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Thousands of Kenyan Youth Turn Out for AIDS Rock Concert

Internews Kenya At the first "Rock Against AIDS" concert in Kenya, musicians included messages about HIV in their performances.

(December 10, 2004) Thousands of young Kenyans “rocked” against AIDS in Nairobi in sweltering temperatures in recognition of World AIDS Day. The concert, held on December 5, was the first of its kind in Kenya.

For a week prior to the concert, seven disc jockeys who helped host the event attended an HIV/AIDS reporting workshop provided by Internews’ Local Voices project. At the training, DJ trainer Georges Collinet coached them in how to talk about HIV/AIDS in an accurate, yet “cool” and accessible way so that their messages could be understood and absorbed by the mostly youthful concertgoers. Collinet has over 30 years experience as a journalist and radio personality in the U.S., Europe and Africa.

The deejays prerecorded HIV messages that were broadcast throughout the duration of the concert, which was carried live on Metro FM, Kenya Broadcasting Corporation’s youth radio station.

During the concert, Internews distributed flyers with facts on women, girls and HIV in Kenya. The MC’s encouraged the audience, which at times swelled to a number in excess of six thousand, to read the flyers by hosting “AIDS quiz” competitions on stage.

Young concert-goers could also receive counseling and information on HIV testing at the on-site voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) center. According to the center’s coordinator Stanley Ngara, “The 38 counseling sessions of 20 minutes each was a record for such an event. We even had more people waiting, but there were unfortunately only two booths…and many of them have booked appointments for the following weeks to get tested for HIV!”

Musicians also spoke to the eager crowd about HIV prevention. One of Kenya’s most popular performers, the rapper Roughtone, announced, “Let’s stop AIDS and abstain. Don’t have sex before you get married. You are precious.”

The concert was funded by the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, through the U.S. Agency for International Development.