Busy, busy

The past two weeks have been super busy.

One week I went to a Youth Friendly training workshop. Parika Health Center will be turning into a youth friendly center (YFC), so we had a workshop on how a YFC operates and some of its challenges. The training was excellent. There was one activity in particular that really made the whole thing worth while. The facilitator spilt us up into 4 groups. Each group had to decide how they would run a YFC because the next day 5 youths would be visiting our YFCs. While one group was going the other 3 groups would be watching and taking notes in order to provide feedback later.

In reality, the "youths" were young actors who are a part of a group called Artists In Direct Support (AIDS). The same 5 actors visited each YFC, but they changed their characters each time.

For example, in my group (#3) we had two teachers wanting some information on oral sex. They also wanted to know if they could find out information about students' status. Another actor was gay, and when he joined the discussion on oral sex and confidentiality, the teachers wanted him removed. I actually had to deal with this situation. I answered their questions about oral sex accurately. And as far as revealing test results I was very firm about the rules on confidentiality.

Also, a lesbian couple came in wanting to know how they could get pregnant. The counselor they talked to was very religious and she had never met a gay person before. Her reaction was unwelcoming - not in an overt manner, but just disapproving enough that the lesbian couple could pick up on it. They started to yell at her and make a scene. At the end the counselor cried.

Now if that sounds scary, you should have seen the other scenarios. Anyway, some of important lessons learned included:
1. Self-awareness--knowing your limitations and your biases.
2. Being courteous and not losing your cool is important. Having control of yourself will help control the situation.
3. You have to be flexible because your planned activity might not go according to plan.
4. You have to learn to discern between people's words and actions to find out the real problem.

The weekend after the YFC training was the PCV pot -luck thanksgiving dinner. We had it in Georgetown at Tessa's house. Nigel and I made mashed potatoes, which were really good by the way. The secret ingredient was cream cheese. We didn't have turkey, but we had all the other thanksgiving goodies. The next day Nigel and I went to the zoo. We thought we were going to see a boa constrictor eat a chicken, but I was gravely disappointed. But don't worry the whole day wasn't ruined. I was completely fascinated with the Harpy eagle. It's grandiose; I wish I could have seen it fly. We also saw the biggest mammal in South America--the tapir. Its nickname is the bush cow, but it doesn't look at all like a cow. It has a long snout like an anteater, and it's short but wide. The most interesting thing about this animal was the male tapir and...well...its penis. First of all the penis is very large and noticeable. But the thing that was really interesting was that when it's elongated, it touches the ground and looks like a third leg. And, the end is strangely shaped like a flower. It made me curious about the mating process. My other favorite animals were the monkeys. Because their movements and actions are so human like, I can't take my eyes off them. I think we spent the longest time admiring these animals.

Finally, I spent last week at another workshop about Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) in relation to HIV. This was a good workshop too, but I missed the first day where they talked about what an OVC is. The second day we talked about stigma and discrimination. The final day was focused on coming up with different strategies that we could use in our own communities to address the issue. I brought a woman who works with children through her church. Now, I need to work with her on what we’ll do specifically in Parika.

Whew…not only was I exhausted from all the traveling, I’m exhausted from writing it all down.

Spreading the news

Oh gosh! It's been a while since I documented anything. Well, it's a good time to write because I am very proud of some of the work I've done lately.

First of all, I went to a training on Abstience and Being Faithful as it relates to HIV/AIDS. A nurse's aid who also works at the health center accompained me. It was a pretty good training; however, there were a lot of Americans in our group, so we didn't get as much Guyanase prespective as I would have liked. As a result of the training, Meshana and I are required (collectively) to train 20 more trainers. My goal is to train the youth in a group that I'm a part of called Guyana Youth Ambassadors Foundation (GYAF). In turn, I hope that they will hold youth workshops on abstinence and being faithful. This will be a secondary project that will take up some more of my time.

Also, recently, the PCVs received a lot of great material (posters and brochures) on HIV/AIDS. The messages that are being conveyed include:

1. "Knowing is Better" and "Blind trust" - encouraging people to get tested
2. "You can't go wrong with just one" - promoting faithfulness (particularly in marriage)
3. "Don't dis me" - acknowledging that HIV/AIDS can happen to anyone; therefore, we shouldn't discriminate
4. "Protect you and your precious one" - prevention of mother to child transmission (PMTCT)
5. "Don't be Exposed" - promoting condom use

Because I had all this material I decided to go around to the different business and ask permission to hang up posters on Monday. I went around explaining that I was from the health center and that we wanted to put up posters about HIV/AIDS. I explained the different messages and gave them a choice of which poster they would like to hang in their establishment.

Consequently, I had a few in-depth conversations. One of my longer exchanges was with guy who works at an auto repair shop. He asked me how long you can live with HIV. He commented on how a lot of people would rather not know using the excuse of "we're all goin to die anyway." I explained that it varies from person to person but that some people live years and years without knowing they have HIV. And, that if you know your status you can live a lot longer because you can get treatment and stay healthy. Also, I mentioned that knowing your status helps you protect the ones you love. You could have the virus and give it to your significant other without knowing it. I also explained the difference between HIV and AIDS. We too often mix them up, and they don't mean the same thing.

He also asked me about a pretty radical scenario. "What if you're in a restaurant and someone cuts their hand and their blood gets into your drink and you drink it. Can you get HIV?" I then explained how not only does a contaminated fluid need to be present but that fluid needs some way of entering your body. HIV can not be passed through the stomach because the acids kill the virus. I did mention if you had a cut in your mouth and blood were to get in there, then there would be a possibility of contracting the virus.

And, after our at-length conversation, he gave me a juice box to drink :)

At the end of the day, I felt really, really good. Most of the shop keepers were very receptive, and I felt great bringing new information/ clearing up any misconceptions to people. My goal is visit every business (whether big or small) in Parika to hang up posters.

Tuesday, my PC supervisor came for a site visit, and one of her objectives was to see me in action. I decided to give a talk on HIV because Parika is now a Voluntary Testing and Councelling (VCT) site and offers free and confidential HIV testing. In addition to promoting our new service, I explained the difference between HIV and AIDS and why knowing your status is better. I thought it went pretty well, but I didn't know how well until today. This morining the cousellor said that because of my talk two clients went to get tested! How exciting is that!?! Man, two feel good days in a row?--let's hope I keep it up.