Teens, electric guitars and a jammin' good way to learn about HIV/AIDS in the Kedah heartland. ADIB POVERA and ELIZABETH JOHN have the story.

Mohd Nasir Bakar (left), 46, a volunteer at the Pendang ProStar Drop-In Centre, giving tips to a visitor on how to play the electric guitar

DRESSED in a stretchy black T-shirt and grubby jeans, hair tousled and a sleek electric guitar slung across his shoulders, the young man looked every bit a rock star wannabe.

The drummer strikes a beat and the guitarist picks up on the tempo, his fingertips gliding over the fretboard with ease.

The strident je-jang-jang of the jam session flows out of the amplifiers and bounces off the poster-filled walls of the tiny studio.

Only the pictures aren’t of shaggy haired rockers in tight pants and the place isn’t some swanky studio in the city.
The posters touch on a deadly serious issue, HIV/AIDS, the studio’s in faraway Pendang, Kedah and the Van Halen wannabe’s one of many teens who drop by this very unlikely ProStar centre.

For the last four years, the drop-in centre has attracted restless young people from the quiet, conservative town about 30km from the State capital of Alor Star, providing a safe, fun place where they wouldn’t be judged.

For many youth, it’s an alternative to aimlessly riding around town on their bikes, wiling away the time at the local coffee shops or getting into trouble.

Occupying a pale yellow single-storey building between the Pendang District Council Hall and a food court, the centre’s a cosy place with a library, gym and is hooked up to the World Wide Web.

A joint effort by Unicef, the Health Ministry and local leaders, the centre opened its doors in 2004 and has been steadily attracting the local teens.

The idea was to provide young people the option of healthy, affordable activities while educating them about HIV/AIDS (see sidebar).

“The response has just been overwhelming,” says Mohd Shaifulakmal Rosli, the spry 22-year-old student who is its supervisor.

Before operations began, Shaifulakmal recalls asking youth in the town what they’d like to do in their spare time.

Most said: “Benda yang enjoylah” (Something enjoyable).

That’s how the centre’s jamming studio came to be such a big hit, says Shaifulakmal, even getting rave reviews from parents.

It’s also the only one is town.

Before it came along, Pendang’s budding rockers had to travel all the way to Alor Star and pay RM50 per day in studio fees, says drummer man Mohd Nasir Bakar, a volunteer at the centre.

The 46-year-old plays in a band and spares some time to help teens and man the studio at the centre and jams with the kids who come by.

“At first, they just want to have fun, fun, fun. But after a couple of visits, they start asking about the posters, about AIDS and HIV. Some even sign up as members of ProStar.”

This is the ProStar way of spreading knowledge about the disease that afflicts so many in the state, explains Shaifulakmal, who’s enrolled in a long-distance degree course at Universiti Utara Malaysia.

Posters drape the walls of the cybercafé section, the library, gym and even in the reception area, yet the centre manages not to look like a clinic.

It could be the personal touches like the flower arrangements, the comfy blue sofas and all those activities planned for those boring times after school.

Like the cooking, grooming and handicraft classes.

There are also IT classes, silat, aerobics and vehicle repair sessions with teachers from the local Kemas and Mara centres.

And though every class starts with a five-minute presentation on ProStar and the dangers of engaging in high-risk activities, they ensure they’re never lecturing the teens.

“If kids want to talk more, we have counsellers.

“And we avoid calling it a counselling session. Here, it’s a talk session, which sounds a little more teen-friendly,” says Shaifulakmal.

The centre also organises outdoor activities and before each, a fair bit of research is carried out to gauge what its target audience — 13 to 25 year olds — would want.

Shaifulakmal used to be skeptical when the centre first opened.

While activities were funded, there were struggles finding money to maintain equipment. This young supervisor once had to fix all the spoilt computers himself.

But over time, he has noticed that from complete ignorance, the youths who frequent the centre have learnt what AIDS stands for and gained a basic understanding of the disease.

“Last time, we thought you could get HIV by touching people who carried the virus,” said 21-year-old Mohd Rozaidi Rahimi.

“We’ve learnt how the disease is passed from one person to another and we know that it’s not right to judge them.

“Now, we wouldn’t be afraid to approach a person with HIV or AIDS.”

Despite the centre’s popularity, the changing mindset and growing community support, Shaifulakmal feels there’s a long way to go yet.

“It’s tough being a teen these days. They need to know how drug abuse and unprotected sex can leave them with HIV and AIDS. They also need healthy alternatives to the things they do now, like glue sniffing and mat rempit activities.

“Young people need all the knowledge they can get their hands on. There’s so much more for the centre to do.”

And if that calls a twist — electric guitars against a backdrop of educational posters — Shaifulakmal’s ready, too.