanda Private Game Reserve for its outstanding Star School programme,” he says. “Thanda is an integral part of an expanding network of companies that can give individuals the requisite knowledge and awareness to limit the spread of HIV-AIDS. They possess the skills, resources and influence needed to achieve otherwise inconceivable outcomes. And we need many, many more like them,” he commented.
Thanda is a relative newcomer amongst the multinational groups who received awards from the Global Business Coalition, only teaming up with the GBC and its efforts to inspire and coordinate the travel and tourist industry’s measures against HIV and AIDS last year. Thanda’s ability to assert itself is chiefly attributable to the strong spirit of entrepreneurship that characterises the entire Thanda concept.

(Incorporated not for gain under Section 21 of the Companies Act)

The Star School Project was one of the first projects implemented by the JAC Initiative. The South Africa Nation faces many challenges such as unemployment, poverty, HIV/AIDS and crime. Regarding HIV/AIDS one of the main challenges is to change the “mind set” of the people.

Nearly half of all who contract AIDS are between 15 and 24 with the majority contracting it i through unsafe sex. One of the critical areas in dealing with the spread of HIV/AIDS is awareness and prevention.

The area surrounding Thanda has been particularly affected by the disease where poverty exacerberates the likelihood of recovery or even effective administration of the various available drugs.

The Star School project is an awareness and prevention program that was started as a pilot project at the Siphosabadletshe High School which is situated near Hluhluwe in Zululand, not far from Thanda. This program ran from July to November 2005. An independant assessment was undertaken by Research International who concluded that the project had achieved tremendous results in a relatively short period of time.

Not only did the project have positive and encouraging results on sexual awareness amogst scholars, but the whole issue of sexuality (abstinance and safe sex) had been elevated to a higher level; coupled to this, scholars displayed greater enthusiasm and responsibility towards their accademic curriculum, thus achieving higher grades. The Star School Project to other schools in order to make a substantial difference.

The entire project is funded by Dan and Christin Olofsson through Thanda.

Star School Mission

The Star School mission is to help and support high school students to live an AIDS-free life in order to fulfil their dreams.

The message is that even if you are HIV-positive you can still live an AIDS-free life if you follow the course of treatment properly.

The project is an opportunity to co-operate with students to create dream pictures, linking the dreams, goals, ambitions and aspirations of children to be AIDS-free.

In order to be AIDS-free, students should either abstain from having sex or if already sexually active, refrain from having unsafe sex.

The slogan is “AIDS-FREE, THAT’S ME!!!”

The mental vaccination concept was formulated by Swedish consultants Thomas and Ziaga Magnusson who very successfully implemented the project in Sweden, “How to stop smoking in 2 hours” combined with a follow-up phase.

This project had a 70% success rate.

This combined with education and activities will lead to changed attitudes, values and sexual behaviour. The idea is to run the Star School project over several years to maximise mental vaccination. The project aims to increase knowledge and create dreams and hopes for the future through education. The objective of the project is to use mental vaccination in order to live an AIDS-free life, to increase the knowledge about HIV/AIDS, reduce the numbers of HIV-positive and pregnant students as well as to change the students’ values and attitudes in a perceptual way.

For further information visit www.starschool.co.za.