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Mopani Junction CD-ROM cover

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CDC Zimbabwe

Physical Address:
2nd Floor, Nestle House, 38 Samora Machel Ave, Harare, Zimbabwe

Postal Address:
P.O. Box 3340,
Harare, Zimbabwe

Telephone:
263-4-796040/48

Fax:
263-4-796032

Email:
bctool@zimcdc.co.zw

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Mopani Junction

Author: US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Zimbabwe and Media for Development Trust

Publication Date: 2003

Target Audience: Young people between the ages of 15-29

Language: English, Shona, Ndebele

Format: Radio drama of 104 twenty-five minute episodes

Included on Toolkit: Excerpt of tool

See Tool

Description:

Mopani Junction is an audio drama created for Zimbabwean radio. It is now available on audio cassette or CD-ROM to small groups and communities. The drama follows the Gumbo family as they struggle to adopt HIV/AIDS safe and supportive behaviours. The Gumbo family is a role model of how to adopt safe behaviours and support those infected. Each main character represents a different healthy behaviour change objective. Behaviours include living positively with HIV, prevention of mother-to-child transmission, delaying sexual initiation, abstaining from sex, and being faithful. All characters experience situations many Zimbabweans can relate to.

  • Loveness is married to an abusive and promiscuous man, Misheck, who brings home a second wife. She wants to make her marriage work. But, after a beating puts her in the hospital, she leaves. Loveness learns her status and lives according to her results. Her story is about a rural woman who tries to make it on her own.
  • Benjamin and Blessing have a marriage crisis when Benjamin is unfaithful and gets an STI. They go to get a HIV test and Benjamin decides to make his marriage work and remain faithful to his wife.
  • Luckson and Noma are madly in love. When the drama begins they have been dating for one year. Luckson proposes marriage, and then Noma learns she is pregnant. She is encouraged to learn her status in order to protect their baby from HIV.
  • As the youngest child, Sphiwe is going through growing pains. Sphiwe's curiosity about boys gets her in trouble with her older brother Jackson. Her best friend, Rumbi, is also a bad influence. Sphiwe learns about the dangers of early sex and to delay her first sex.
  • Josh is a talented songwriter. He decides to pursue his music career in the city after his girlfriend, Kristine, breaks his heart. In the city he meets lots of women and struggles with his decision to abstain from sex.

Communities can use Mopani Junction to help members adopt healthy sexual behaviours. The episodes will encourage conversations about the impact of HIV and AIDS on individuals and society. Group leaders will be able to answer questions and share information about HIV and AIDS. The Mopani Junction characters also role model decision-making and behaviour change in challenging circumstances. Through observing and discussing the characters' situations, listeners will be able to apply new behaviours to difficult situations in their own lives.

Click on the following links to find out more about Mopani Junction:

Sample Episodes

Three Mopani Junction episodes are provided in this Toolkit. Click on one of the links below to hear the episodes in English, Shona or Ndebele. Synopses of episodes 85, 86 and 87 are below.

In Episode 85, Josh and Virginia lose a music contest unfairly, while Sphiwe deals with relationships with boys from the town. Luckson struggles with his mother and plans to get his wife back from her family. Thursday and Plaxedes struggle over Loveness' newfound desire to assist the needy and HIV/AIDS affected people in their town. Meanwhile, Benji loses his best friend, Feejay, to AIDS.

In Episode 86 Benjamin mourns Feejay. He feels guilty about not knowing Feejay's HIV+ status. Luckson goes to his wife's family to ask for forgiveness for his mother's action, and Sphiwe challenges her mother's behaviour with Luckson and Noma. Thursday struggles with his daughter's involvement with the poor. However, he begins to plan how he can involve the community in caring for the needy. Sarah and Pastor Leonard discuss her son Josh's growing desire to know who his father is.

In Episode 87 Luckson and his friend make retribution to Noma's family. They discuss how hard it is to disclose HIV status to friends and family. Sphiwe sets boundaries about physical activity with her boyfriend. Benji and his sister Loveness discuss how to live positively with AIDS. Thursday moves ahead with his plan to involve the community in AIDS care.

Click on the following links to listen to these episodes of Mopani Junction in three different languages:

File Type: Windows Media Audio**
 File Size: 23MB
Run Time: 25 Minutes

English Shona Ndebele
Episode 85 Episode 85 Episode 85
Episode 86 Episode 86 Episode 86
Episode 87 Episode 87 Episode 87

Use the contact information to the left to obtain the entire Mopani Junction series.

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*Software capable of displaying a PDF is required for viewing or printing this document. We have included a copy of Adobe Reader on this CD (in software folder) or you may download it from the Adobe website at http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html.

**Windows Media Player is required for listening to these episodes. We have included a copy of Windows Media Player on this CD for your use. Follow the installation instructions provided in the software folder.

Mopani Junction Testimonial

Mopani Junction groups have met in central locations in Zimbabwe, such as clinics, sports fields or schools, to listen to each episode and discuss the characters and the challenges and choices they face. The groups range in size from as few as 6 to as many as 40 young people, many of whom walk several kilometers to attend. Group participants are recruited from existing youth groups and through talking with parents.

The young people who join these groups talk about the situations in the drama that relate to their communities and their own lives. Many choose a character as a role model, as 17 year-old girls Tatenda and Sabina did: “Chiefly I have learnt to delay my first time of sexual intercourse just like what Sphiwe did. Sphiwe is my role model in MJ.” In letters about their experience with Mopani Junction, many youth say that they have learned about how HIV/AIDS is contracted and the importance of being tested and living a healthy life with or without HIV/AIDS. Young people report that Mopani Junction has influenced them to make healthier choices, with some even becoming spokespersons in their communities, encouraging others to support people living with HIV and AIDS.

Introduction to Behaviour Change | Faith-based Communities | Workplace Setting | Healthcare Setting | Working with Youth | Working with Couples