Current Endeavors

{ 18/05/2009 @ 10:14 } · { "lockdown" }
{ Tags: ARVs, computerizing, HIV, school, site, work }

I realize that I haven’t given a substantial update in a few weeks, so here it goes!

I haven’t been very busy. I’m on Africa time, after all. A lot of the time I just sit around wishing I knew more Zulu. I thought I had found a Zulu tutor, but I think she is far too busy to be useful to me. I also feel like employing a secondary school student would be a waste of my time. I don’t want to be taught simple words that I could simply look up in my Zulu dictionary…but maybe for pure dialog purposes? I don’t know yet. I haven’t met a learner (what students are affectionately called in SA) who seems like they would be able to answer my more complex questions regarding the language.

At work I have helped to write a few budgets. My org needs help in how to write them on paper/ computer, so that is pretty easy for me. I have also started the process of “computerizing.” By the end of my two years I want them to be able to put everything on the computer and have it organized. I will start working on explaining why you cant name every document the same thing next week…

I have been formally introduced to 4 schools. At one I went and said hello to every classroom, and the learners were SO excited to see me! In the other three I just met with the deputy principle and informed them that I would like to be involved with whatever iniatives I have. Everyone wants me to teach at their school. And it sounds “fun,” but thats not what im here to do. I would be interested in teaching the teachers about HIV etc, but I want the information that I have to be sustainable. The teachers must have the knowledge that I do so they can in turn give it to successive years of students.

I have decided to get active in one of the local secondary schools. I was approached by a life skills teacher to become part of an HIV awareness group. I think that the group is Christian based, which doesn’t make me happy, but I think that almost all the groups are, and I have to act within SA’s cultural forum, where religion is a big part of life. He is also planning on sending pregnant teens to me for counseling. Shit.

I did help teach one class, a life skills class. The learners asked me questions about HIV some of my favorites included:

• Is it true that when you are having sex, the virus is growing? When i said no, he said “but what if you are having a lot of sex” to which his buddies burst out laughing.
• The same boy mentioned above asked if you were circumcised, could you still get HIV? Yes. Although new evidence suggests that it makes it more difficult for a circumcised penis to contract HIV….its still possible. And its still possible to give it to your partner.
• I also talked about how realistically you cant get HIV from kissing, unless you are both bleeding from the mouth (to which I asked the learners why they would want to kiss someone bleeding from the mouth anyways, to which they laughed). But the teacher kept badgering me…so i said that YES, it was possible…but highly unlikely.
• A boy asked if he would get HIV from having unprotected sex with a girl. I said its not 100% (men have lower risk rates than females. We seriously got the shit end of the stick biologically speaking).

I did tell the learners that it is important to test, and that if they were scared they could ask me and I would go with them. I also shared that I had tested in January. Workin on breaking that stigma!!! And then a 12th grader passed me a love note…ugh.

I have been toying with the idea of starting some sort of girls group while I am here. But a venue seems difficult to locate, since I currently work out of a garage space that measures about 5′x10′ and privacy would be an issue. I am also not willing to offer up my home (aka my safe haven). An idea that intrigues me is creating a service learning class. I would like to get some of the older kids volunteering, as that isn’t a concept here, especially in a tutoring program for younger learners. Or perhaps a big brothers big sisters type situation for some of my organizations OVCs (orphans and vulnerable children).

I may have already solved my big conundrum. I had decided that I wanted to focus on getting ARVs to my village, as that seemed a distinctly worthwhile and important task. However, we were just informed of an RFP (Request for Proposals) in the local paper, and I looked at my supervisor and said “hey, lets apply for this and use the money to reimburse clients for travel to and from the hospital.” She agreed. So now we just have to figure out if thats a possibility and apply!

Right now I am looking forward to going to a meeting for the municipality regarding HIV and AIDS tomorrow (god, I hope its in English). I hope to hear some interesting stuff!