Supporting the health and wellbeing of children and young adults living with HIV

Finding Connection at the Fifth Chiva Families’ Weekend

Angelina Namiba, Chiva Associate from the 4M Network of Mentor Mothers

The fifth Chiva Families’ Weekend took place from the 22 – 25 May 2026. I can’t believe that we are now at residential number five! How quickly time flies. This time we went back to the beautiful Herefordshire countryside. 12 family groups attended the residential, comprising of 25 young people aged between three and 19 years old.

Some of the families had attended a Families’ Weekend previously. Each year, some families return because they are isolated and still need support, and also so that they can provide peer support to families attending for the first time, in terms of what to expect and the potential benefits and support available throughout the weekend.

Chiva staff and a Chiva Steering Group member attend the event along with Chiva Associates including from the 4M Network and a young adult volunteer supporting the Creche.

The weather was wonderful throughout, so sunny and bright. This enabled the families to enjoy the views and spend lots of time outside chatting, bonding and connecting. The children and young people enjoyed running around the green fields. Without any prompting, the teens formed friendship groups and could be spotted playing games, running around or just chilling and chatting, whilst their parents and carers also got to know each other.

These weekend retreats aim to give families the space to share stories and strategies of living well with HIV, to explore how to improve family communication about HIV, and also, importantly, to allow for some much-needed self-care and wellbeing activities. For many of the families, this is the only opportunity for them to go away and spend quality time together as a family unit.

As always, the programme was a mix of parent/carer-only activities, children’s activities as well as joint family sessions. There was also time factored in for quiet time/reflection and free time.

At the welcome and introductory session on Saturday afternoon, families shared how they were feeling at the start of the weekend. These thoughts were written and placed on a special ‘family reflections tree’ that is used to chart growth throughout the weekend. The evening was relaxed and allowed families to connect with others. Everyone gathered around the campfire where there was marshmallow toasting for the children.

The following morning the day began with a whole family art workshop, where families created family book covers which they colourfully designed and created titles to represent their family identities. Families then fed back about their book titles and covers and the sharing of their journeys was very emotional, at times sad but also very uplifting. Some talked about how they had overcome many adversities since their different HIV diagnoses.

This was followed by a joint family session on building stronger conversations at home. Using conversation prompts, families took time to reflect on different aspects of being a family, including what makes them happy, what HIV means to them as a family, their achievements, strengths and what makes them hopeful for the future. Following on from this, there was time for another family creative workshop where they decorated jars to take away with tips and strategies for continuing family conversations at home added.

After lunch, whilst the children and young people took part in various activities, including swimming, volleyball and football, the adults attended workshops. These were a mix of both wellbeing and informational sessions and included: sharing tips and strategies for living and working in the UK; and exploring sharing an HIV status with children and significant others.

There was also a journaling session, continuing on from the family book cover session where participants explored creative writing by creating chapters for their book. Participants came up with an action plan of how they will continue writing their stories as a family.

Additional family activities included movie night, where parents and carers were made aware of the different Chiva films and resources and we screened the short film, Love Ends Stigma, produced by the Naz Project London. This film features interviews with seven activists, gardeners, creatives, mothers, and authors, all living with HIV, as they have open conversations with their loved ones about sharing their HIV status, relationships and navigating life with HIV.

The screening was followed by our popular karaoke session, once again facilitated by DJs Bex on the decks and Ange on the mic. This proved very popular with children, young people and parents, all getting involved, not only in the singing, but in dancing and cheering on singers as they took to the mic.

On the last day, following a family nature walk in the beautiful surroundings, families came together for a closing reflection session before departing. They also shared feelings about how they were feeling after the weekend, and these were added to the tree. The feedback session was once again really powerful and emotional in terms of just how much families and the children value this space.

Once again, I would personally like to say another huge thank you to Chiva for continuing to provide this much-needed, much-appreciated, much-valued space for families. And for walking alongside families and giving hope and support, where oftentimes there isn’t much, and for positively impacting the lives of many families. Extra special thanks to funders for enabling this incredible space.