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Cheers!

On a sad (and ironic) note, I found out recently that a Peace Corps volunteer died in Uganda due to an automobile accident (link below).  Also, in Ghana, another volunteer died recently due to health issues… I think an unknown illness (link below).  My heart and condolences goes out to the family and friends of these fellow PCVs!!!

http://www.peacecorps.gov/resources/media/press/2230/

http://www.peacecorps.gov/resources/media/press/2231/

On a different note:  A donkey in my compound nearly went into my house this evening. He was just standing outside, not knowing where to go. Thankfully, that ass didn’t enter my house.

So… I said goodnight to my host mom and headed inside my hut to take a bucket bath.  My host mom went into her own hut where the kids were sleeping.  (My host dad was away visiting relatives so he’s not around tonight.)  From my house, I suddenly heard my friend/neighbor in the compound talking to my host mom outside.  I opened my door to find out what’s going on, and my host mom tells me something is inside her house.  She didn’t want to disturb me, and so that’s why she called my friend.

My neighbor finds big stick, I go into my hut and grab my machete, and we end up searching my host mom’s hut.  After a couple minutes, we end up killing a small snake slithering inside.  Well, actually, my friend was the one that killed the snake.  He spotted the snake first and started whacking it with the stick.  Then he took my machete and started chopping it as if it was a vegetable on a chopping block.  Whack!  Whack!  Whack!  I had never used my machete before, but I must say… it’s pretty damn sharp!!!

We took the snake pieces out of the house and looked around to make sure there were no other snakes wriggling about.  Soon, other village people came to our compound to see what happened.  After a couple minutes, people slowly went back home.  My host mom, though a little frazzled, went back inside her hut despite saying she didn’t want to sleep there tonight.  I went back inside my hut, and started inspecting my room for any slithering creepy crawlies.  And finally, I was able to take my bath

But questions remain… what kind of snake was it?  And was it poisonous?

Kelsey and I were in charge of Day 1, giving the participants background information about HIV/AIDS. It was very challenging because the HIV/AIDS knowledge of the PCVs and counterparts spanned such a large spectrum. Many PCVs knew a lot about HIV/AIDS, whereas most counterparts had little or incorrect knowledge. The goal was to find the middle ground, and try to inform everyone without being overtly technical or too simplistic.

Joe and Daniel were in charge of Day 2. This day was more focused on application of the knowledge gained from Day 1 and also strategies for disseminating this knowledge in the village/community setting.  Participants were informed that Day 1 was more informational, whereas Day 2 was more interactive.

Below, I’ve listed the schedule of the activities for the 2 days. Overall, it was a successful workshop and everyone felt that they learned a lot, especially the Gambian counterparts.

Day 1:

1. Introductions and Icebreaker
2. Group Agreements / Question Box / Goals
3. Let’s Talk About Our Body
4. What Do You Know About HIV?
5. HIV Basics
6. What Do you Know About AIDS?
7. Types of HIV
8. Transmission
9. Treatment
10. Prevention
11. History of HIV/AIDS
12. Gambian Statistics
13. Open the Question Box

Day 2

1. High / Low / No Risk Activity
2. Counseling and Testing
3. Stigma and Discrimination
4. Cultural Barriers Group Activity
5. Communication Starters in Village
6. Role Play Scenario Activity
7. Dissemination Strategies
8. Create HIV Message Activity
9. Resources Available to PC Volunteers
10. Closing Activity
11. Open the Question Box

Here are photos taken from both days of the workshop.  Enjoy!

Note to the reader:  I would love to learn more about ways to educate people about HIV/AIDS.  If anyone out there has advice, tips, or any other useful information, feel free to share

Ansata came over in the afternoon again, bringing with her the posse of little kids that tend to follow, and she wanted to play Dam.  I wasn’t in the mood to play the board game (more like “ground game” since you play it on the dirt).  Instead, we started chatting about random things that I can’t really recall at the moment, but the topic of planes came up. So I had an idea. Paper planes!  I had a hunch that they never made them before and that it would be a cool thing to introduce to them.

I brought out some paper, and I showed Ansata how to make the same paper airplane that my sister and cousins showed me how to make when I was a kid.  First off, let me just say that teaching kids how to fold pieces of paper (having never done it before) is a bit tricky. Even though you end up showing them how to do it (in other words, you make one and they make one with you at the same time), you end up basically making their paper plane.

Nonetheless, I made 2 paper planes and then off to the air they went! It was a bit breezy this afternoon, so they didn’t fly as best they could, but the kids still loved it.  They were amazed that it could fly such a long distance in the air.  To me, it wasn’t really far… just like 3 to 5 meters, but to them, it was as if it flew miles.  Another idea… PAPER AIRPLANE FLYING CONTEST!  I took a stick and drew a line on the sand.  Everyone had to stand behind the line.  Then, one by one, each child threw the plane to see how far it could fly. Where it landed, the child had to place a little rock or pebble indicating its landing point. The child who was able to throw the plane the farthest wins.  Again, they loved this idea. They played this game, they tried to beat each other, they teased each other if they didn’t throw the plane well, they teased each other if they won…

… just another day with the little kids in my village…

Happy Easter!

At 6pm, the whole Embassy entourage arrived at my school. It turns out that the Ambassador’s wife was sponsoring one of the girls (a grade 10 girl) and she wanted to visit the girl at school. They arrived – I was teaching class at the time – they did their thing, then they called me to tell me that they were about to go. Class was just about to end, so I left my students a few minutes early and headed out with the Embassy folks.

I didn’t know where we were going. I knew dinner was at the hospital, but we were heading in the opposite direction. We drove off… slowly slowly… not sure why we were going so slow, but I assume it was for security reasons that they carefully drove at a crawl. And we were heading to the border!!! I was a bit concerned. Were we going into Senegal? I didn’t have my passport. Hell, I left my PC ID in my wallet at school in my backpack. Uh oh. Well, on the bright side, I was with the Ambassador, so if there were any illegal border crossing issues, I was with the right company to help me out of the bind. We finally reached the border, and it turns out that the Ambassador’s wife wanted to take pictures of the border crossing. Relief! Thank goodness. I stopped worrying and I enjoyed the rest of the little excursion. I hadn’t gone to the border myself, so it was interesting seeing it for the first time (from a slight distance).

Next off, the radio station (le sigh… still no dinner). The Ambassador was making an appearance at the local radio station in town. I was excited to be able to tag along. I had never been to the radio station. Come to think about it, I had never been to ANY radio station ever! Not even in the US. This was a treat. The talk show started and the Ambassador and his wife were answering questions from the DJ and from people who called into the station. It was short, just 30 minutes or so. Discussion topics ranged from education, to women’s/girls’ empowerment, to health and sanitation, to computers and technology. When the topic hit computers, automatically, I was worried that the mic would head my direction. And low and behold… it did! The Ambassador was discussing education and technology, and how Peace Corps has been involved in both. Then he pointed out the fact that the town had a Peace Corps volunteer (yours truly!) working at the high school and hospital doing computer education/teaching. So the mic comes to my face… I introduce myself, and I talk briefly about my work. I had my 1-2 minutes of fame in the Gambia! It came, and it went. Thank goodness it ended quickly. I’m not much of a person who likes that much attention, much less the spotlight. But it was fun being able to talk and know that my voice was being broadcast all over the area.

After the radio interview, we finally head over to the hospital and have dinner at their reception area. Chicken Yassa! So good! It was a very tasty treat, and it was worth the wait. The Ambassador and staff and I chatted the rest of the night about various things: travel, food, the US, home, etc.  Thus ends my evening with the Ambassador. It’s always a pleasure being invited and spending time with the Embassy crowd. I hope I continue to have more positive encounters with the Ambassador and the Embassy in the future.

Haa yeeso!