I had the privilege of meeting Efremu last Saturday. With an energy that is not typical of a man who is 55 years old, he spends his days walking sometimes 8 hours or more per day, visiting people who have HIV/AIDS in the villages of the surrounding Arusha area. He doesn't get paid, and he was never "assigned" this task. He simply believes tupo pamoja (we are here together) and because of this, we should help each other.
He talked to us about how the culture in TZ, and in Africa overall, is centered around community. If one person gets sick, they do not suffer alone - rather, the community pulls together to help them, whether it be by donating food or time to care for them. It was like having one big family - everyone gives help, everyone receives help. However, with increased exposure to Western culture, he noticed that more and more people were becoming dissatisfied with what they had and attitudes have shifted from selflessness to selfishness - today the priority is not to lend a helping hand to your neighbor but rather to use surplus time and resources to get material objects and live like an American. Luckily, although Efremu is always surrounded by the American volunteers and staff of SIC, he still sticks strongly to his beliefs.
Although we only visited 2 patients, it took the majority of the day (from 9:30 to 2:30pm). They are sisters, and they live about a 30 minute walk from central Arusha. Efremu says he sees them at least every other day, selling shoes on the street. They are never apart - even their homes are only a 5 minute walk from one another. It is so fortunate that they have each other - in fact, one sister persuaded the other to get tested for HIV, which is so great, because her CD4 count was still high, so she can take the steps to lengthen her quiet period (the period in which someone who is HIV+ can live with no symptoms of illness), which essentially means that she can live a longer and healthier life. For both of them, their husbands ran away when they found out their wives were HIV+, leaving them with their three children. They only have enough income to rent a single room. When we walked inside, the rooms were crammed with all of their personal belongings. They had one bed which they all shared, a few chairs to accommodate guests, and one coffee table. Because there is so little floorspace, their clothes were hanging from one side of the room to the other on wire lines, and their things were stacked all the way up to the ceiling. The walls were mud that has been compressed to fit between wooden planks and the ceiling was stacked sheet metal. Their entryway was composed of potato sacks laid carefully on top of the mud and they cook inside, which causes a thick smoke to fill the room. Aside from one window, there was barely any sunlight - at night they eat dinner by light of a kerosene lamp.
They live extremely simply because they have to - the shoe business is not very profitable - yet they are so openly giving. During our visit they demanded that they share their food with us, even though they have so little. As part of the AIDS patient visits, SIC has set aside part of the budget to give volunteers Tsh 10,000 ($10) to spend on the HIV+ patients we visit to help them in any way we decide. Many families barely have enough to eat, and these families were no different. However, when the families found out we were students, they were so hesitant to tell us what they needed. Efremu would ask them, "Do you have rice? cooking oil? soap?" and they would reply, "No." But they didn't want us to buy them anything. It was so rewarding to walk with them to the duka and give them the things they needed and have them look at you with so much gratitude in their faces when they said "Nashukuru sana" (I am very thankful).
It really put a face to the cause. So much of our work here is Prevention, so it is not often that we do meet people who are HIV+. The experience was so powerful. To know that through education, we can prevent situations similar to these from happening. I spent much of this week thinking about it.
And finally, to end, a very cute/funny text message from my baba. To give some background, I left the house without getting breakfast (because we had teaching and I couldn't wait any longer for it to arrive) and I wasn't going to return until 2:30.
"I felt embarassed as mama Sam told me that u didnt took ur breakfast bcos th bread was late. It is a long run begining frm morning till 230 without it. Plse come back4ur breakfast on 10. Tell them that u got head-ache and u need2come home immidiately 4 pain reflief tablets. -baba Sam"
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Friday, November 16, 2007
From Maroroni to Marurani
New village stats:
Group size - 10 (4 Americans, 2 Brits, 4 TZ teaching partners)
Village pop - 2,000
# of subvillages - 3 (Juu, Katikati, Cusini - translation = high, middle, south)
# of schools - 2 (Shule Msingi na Umoja - two primary schools)
# of weeks before "summer" break - 1
time spent walking to school - approx. 1 hr and 15 mins (Umoja is 1 hr away, Msingi is 15 mins away)
# of churches - 4 (Muslim, Baptist, Lutheran (2))
Homestay stats: 2 people (Alex, one of the Brits and I) with one room and one bed. I stay with the diwani of the ward (Ward Elected Counselor) and he is amazing - he speaks really good English and is fascinated by everything American, so he loves to ask us questions and get our opinion on many different topics, including long distance relationships, George Bush, and romantic comedies (he is a fan of Titanic).
So we've spent a week in our new village. It is SO different from Maroroni. Maroroni was spread out - you would walk 10-15 minutes within seeing one house or even one person. However, in Marurani, it's a completely different story. We have one main street, and there are so many houses, one next to another. You walk and greetings abound with every step (since that's how it is here, every time you pass someone, you have to greet them, either with a hi, how are you? or a how have you been since the morning? or how is your work? how are your cows?). It feels so much more like a community when you compare it to the desolate open plains that composed Maroroni. The street is tree-lined (the trees are MANGO TREES!!) and there is just so much more activity. This area gets more rain than Maroroni and it's closer to Arusha, which means that it is comparatively, more wealthy. Many of our homestays have generators for electricity and televisions, as well as a pikipiki (motorbike) in addition to their bicycle. Their increased income is reflected in the food we are served as well. I have never tasted better quality meat (in Tanzania) since arriving here (my family is Masai, so they are very particular about their meat - we get goat meat regularly but it is REALLY good when my mama cooks it) and I get tomato and onion salad at every meal here (as opposed to one a week for a treat). Furthermore, many of the homestays have fruit platter (as opposed to one banana per day).
Since the schools had national exams this week, we actually haven't started teaching, and now only have one week of formal classroom instruction before the schools are let out for summer break. Luckily, we have 1 1/2 hours of class time every day, so we should be able to get through the bulk of the curric, but I hope we can find enough community teaching opportunities to fill the void that classroom teachings usually fill. We have seminars set up with them for two weeks after, as many students are required to come back to work on the school (ie, clean it) during their break time, so hopefully we will still be able to work with many of our kids, as I feel like a week is hardly enough time to get to know them, or to have them get to know us.
There's really not much to say, as this week was mostly spent getting to know our community and walking around (although we did do 3 community teachings for the 4 days that we were there BOOYAH!) More later. Kwa heri!
Group size - 10 (4 Americans, 2 Brits, 4 TZ teaching partners)
Village pop - 2,000
# of subvillages - 3 (Juu, Katikati, Cusini - translation = high, middle, south)
# of schools - 2 (Shule Msingi na Umoja - two primary schools)
# of weeks before "summer" break - 1
time spent walking to school - approx. 1 hr and 15 mins (Umoja is 1 hr away, Msingi is 15 mins away)
# of churches - 4 (Muslim, Baptist, Lutheran (2))
Homestay stats: 2 people (Alex, one of the Brits and I) with one room and one bed. I stay with the diwani of the ward (Ward Elected Counselor) and he is amazing - he speaks really good English and is fascinated by everything American, so he loves to ask us questions and get our opinion on many different topics, including long distance relationships, George Bush, and romantic comedies (he is a fan of Titanic).
So we've spent a week in our new village. It is SO different from Maroroni. Maroroni was spread out - you would walk 10-15 minutes within seeing one house or even one person. However, in Marurani, it's a completely different story. We have one main street, and there are so many houses, one next to another. You walk and greetings abound with every step (since that's how it is here, every time you pass someone, you have to greet them, either with a hi, how are you? or a how have you been since the morning? or how is your work? how are your cows?). It feels so much more like a community when you compare it to the desolate open plains that composed Maroroni. The street is tree-lined (the trees are MANGO TREES!!) and there is just so much more activity. This area gets more rain than Maroroni and it's closer to Arusha, which means that it is comparatively, more wealthy. Many of our homestays have generators for electricity and televisions, as well as a pikipiki (motorbike) in addition to their bicycle. Their increased income is reflected in the food we are served as well. I have never tasted better quality meat (in Tanzania) since arriving here (my family is Masai, so they are very particular about their meat - we get goat meat regularly but it is REALLY good when my mama cooks it) and I get tomato and onion salad at every meal here (as opposed to one a week for a treat). Furthermore, many of the homestays have fruit platter (as opposed to one banana per day).
Since the schools had national exams this week, we actually haven't started teaching, and now only have one week of formal classroom instruction before the schools are let out for summer break. Luckily, we have 1 1/2 hours of class time every day, so we should be able to get through the bulk of the curric, but I hope we can find enough community teaching opportunities to fill the void that classroom teachings usually fill. We have seminars set up with them for two weeks after, as many students are required to come back to work on the school (ie, clean it) during their break time, so hopefully we will still be able to work with many of our kids, as I feel like a week is hardly enough time to get to know them, or to have them get to know us.
There's really not much to say, as this week was mostly spent getting to know our community and walking around (although we did do 3 community teachings for the 4 days that we were there BOOYAH!) More later. Kwa heri!
Sunday, November 11, 2007
MOMBASA
The trek to Mombasa: 15 hour overnight bus (Arusha --> Nairobi --> Mombasa) arriving at 7am Friday morning, 20 min dala dala - basically a van that has many seats drilled into the flooring which serves as a bus (called matatu in Kenyan swahili) to the port, 10 min ferry ride across to Likoni island, 30 min matatu to Tiwi Road, then 15 min taxi ride to Twiga Lodge on Tiwi Beach.
So picture a deserted beach with white sand that's super fine and soft and water that's blue and turquoise with the palm tree leaves rustling in the breeze.
That is Tiwi Beach.
We stayed in cabanas with thatched roofs that had an ocean view. Only about 150 yds from the beach, we had the luck of coming in the tourist offseason and in addition to landing an amazing price (the equivalent of $7/night), we had the entire place (and beach) to ourselves. I traveled with four of my girl friends on the program, and we spent our days lying on the beach, floating in the ocean and eating mangos with lime juice drizzled on them (we bought 5 mangos, one watermelon and 3 limes for $2 on the side of the road as we drove up to the lodge). I was in heaven, mostly because I haven't seen the beach (or even a swimming pool) in six weeks, which is altogether WAY too long for me.
Mombasa the city is a loud, crowded, and bustling atmosphere. It is much more Muslim than Arusha (as we realized when we got our impromptu 4am wakeup call with the sirens going off in the mosques), and much more developed, which makes sense for a port city. Although they all speak Swahili, English is the language of choice, you regularly see brand new cars driving down the streets and $6 will get you 600 Kenyan shillings vs 6,000 TZ shillings.
On Sunday, we had the luck of finding a bus that only took 7 hours vs. 15 (more direct route), and now (Monday morning) I am mentally prepping to move into my new homestay!! Next weekend, I will let you know how movein and my first week in my new village goes. Until then, kwa heri!
So picture a deserted beach with white sand that's super fine and soft and water that's blue and turquoise with the palm tree leaves rustling in the breeze.
That is Tiwi Beach.
We stayed in cabanas with thatched roofs that had an ocean view. Only about 150 yds from the beach, we had the luck of coming in the tourist offseason and in addition to landing an amazing price (the equivalent of $7/night), we had the entire place (and beach) to ourselves. I traveled with four of my girl friends on the program, and we spent our days lying on the beach, floating in the ocean and eating mangos with lime juice drizzled on them (we bought 5 mangos, one watermelon and 3 limes for $2 on the side of the road as we drove up to the lodge). I was in heaven, mostly because I haven't seen the beach (or even a swimming pool) in six weeks, which is altogether WAY too long for me.
Mombasa the city is a loud, crowded, and bustling atmosphere. It is much more Muslim than Arusha (as we realized when we got our impromptu 4am wakeup call with the sirens going off in the mosques), and much more developed, which makes sense for a port city. Although they all speak Swahili, English is the language of choice, you regularly see brand new cars driving down the streets and $6 will get you 600 Kenyan shillings vs 6,000 TZ shillings.
On Sunday, we had the luck of finding a bus that only took 7 hours vs. 15 (more direct route), and now (Monday morning) I am mentally prepping to move into my new homestay!! Next weekend, I will let you know how movein and my first week in my new village goes. Until then, kwa heri!
Friday, November 2, 2007
Last week in the village!!
Things are moving with breathtaking speed.
So our week started out early. VERY early. So like I mentioned earlier, we had met with the church leaders of the village. During that meeting, we planned four church teachings, 2 on each Sunday. So last Sunday, in order to get to church on time (10am) we had to wake up at 5:30 AM, taxi to the Moshi-Nairobi road, catch a Coaster heading out to Moshi and convince them to drop us off at Kikatiti, 45 minutes later arrived in Kik. So Kik is a 2 hour walk from Maroroni. By some stroke of amazing luck, we found a car that happened to be going that way. In exchange for Tsh 8,000, got a ride to Maroroni central, and then walked 1 1/2 hours to the church in Nazaretti and arrived 10am on the dot. It was a very rushed and semi stressful journey, and I can't believe we made it. Unfortunately, our teaching partners did not have the same luck, so it was actually all for naught, because our Swahili skills are not quite up to teaching par. But so it goes. Everything and everyone here seems to run on "Tanzania time." For everyone who knows me at home, it would seem that TZ time would be quite convenient for my schedule, as I always seem to be running late. But it is quite ironic, because I am actually the most punctual in my group right now (HAH everyone from san ro!). The most valuable thing I've learned here has been patience. The acquisition of that state of zen where you just wait and have to say hamna shida (no problem). For example, when our secondary school teachers are being uncooperative and forces us to cram 200 kids into one 40 minute slot because they are behind in their teaching. Or when we plan to leave by 7am to do our 1 hour walk to school to get there on time and mama doesn't bring out the chapati until 7:20. Or having to wait over an hour for a community teaching to start. I am slowly getting better at taking that deep breath and letting it go.
So one of the sustainable programs that SIC runs is called Peer Educators. We educate students to lead programs in their classrooms to ensure that HIV education continues in the schools after we leave. They are also a resource that their peers can use to ask questions, and the eventual hope is that they will stimulate behavior change in their generation. It has been a very frustrating program, because national exams started this week, so many of our Peer Educators cannot get trained, or since many of them have to go home to work on the shamba (farm) or make dinner, have only an hour to give after school (and we are supposed to work with them for 20 hours). Luckily, Upendo (field officer) will be training them after we leave, but I want to do so much with them, because they are the most important thing, since they are sustainable. We were working with them one day and we had them practice public speaking. For many of the girls, even saying their name is a struggle. They would hide their face, or look at the ground, or giggle a lot. I guess actually, it's not too different from when you were first learning how to speak in front of a group. They range in age from 17-28. (28 is the outlier, most of them are 17-20). But we have been working with them all week, and they have taken amazing strides. I am so proud of them. To teach, it is so important that they are able to be knowledgeable and an authority in their class. They will have to speak with confidence. They are the cream of the crop of their school (the two best students from every class), yet they needed so much work to encourage them to speak decisively and voice their opinions in front of their peers. We led them in a discussion over if men are better leaders than women. Immediately, the discussion shifted to leaders in the family. It is interesting because they never even touched on leaders in a different setting other than the family. Their vision of ultimate leadership is leading in the family. Or maybe that is because that is the only example of leadership that they experience in their day to day lives. We went in a circle and talked to them about what they would like most to be when they grew up. There were only four options that got repeated over and over. Soldier, pilot, police woman/man and teacher. I wonder if that is because those are the only options they know. Would there be a greater diversity if more options were readily available to them?
This week we finish teaching, and next week is only four days long (really, 3). We have Makiba's Community Day on Monday and then our Community Day on Wednesday. Tuesday will most likely be used to prep from Wed's community day. Since we are the central village, we are heading it up, and I am SO excited. We will be opening with our primary school kids (read: CUTEST kids EVER) singing the national anthem, TZ, TZ. And then we have our secondary school kids performing! We have two raps and two songs (completely originally made up by the kids) and then a skit!
Today is super busy because we are working on extra projects. We need to draw up information for the dadas group (for them to have new topics to discuss and have the info to bulk out their arguments) and we are also making a FAQ, Mother-specific pamphlet (talking about Mother to Child transmission) and a General Info pamphlet. Expect an update next week talking about how our Community Day went. Wooo!
- Stuff / Evie
(see below for an explanation)
So our week started out early. VERY early. So like I mentioned earlier, we had met with the church leaders of the village. During that meeting, we planned four church teachings, 2 on each Sunday. So last Sunday, in order to get to church on time (10am) we had to wake up at 5:30 AM, taxi to the Moshi-Nairobi road, catch a Coaster heading out to Moshi and convince them to drop us off at Kikatiti, 45 minutes later arrived in Kik. So Kik is a 2 hour walk from Maroroni. By some stroke of amazing luck, we found a car that happened to be going that way. In exchange for Tsh 8,000, got a ride to Maroroni central, and then walked 1 1/2 hours to the church in Nazaretti and arrived 10am on the dot. It was a very rushed and semi stressful journey, and I can't believe we made it. Unfortunately, our teaching partners did not have the same luck, so it was actually all for naught, because our Swahili skills are not quite up to teaching par. But so it goes. Everything and everyone here seems to run on "Tanzania time." For everyone who knows me at home, it would seem that TZ time would be quite convenient for my schedule, as I always seem to be running late. But it is quite ironic, because I am actually the most punctual in my group right now (HAH everyone from san ro!). The most valuable thing I've learned here has been patience. The acquisition of that state of zen where you just wait and have to say hamna shida (no problem). For example, when our secondary school teachers are being uncooperative and forces us to cram 200 kids into one 40 minute slot because they are behind in their teaching. Or when we plan to leave by 7am to do our 1 hour walk to school to get there on time and mama doesn't bring out the chapati until 7:20. Or having to wait over an hour for a community teaching to start. I am slowly getting better at taking that deep breath and letting it go.
So one of the sustainable programs that SIC runs is called Peer Educators. We educate students to lead programs in their classrooms to ensure that HIV education continues in the schools after we leave. They are also a resource that their peers can use to ask questions, and the eventual hope is that they will stimulate behavior change in their generation. It has been a very frustrating program, because national exams started this week, so many of our Peer Educators cannot get trained, or since many of them have to go home to work on the shamba (farm) or make dinner, have only an hour to give after school (and we are supposed to work with them for 20 hours). Luckily, Upendo (field officer) will be training them after we leave, but I want to do so much with them, because they are the most important thing, since they are sustainable. We were working with them one day and we had them practice public speaking. For many of the girls, even saying their name is a struggle. They would hide their face, or look at the ground, or giggle a lot. I guess actually, it's not too different from when you were first learning how to speak in front of a group. They range in age from 17-28. (28 is the outlier, most of them are 17-20). But we have been working with them all week, and they have taken amazing strides. I am so proud of them. To teach, it is so important that they are able to be knowledgeable and an authority in their class. They will have to speak with confidence. They are the cream of the crop of their school (the two best students from every class), yet they needed so much work to encourage them to speak decisively and voice their opinions in front of their peers. We led them in a discussion over if men are better leaders than women. Immediately, the discussion shifted to leaders in the family. It is interesting because they never even touched on leaders in a different setting other than the family. Their vision of ultimate leadership is leading in the family. Or maybe that is because that is the only example of leadership that they experience in their day to day lives. We went in a circle and talked to them about what they would like most to be when they grew up. There were only four options that got repeated over and over. Soldier, pilot, police woman/man and teacher. I wonder if that is because those are the only options they know. Would there be a greater diversity if more options were readily available to them?
This week we finish teaching, and next week is only four days long (really, 3). We have Makiba's Community Day on Monday and then our Community Day on Wednesday. Tuesday will most likely be used to prep from Wed's community day. Since we are the central village, we are heading it up, and I am SO excited. We will be opening with our primary school kids (read: CUTEST kids EVER) singing the national anthem, TZ, TZ. And then we have our secondary school kids performing! We have two raps and two songs (completely originally made up by the kids) and then a skit!
Today is super busy because we are working on extra projects. We need to draw up information for the dadas group (for them to have new topics to discuss and have the info to bulk out their arguments) and we are also making a FAQ, Mother-specific pamphlet (talking about Mother to Child transmission) and a General Info pamphlet. Expect an update next week talking about how our Community Day went. Wooo!
- Stuff / Evie
(see below for an explanation)
oh-em-gee it's november already
Welcome to November. How did that happen?
Week 3.
So, Swahili is a rather hard language, because there are so many words that are very very similar. And usually, the words that you need to use/use often are very similar to words that are quite inappropriate. For example, umelewa (you have been drunk?) vs. umeelewa (you have understood?). Or, in the case of the other night. Boyfriend vs. vagina friend. We were teaching sexual reproduction, so the words were fresh in my head and instead of saying rafiki wanaume I slipped in uke (vagina) instead. And since we were struggling to remember, when it popped into my head I shouted it. Go figure. That made for a very awkward family moment in our living room.
Another awkward, and quite scary moment in my opinion, was when I got locked in the choo. So the choo is a hole in the ground and it's a separate shack from the rest of the house (in terms of the aroma that exudes from it, this is a good thing, trust me). You have a door that you can swing close and I guess I was too zealous in my swinging because I jammed the door shut. Luckily, Gaby was outside talking on the phone, so she saved me from being attacked by all of the cockroaches (who live down in the hole of the choo and will climb up to say hi when they see you come in the door).
Enough of awkward Stefanie (or Stuff, or Evie - my new name for the next village, because even Stuff is hard for people to remember) stories and on to what's been happening in the village.
Our village is very religious. One of the tasks that we are supposed to do is to take a condom survey, in which we talk to the dukas (shops) and ask them if they will sell condoms, and if they won't, would they be willing to? The goal of this is to give them a box free of charge and then, if they get customers asking for it, they will be encouraged to stock it on their own. Anywho, so we go around to all of the dukas in maroroni and all of them pronounce themselves to be "Reborn Again." All of them use the same exact expression and have no interest whatsoever in stocking condoms. Ever. Which presents a problem, because how are we going to teach about the importance of condoms if we cannot even offer them to the people after we leave? Luckily, we found that the dispensary would be willing to stock them, so that's one place, but it's frustrating. I wonder to what extent community attitudes influenced the dukas' decision not to stock condoms - for example, for fear of being ostracized as the duka that sells condoms (and therefore, that implies that you would be all for premarital sex, which it doesn't), they wouldn't want to be the first one to stock them. Community attitudes really influence people's actions here, especially in terms of behavior change. Our biggest challenges are educating people to become more open to condom use as an alternative (not the only) choice to protect against HIV and to reduce the stigma/misconceptions surrounding HIV/AIDS. We had a meeting with the church leaders on monday, and we talked about the fact that we teach about the ABKs (Acha Kabisa - abstinence, Baki Mwaminifu - be faithful and Tumia Kondom - use a condom). Initially, they wanted us to only teach A and B, but later, thankfully, they admitted that there are some "bad apples out there," so teaching about K is equally important.
In terms of misconceptions, a popular one is that the people spreading HIV are the ones who know they are infected and are intentionally spreading it. So they should be separated from everyone else and do not deserve to live. We were teaching at a church this week and one of the women proclaimed that if anyone that she knew got AIDS and died, she would not attend their funeral. And that she wished that ARVs sped up the death of people with AIDS. However, I'm sure she wouldn't have said that if someone within her family had HIV. People here distance themselves from the problem. They don't understand that the majority of the people spreading HIV are not even aware that they have it, and doing it completely unintentionally. If people start realizing that HIV DOES happen to people like them, maybe that will encourage them to make behavior change.
This week we had our first testing day (siku ya upimaji). I am officially HIV - ! To encourage our kids at the secondary school to get tested, we told them that we would be testing right alongside them. It was an amazing turnout. Usually testing days average 30-40 people. We had 92. I feel like this had to do with the fact that we pushed testing the day before when we taught in our secondary school. We talked to them about HIV testing, telling them about the process, and what to expect and the fact that regardless of if you know it our not, HIV is not something that just goes away. By knowing, you can take steps to protect the people you love and also to lengthen your life. But if you don't know, then you can't take these steps. I was so happy to see so many of our students. Not only because this sets them up for a pattern of testing and re-testing throughout their lives, because now they have gone through the process once, but also because they are a high risk group. Because there is only one secondary school in the area, many of our students live a 5-hour walk away from the school, or sometimes even more. In order to get home, some of them will be tempted to exchange sex for transportation or even for food if they live in Maroroni by themselves. The other day, we went to visit some of our students. They lived in this rundown shack, with two rooms. The beds were hard, with a thin thin layer of foam. They used one bed for studying and one for sleeping. There was hardly enough space to move around and they had decorated with empty soap and shampoo and lotion bottles hanging from the ceiling. They had to cook dinner on their own, and only had enough money for a few dried sardines and a tomato. They confessed that they usually go to bed hungry. And then they talked about how if you sleep with a man, he will give you rice for dinner. Rice, something that we will waste by throwing into the air in weddings and something we consider so simply and so cheap, is a luxury item for them. And they would sleep with someone, possibly unprotected, just to get some for their next meal. It was truly depressing.
On a brighter note, we have started a dadas (sisters) group in our village. It was set up in hopes of giving them a support network in which they could confide in one another and have the confidence to voice their opinions (something that women here and NEVER asked to do). We are also trying to provide them with a connection to the nurse in the village, opportunities for future careers (if that is something they want to do) and the starting point to think about behavior change. They are the future of their communities and this community in particular could use some more open-minded people. We have had four meetings so far, in which we have elected a committee. Our meetings consist of the girls teaching a topic for 30-40 minutes (practice in public speaking and confidence) and then a discussion topic that is related to what has just been taught. The last meeting the girls led themselves. They chose the topic of bride price and dowry and ways to eliminate this practice in their community. I was really proud of them. We are going to try to visit them even when we move away to the next village.
Week 3.
So, Swahili is a rather hard language, because there are so many words that are very very similar. And usually, the words that you need to use/use often are very similar to words that are quite inappropriate. For example, umelewa (you have been drunk?) vs. umeelewa (you have understood?). Or, in the case of the other night. Boyfriend vs. vagina friend. We were teaching sexual reproduction, so the words were fresh in my head and instead of saying rafiki wanaume I slipped in uke (vagina) instead. And since we were struggling to remember, when it popped into my head I shouted it. Go figure. That made for a very awkward family moment in our living room.
Another awkward, and quite scary moment in my opinion, was when I got locked in the choo. So the choo is a hole in the ground and it's a separate shack from the rest of the house (in terms of the aroma that exudes from it, this is a good thing, trust me). You have a door that you can swing close and I guess I was too zealous in my swinging because I jammed the door shut. Luckily, Gaby was outside talking on the phone, so she saved me from being attacked by all of the cockroaches (who live down in the hole of the choo and will climb up to say hi when they see you come in the door).
Enough of awkward Stefanie (or Stuff, or Evie - my new name for the next village, because even Stuff is hard for people to remember) stories and on to what's been happening in the village.
Our village is very religious. One of the tasks that we are supposed to do is to take a condom survey, in which we talk to the dukas (shops) and ask them if they will sell condoms, and if they won't, would they be willing to? The goal of this is to give them a box free of charge and then, if they get customers asking for it, they will be encouraged to stock it on their own. Anywho, so we go around to all of the dukas in maroroni and all of them pronounce themselves to be "Reborn Again." All of them use the same exact expression and have no interest whatsoever in stocking condoms. Ever. Which presents a problem, because how are we going to teach about the importance of condoms if we cannot even offer them to the people after we leave? Luckily, we found that the dispensary would be willing to stock them, so that's one place, but it's frustrating. I wonder to what extent community attitudes influenced the dukas' decision not to stock condoms - for example, for fear of being ostracized as the duka that sells condoms (and therefore, that implies that you would be all for premarital sex, which it doesn't), they wouldn't want to be the first one to stock them. Community attitudes really influence people's actions here, especially in terms of behavior change. Our biggest challenges are educating people to become more open to condom use as an alternative (not the only) choice to protect against HIV and to reduce the stigma/misconceptions surrounding HIV/AIDS. We had a meeting with the church leaders on monday, and we talked about the fact that we teach about the ABKs (Acha Kabisa - abstinence, Baki Mwaminifu - be faithful and Tumia Kondom - use a condom). Initially, they wanted us to only teach A and B, but later, thankfully, they admitted that there are some "bad apples out there," so teaching about K is equally important.
In terms of misconceptions, a popular one is that the people spreading HIV are the ones who know they are infected and are intentionally spreading it. So they should be separated from everyone else and do not deserve to live. We were teaching at a church this week and one of the women proclaimed that if anyone that she knew got AIDS and died, she would not attend their funeral. And that she wished that ARVs sped up the death of people with AIDS. However, I'm sure she wouldn't have said that if someone within her family had HIV. People here distance themselves from the problem. They don't understand that the majority of the people spreading HIV are not even aware that they have it, and doing it completely unintentionally. If people start realizing that HIV DOES happen to people like them, maybe that will encourage them to make behavior change.
This week we had our first testing day (siku ya upimaji). I am officially HIV - ! To encourage our kids at the secondary school to get tested, we told them that we would be testing right alongside them. It was an amazing turnout. Usually testing days average 30-40 people. We had 92. I feel like this had to do with the fact that we pushed testing the day before when we taught in our secondary school. We talked to them about HIV testing, telling them about the process, and what to expect and the fact that regardless of if you know it our not, HIV is not something that just goes away. By knowing, you can take steps to protect the people you love and also to lengthen your life. But if you don't know, then you can't take these steps. I was so happy to see so many of our students. Not only because this sets them up for a pattern of testing and re-testing throughout their lives, because now they have gone through the process once, but also because they are a high risk group. Because there is only one secondary school in the area, many of our students live a 5-hour walk away from the school, or sometimes even more. In order to get home, some of them will be tempted to exchange sex for transportation or even for food if they live in Maroroni by themselves. The other day, we went to visit some of our students. They lived in this rundown shack, with two rooms. The beds were hard, with a thin thin layer of foam. They used one bed for studying and one for sleeping. There was hardly enough space to move around and they had decorated with empty soap and shampoo and lotion bottles hanging from the ceiling. They had to cook dinner on their own, and only had enough money for a few dried sardines and a tomato. They confessed that they usually go to bed hungry. And then they talked about how if you sleep with a man, he will give you rice for dinner. Rice, something that we will waste by throwing into the air in weddings and something we consider so simply and so cheap, is a luxury item for them. And they would sleep with someone, possibly unprotected, just to get some for their next meal. It was truly depressing.
On a brighter note, we have started a dadas (sisters) group in our village. It was set up in hopes of giving them a support network in which they could confide in one another and have the confidence to voice their opinions (something that women here and NEVER asked to do). We are also trying to provide them with a connection to the nurse in the village, opportunities for future careers (if that is something they want to do) and the starting point to think about behavior change. They are the future of their communities and this community in particular could use some more open-minded people. We have had four meetings so far, in which we have elected a committee. Our meetings consist of the girls teaching a topic for 30-40 minutes (practice in public speaking and confidence) and then a discussion topic that is related to what has just been taught. The last meeting the girls led themselves. They chose the topic of bride price and dowry and ways to eliminate this practice in their community. I was really proud of them. We are going to try to visit them even when we move away to the next village.
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