Testimonials
“I love Dance4Life! I really appreciate you all coming to teach us, I love the activities and the games, it was fun and interesting and I learned a lot! This was the best I ever felt because you inspired me to be happy.”
— 15-year-old female, Government Industrial School resident.
“I like the fact that Dance4Life complements the existing national Health and Family Life Education (HFLE) Curriculum. There are many benefits to be derived from this programme since it does provide a wealth of information about specific issues like Goal Planning and HIV and AIDS. Additionally, the dissemination of this information is packaged with student-friendly activities that make the learning experiences meaningful…It is my belief that this programme is essential because many of the issues that affect our students are addressed.”
- Ms.Baptiste, Teacher and 2nd Form Year Head, Ellerslie Secondary School
“I endorse any project that is student-friendly, engages young people in the development of skill and touches the lives of students the way this programme is doing.”
- Patricia Warner, Senior Education officer at the Ministry of Education & Human Resource Development; HFLE Coordinator for Barbados.
“I have been following Dance4Life since its inception here in Barbados. Having been at the previous dance4life event two years ago, I was delighted to see the extent of the evolution of Dance4Life in Barbados.
The choice of a venue suitably lit for this occasion was the first indicator that the team at Dance4Life understood how to achieve their objectives of reaching young people with messages in an environment in which they were comfortable and also using messengers either of their age or whom they saw as icons, in the field of communication and entertainment.
In summary, the growth of Dance4Life over the past two years has been amazing. Not surprisingly, the engagement and enthusiasm of the young people have grown equally.
I would hope that in the next biennium the numbers both of the schools and the children involved, continue to increase incrementally, but also that both government and non-governmental organizations will see the need to support this critically important avenue of peer to peer messaging in the context of music, dance, song, and creativity.”
- Dr. Carol Jacobs, Chair of Live UP; Former Chair of Barbados HIV/AIDS Commission; Former Chair of The Global fund on the Dance4Life biennial Big Event.
“I will always love you guys! I really enjoy all the activities that Dance4Life does for us and learning about HIV and AIDS and STIs. I really learn a lot of information and even got to correct my friends at school about how you get it and how don’t, and how we shouldn’t discriminate against people with HIV because they are no different from me, and it makes the disease spread even more.”
- 17-year-old female, resident of one of the children’s home in a card to D4L.
“I’ve really enjoyed being part of the youth council this year.
It made me realize that I’m not powerless and that I really can make a difference in things I care about.”
- Jaec, 17 years old, Former Youth Council Member.
"“I really liked the sessions you guys did on substance abuse with all the pictures and videos and bringing in those guys to talk to us about their story and what happened in their life because of the drugs. They was real honest about everything and I felt real bad for them…I used to smoke a lot of marijuana before and never really thought it would do me anything, but XX made me think different, I really going to try to stay away from all of that when I get out.”
– 15-year-old male, resident at Government Industrial School, following substance use module.
“I love Dance4Life, they are like my family. I love seeing them! Before last year, when they surprised me with a birthday cake, it was really special because it was the first time I had ever gotten a cake for my birthday. I know that for a lot of the other children it was the same. It made me feel really good.”
- 15-year-old male, birthday initiative recipient at children’s home.