Giraffe, Giraffe, Lion

Well it's clear that we are operating on so-called African time. Our programming was set to being at 10 yesterday morning. Students began showing up around 10:45, and trickled in throughout the day. We're here on their break, so there aren't that many students, and unfortunately many women are too busy doing household chores and other things that they can't make it to the UAACC. Yesterday we focused on the basics of cholera, malaria, and tuberculosis. In the afternoon we focused a few hours on HIV. The students asked a lot of questions to clarify the whole biology aspect of the disease, and we are considering holding a class next week devoted entirely to biology as its rather broad and complicated topic.

After teaching, we all changed and got ready to walk down to Good Hope Orphanage. A bunch of the students came with us. The orphanage was about a mile away, and when we got there we had about forty people playing soccer. The girls didn't really feel like playing soccer, so we sat down and started playing with some of the girls from the orphanage. We couldn't really communicate with them, but all of a sudden a girl popped up and started tapping our heads saying "Twega, twega, twega, twega, simba" and running around in a circle. We quickly caught on realizing we were playing Duck Duck Goose, although the worlds actually translate to Giraffe, Giraffe, Lion. On the way home it began to rain, which was fantastic as we were all covered in dirt, dust, and sweat.

Today we did another lecture on the transmission of HIV, and some skits on testing and medication. After lunch we will return and split the men and women so that we can do condom demonstrations and talk about sexual violence and anything else the students may want to talk about. Tonight we'll be busy getting ready for our first testing day which will happen tomorrow morning.

Everything is going great. The UAACC is really a great place, and provides so much for the community. The grounds are beautiful, and all of the buildings are painted with vibrant murals about peace and community. There are a few classrooms, a computer lab, and a music recording studio, plus small houses for volunteers to live in. The UAACC is also responsible for installing solar panels in houses in the village, and for providing clean water for residents. Every morning when we go out of the compound we see children standing around with five or six buckets to carry back water. The village is definitely poor, but hopefully with more improvements and better education, some of their lives can become better.

The people are so great, and we've really gotten a chance to become friends with the students. On the way back from the orphanage we got to talk one on one about all different things. I've learned some Swahili. Everyone holds hands, and just welcomes everyone into everywhere. This morning I was out walking looking for a store, and we saw some of the students who called us over and just wanted to talk. We're even exchanging email addresses.


Love you and miss you all!