World AIDS Day 2010

December 1st was World AIDS Day. Ashamed, I admit I had not known this awareness day existed in all of my years growing up in Hawaii, and though I came to acknowledged it in college, I did little more. Truth be told I was always in my own little world and HIV was not invited to join my party. Only 1% in the U.S. is infected with HIV- a very small number of people, so small people don't think about it- but it all changed from the moment I stepped off the plane into a country where HIV is screaming to be heard in its hopes to find a cure. Naturally, I took this day to heart. I was excited to see what the country with the world's highest prevalence of HIV (aka Swaziland) would do to bring awareness, help, and support for its' people. A large event is hosted in the King's Kraal, and every year the location changes to a different region. There are 4 regions within Swaziland: the HhoHho, Lubombo, Manzini, and Shiselweni and this year the event was in the HhoHho Region. My region! The event started with a walk (which I did walk just not with the group and an hour or two after it took place. I've got great timing I know!), and proceeded with the days events which included speakers, performances from singers, drama groups and a testing site and information from NGOs and other organizations. While it was great seeing people excited and supporting this day and what it stands for, I became very downhearted. There were a couple hundred people present when there should have been a couple thousand, there were mostly adults but there should have been a higher presence of youth, and most importantly I wish the King had come. He is the biggest role model for this country and his arrival would no doubt have improved the attendance numbers... While it was a good event, and I'm glad to have experienced it, it got me thinking about this day the world has chosen to observe. Oddly enough, everyday is AIDS day in Africa. The reason I say Africa in particular is that according to World Health Organization (WHO) and UNAIDS in 2008, it was estimated that out of the 33.2 million people worldwide who are living with HIV, 22.4 million people live in Sub-Saharan Africa. While it's good that everyone worldwide "thinks" about this problem, it's hard to "celebrate" this day when there's no cure. And so, with a hope that one day a cure might be found- I hope that others just as naive as I was, know that World AIDS Day does exist and not just on December 1st, but every day of every year for people ALL around the world from America to Africa.

November Blues

The month of November was a hectic one. Aside from the normal meet and greets from my community (and the constant reminding that I am NOT their personal fundraiser), Peace Corps Group 8, which is my group, met up for our In-Service Training (IST). The last time I saw majority of the group was at our swear in 3 months ago. But as it turns out, I'm more integrated than I thought. As fantastic as it was to see everyone, 1.5 weeks is a LONG time and I found myself daydreaming about the solitude, peace and quiet my hut provides. Our sessions during IST were very long, usually going from 8-5. While we learned about funding, grant writing, small business development and many other useful topics, we also talked heavily about DEATH, HIV/AIDS, OVC (Orphaned and Vulnerable Children), crime, theft, sexual harassment, and how to deal with the above mentioned topics. To summarize, it was NOT fun and I went away from more than one session feeling useless and on the brink of tears. As horrible as some of it was, there were some great times. We had 2 language sessions with some of our favorite teachers. I happened to be placed in the best and most interactive group (also known as the idiots who failed the language proficiency test). Best quote of the lesson, Teacher: "Is there anything you want to know?" Rob: "Yeah, how do you say it's nice today? Like the weather is not making me want to kill myself today?". *Explanation: it is summer in Swaziland now and temperatures ranging from 100-124 F is normal... You would be pleased to know that I re-tested and passed! I am now an astounding Intermediate Low. haha. We'll see just how much I'll be able to learn (and retain) in the 2 years. Other highlights of IST include talking with Laurie about the book Heaven Shop (this book is fantastic and should be a required reading for children in the U.S.), and having a 4 hour graphic presentation on male circumcision. Circumcision is the new push (and the outside world's solution to reducing HIV). Unfortunately I am beginning to realize that if change is going to happen in Swaziland, it has to be from them and pushed by them. No foreigner will be able to "solve" this crisis. From looking at other African countries who have won this war on AIDS, it started with them and their leaders. They wanted change and so they acted upon it. As we keep on saying, it's behavior change and in Swaziland behavior change means cultural change. They are going to have to change their thinking and the ways in which they behave, or as horrible as it is to say or even think about, this country is going to cease to exist. Some young girls have just accepted that contracting HIV is inevitable so why bother protecting themselves? Others want to have kids so they don't use protection because being a mother is the only way a child becomes a woman and gains respect. And then there are the women who want to use condoms but their husbands accuse them of cheating and may beat them. Thus it comes down to the people to change and confront it, and not let the rest of the world work out their problems.

At the end of IST we had ALL VOL where all current serving volunteers came in for more group sessions and finished off by celebrating Thanksgiving together. We were fortunate enough to go to the U.S. Ambassador's house and have a true American party: pool, beer, wine, 9 turkeys, 10 pies, and endless amounts of food and deserts. Since pre-made/boxed food does not exist here, EVERYTHING was made from scratch including the bread and rolls. As expected of Peace Corps Volunteers, we ate as though we had never seen food before and like it was our last meal. Yes, we are definitely AMERICAN.