By AIDA MALLARD
Special to the Guardian

Published: Thursday, February 16, 2012 at 6:01 a.m.

AIDA MALLARD/Special to the Guardian

Calvin Washington, a 20-year-old student at Job Corps, talked about losing his mother to HIV/AIDS when he was only 12 years old. He also read his original poetry during an HIV/AIDS awareness program in conjuction with National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day.

To raise awareness of HIV/AIDS and to encourage teens to get tested, members of Black AIDS Services and Education, or BASE, used the performing arts to deliver a straight forward message about the dangers of unsafe sex and the importance of getting tested to students at the Reichert House Youth Academy.

The Reichert House Youth Academy is an after-school program for male students in grades 6-12 who are in need of assistance in making the transition from adolescence to adulthood.

Nearly 85 students participated in an HIV/AIDS awareness program delivered through honest talk, rap and poetry.

“HIV/AIDS is taking out too many people who look like you,” said NKwanda Jah, a member of BASE and chairwoman of the BASE National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day.

“I’m scared for you all,” Jah told the students. She said young blacks have a high risk of getting HIV/AIDS.

Michael Bowie, president of BASE, said it’s important to become educated, to learn the risks of engaging in unsafe sex, and to get tested for HIV/AIDS. He said there is no cure for HIV/AIDS, but with treatment, people can live a long time. Bowie told the students HIV/AIDS can’t be contracted from saliva or from mosquito bites as one student suggested.

“Having unsafe sex; that’s how you get HIV/AIDS,” Bowie said.

Jah told the students the best way to avoid HIV/AIDS is to not have sex. “It’s important to use protection,” Jah said. “Five minutes of feeling good is not worth your life.”

Calvin Washington, a 20-year-old student at Job Corps, shared his life experiences and read his own poetry. Job Corps is a residential education and job training program for youth ages 16-24.

Calvin said he is one of five children raised by a single mom, who died of AIDS when he was a young kid. “I was 12 years old,” said Calvin, “I didn’t know what to do.”

Calvin said his response was to act out by skipping school and getting into fights. He ended up in foster care and later shuffled from relative to relative. He said he lost a chance to play college football and his life got worse when he began selling and doing drugs.

“A call from Job Corps in 2010 saved my life,” said Calvin, adding that at the Job Corps Center in Gainesville, he earned his GED, learned carpentry and is planning to go to college.

Kenneth White, another Job Corps student, used R&B and rap to deliver his HIV/AIDS awareness message. He told the students to work hard to achieve success. “HIV/AIDS is real live hell,” Kenneth said.

The program received high marks.

“I learned stuff I didn’t know,” said Tony Bryant, a 10th grader at Eastside High School. “It was a nice presentation.”

Kevin Mattair, athletics director at the Reichert House, said incorporating rap and R&B was a good way to teach HIV/AIDS awareness.

“The message hit home,” Mattair said. “It was awesome.”