During a seminar for the priests and sisters of the Church of Benguela, Hanna and Michael presented the "Fleet of Hope". Father Bernard Joinet, Professor of psychology in Dar-es-Salaam University, Tanzania noticed that behavorial change doesn't depend merely on technical information about AIDS, and that the ONG's and the Church had entered in a counterproductive deadlock over the condom issue. So he developed a series of 40 drawings, based on the Arch of Noah, to work on people's feelings. AIDS is compared to a flood, which we can only escape by climbing into a boat. There are 3 boats: Abstinence, Be faithful and Condom. Whereas the government has a responsibility to present the entire fleet objectively, churches, traditional leaders, families etc. can induce people to make their choice according to their values. But the most important message is: never get back into the water, stay on board of a boat of your choice - and, if necessary, change from one boat to the other. This prevention campaign has been used in Catholic churches in various African countries, and is available, in English and translated into Portuguese, on this website.

page last updated April 5th, 2003