Today, a child saw me and ran away, screaming in terror. I was in a good mood, so I thought it was pretty funny. Haven't had that reaction before...usually it's just pointing, staring, laughing, and "hey, Mzungu! Give me money."
I have been pretty busy the past couple weeks since I started working. A lot of volunteers find they have a lot of down time, since things tend to move slowly around here and it takes a while to figure out what you should be doing. I, on the other hand, think I'm going to be fairly busy, just trying to balance my time and energy between two placements. That's not so bad -- I did, afterall, come here to work. And I'm really enjoying the work that both NGOs do, I don't think I could choose one over the other. So, even if it means being constantly on the go, I'm hoping to make it work.
I'm excited to be involved in both programs because they both approach the HIV/AIDS problem from a different angle. White Orange Youth (WOY) focuses on educating youth, both in schools and on the street, about HIV/AIDS and how to protect themselves -- and to empower them to be good role models and work to stop the disease. Tanzania Children Concern (TCC) is working on a door-to-door campaign to encourage testing, educating families about the disease and the importance of knowing your status and changing your behavior accordingly.
With WOY, so far I have spent most of my time at the internet cafe (quickly becoming my second home) typing up various reports, printing, and doing some research to find potential funding sources. I have gone twice now with the peer educators to see what they do in the schools, and even though my only contribution there was a HUGE distraction, it was interesting to see how they go about it. They visit 8 schools each week and teach a different topic each time. I, without realizing it until it was too late, snuck to the back of an all-boys class on the day they were teaching sexual reproductive health. Let's just say my presence wasn't exactly conducive to the learning process. I also attended a parent meeting this week at one of the schools. They hold parent meetings at each of the schools to teach the parents about HIV/AIDS and STDs, as well as how to talk to their own kids about sex and the risks it carries. It was very interesting -- I only wish I could have understood more of what they were saying. There was a lot of discussion and questions, especially when we came to talking about condoms. Condoms hold a huge stigma here, so much so that they have come up with alternative terms just so that young people won't feel embarrassed asking for them at the stores. The parents don't want to accept the fact that their children may be sexually active, even as young as 12, and don't think the kids should be told about condoms. WOY is not really allowed to promote condoms in the schools, so they try to encourage the parents to talk to their kids about it. It's a significant problem here.
With TCC, I go with them 3 days a week on their house-to-house campaign. There are several areas around Moshi that they focus on because they are the poorest areas, or where people seem to be more affected. For instance, one area we visit frequently is just outside of town near a huge sugar plantation. People come from all over Tanzania to work there, but often have their families elsewhere and stay away for a long time, so there is a lot of drinking and prostitution and drug use there. People are very poor and there are many orphaned children there, being improperly cared for, many of them losing their parents to AIDS. So, we go from house to house talking with people. (Well, I just sit there right now, but hopefully that will change once my Kiswahili improves.) Most people have been fairly receptive to us and are willing to talk. Most agree with the importance of what we are trying to do, and we find a lot of people who are willing to get tested, once we ask them. Others will refuse to talk to us, quite possibly because for whatever reason they have something to fear and would rather not know. Fear is a big barrier to getting tested -- people are not only afraid of what their status might be, but they are also afraid of being ostracized by their friends and family (a very real concern, it happens often). We visited one woman that is public about being HIV positive, and as a result her family has rejected her and her children are picked on, beat up, and called names. She broke down crying just telling us about how hard it has been. There is such a huge stigma toward HIV/AIDS, that people would rather not know and put their health in jeopardy just to avoid being treated like that.
It is hard, but hopefully we can at least change the way people think about HIV and testing and empower them to change their own behavior. I'm excited to see how it all progresses.
I have been pretty busy the past couple weeks since I started working. A lot of volunteers find they have a lot of down time, since things tend to move slowly around here and it takes a while to figure out what you should be doing. I, on the other hand, think I'm going to be fairly busy, just trying to balance my time and energy between two placements. That's not so bad -- I did, afterall, come here to work. And I'm really enjoying the work that both NGOs do, I don't think I could choose one over the other. So, even if it means being constantly on the go, I'm hoping to make it work.
I'm excited to be involved in both programs because they both approach the HIV/AIDS problem from a different angle. White Orange Youth (WOY) focuses on educating youth, both in schools and on the street, about HIV/AIDS and how to protect themselves -- and to empower them to be good role models and work to stop the disease. Tanzania Children Concern (TCC) is working on a door-to-door campaign to encourage testing, educating families about the disease and the importance of knowing your status and changing your behavior accordingly.
With WOY, so far I have spent most of my time at the internet cafe (quickly becoming my second home) typing up various reports, printing, and doing some research to find potential funding sources. I have gone twice now with the peer educators to see what they do in the schools, and even though my only contribution there was a HUGE distraction, it was interesting to see how they go about it. They visit 8 schools each week and teach a different topic each time. I, without realizing it until it was too late, snuck to the back of an all-boys class on the day they were teaching sexual reproductive health. Let's just say my presence wasn't exactly conducive to the learning process. I also attended a parent meeting this week at one of the schools. They hold parent meetings at each of the schools to teach the parents about HIV/AIDS and STDs, as well as how to talk to their own kids about sex and the risks it carries. It was very interesting -- I only wish I could have understood more of what they were saying. There was a lot of discussion and questions, especially when we came to talking about condoms. Condoms hold a huge stigma here, so much so that they have come up with alternative terms just so that young people won't feel embarrassed asking for them at the stores. The parents don't want to accept the fact that their children may be sexually active, even as young as 12, and don't think the kids should be told about condoms. WOY is not really allowed to promote condoms in the schools, so they try to encourage the parents to talk to their kids about it. It's a significant problem here.
With TCC, I go with them 3 days a week on their house-to-house campaign. There are several areas around Moshi that they focus on because they are the poorest areas, or where people seem to be more affected. For instance, one area we visit frequently is just outside of town near a huge sugar plantation. People come from all over Tanzania to work there, but often have their families elsewhere and stay away for a long time, so there is a lot of drinking and prostitution and drug use there. People are very poor and there are many orphaned children there, being improperly cared for, many of them losing their parents to AIDS. So, we go from house to house talking with people. (Well, I just sit there right now, but hopefully that will change once my Kiswahili improves.) Most people have been fairly receptive to us and are willing to talk. Most agree with the importance of what we are trying to do, and we find a lot of people who are willing to get tested, once we ask them. Others will refuse to talk to us, quite possibly because for whatever reason they have something to fear and would rather not know. Fear is a big barrier to getting tested -- people are not only afraid of what their status might be, but they are also afraid of being ostracized by their friends and family (a very real concern, it happens often). We visited one woman that is public about being HIV positive, and as a result her family has rejected her and her children are picked on, beat up, and called names. She broke down crying just telling us about how hard it has been. There is such a huge stigma toward HIV/AIDS, that people would rather not know and put their health in jeopardy just to avoid being treated like that.
It is hard, but hopefully we can at least change the way people think about HIV and testing and empower them to change their own behavior. I'm excited to see how it all progresses.
posted by Ashley at
4:27 PM
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