Week One Over

I can't believe we only have a week left here. It's crazy how fast the time here has gone by. Yesterday we got the fun challenge of creating an entire education packet to hand out to the students here...the really fun part was that it had to be in Swahili. There was a surprising amount of arguing over what needed to be included, and how basic it should be. Somehow we got it all done, translated, and typed by this morning when a group went into Arusha to have things printed. It ended up being about eight pages, but quite effective when today we were able to sit down with the students and go over everything again. It was great when you saw them completely understand the biology behind HIV, not just the basic prevention steps, and that they could draw diagrams for you and teach you the stuff you had been teaching them just a few days ago. A bunch of the guys like hip hop music and freestyle raps all the time. This afternoon they did one about HIV, and I'm pretty sure it had something to do with me. What that somethings is...I have no idea as I'm not that good at Swahili...yet.

Other than that, I've been laying pretty low. I did go and play football (soccer) with a the guys from our group and a bunch of guys from the community. I'm pretty sure they were taking it easy on me, since I was the only girl, but even so the forty year old men still whooped my butt. I did get to score once with the help of a team mate who stopped the ball right before the goal, and let me kick it in. By the end of it, I was completely wiped out, dehydrated, and filthy. I'm so glad they have working showers here.

For the rest of the week we're just finishing up our programming with the students and helping them make up their own skits and lectures for them to do here at the UAACC and at secondary schools in the area. Friday and Saturday are both lecture days. Thursday night we get to have some fun, and go into Arusha for dinner and a night out. I think next week we will be going with the students to a secondary school to help them with their first presentation.

It's been really really busy, and I'm really exhausted. I'm also really sick of eating carbs as potatoes and pasta are served every single day, usually twice a day, plus toast for breakfast. A glass of milk would be beautiful right now. I can't really complain much tho, as many of these students come from nothing, and can't even afford to finish secondary school, never mind go to a university. It's really amazing how much time they've given up to spend with us, and help us out with our testing days and advertising. Without them, our group really wouldn't be able to do nothing, and I would be sitting around playing poker a whole lot more than I already am.