World AIDS Day

Yesterday (Friday, December 1st) was World AIDS Day and I had wanted to plan something for it to recognize the day and help raise awareness of this illness in my town because a lot of people don't know what it is. Sex education is unfortunately sort of taboo here so there are A LOT of teen pregnancies and I'm guessing STDs going around. Since I was traveling almost the entire month, it was a little difficult to get anything planned, but in the end, we did pull something together.

On Thursday, I was interviewed on one of the local radio stations about AIDS and the importance of recognizing the day. Incidentally, the TV station filmed my interview so I was also on TV that night. I had wanted to involved the youth a lot in what I was doing, but like I said, it's been really difficult. I was able to talk about how important it is, especially for youth, to understand what AIDS is and how they can protect themselves because the World Health Organization estimates that half the people with AIDS are less than 25 years old. Even though I always get embarassed to talk on the radio or TV, I felt that this was really important and was glad I was able to be interviewed. On the radio, I asked everyone to wear red clothes to show their support for the fight against AIDS. So that afternoon at the health center, we asked the entire health center staff to wear red the next day and we also made red ribbons to hand out to people that came in the next day.

On Friday morning I walked into the health center to find everyone wearing red! I was so excited because I know they wouldn't have done it otherwise, but they were really happy I was helping organize something with them. Also, Consuelo (a nurse at the health center) and I decorated a display case at the health center to commerate the day. The day before I had researched a lot about AIDS and found 8 frequently asked questions that we printed out and put in our display. Later in the morning we had a press conference about AIDS and it was held in front of our display so we were really excited.

Now before you read on, erase any idea you have in your mind of a press conference. First of all it was supposed to be held at 10 am, but no one was there (not the panelists nor the journalists). Around 10:20 Rita called the journalists to find out where they were and they had forgotten about it (even though I was with her the day before when we reminded them). By the time the journalists and panelists all showed up, it was probably 11 am. Then just when I thought we were going to start (oh by the way, I was a panelist too since I'm an "expert" - you sure get a lot of credit when you're a gringo), we started discussing what a press conference is and how it is supposed to be run. Apparently the last time they had one, no one asked any questions so the doctor had to be the interviewer and was really annoyed about it. So we spent about 10 minutes arguing about the organization of the press conference and who was going to talk about what. Haha. When we finally got started, I think it went really well. I talked about my work here and that I'm in the process of forming a youth group. I said that along with the health center, we're going to design a youth health promoters program and sex education and AIDS are going to be major topics. I said that we hope to teach the students so they can then teach their families and fellow peers. We all talked about the risks of unprotected sex and how to avoid being infected by this illness. I was really impressed by what everyone said (there were 7 panelists andI was the only one that wasn't a doctor)! Of course there were a few shocking moments though. First of all the reporter asked me if in the U.S. we spend more money on weapons or our health program - awkward! I said I didn't know, but I would hope we spend more on health. Then he asked why we still allow people with AIDS to work because they could infect other people - oh boy! The doctor told them that this isn't a fight against people with AIDS, it's against the illness itself so more people don't get infected. Anyway, all in all it well really well and I hope it had an impact on some people. I also tried to record this skit about AIDS with two kids from the high school, but the first day we went they told us the guy who knows how to do the recording had to leave so we'd have to come back the next day. I waited for the kids for an hour yesterday afternoon, but they never showed up. I don't really blame them since we got turned down the first day, plus it was a Friday afternoon. Hopefully we can do it next week because we want to give the tape to a few different radio stations to play throughout the month.

In addition to it being World AIDS Day, it was also Edith (the obstatrition)'s birthday so we made a huge lunch for her and then started celebrating with her at 1 pm. Apparently since it was her birthday and we were having our big lunch, no one had to go back to work that day (or go at all since we did nothing in the morning besides the press conference and run errands). I guess it was too bad for you if you were sick because all of the health center staff was getting drunk at the doctor's house! Oh man. I love this country! The lunch was delicious (arroz con pato - rice with duck) and we had a great time drinking and dancing together. Jessica came down and we danced the night away. We were the stars of the night! Since we had been there all afternoon though, we were exhausted by 11 pm and left to go to bed!

Today the drinking and dancing started all over again at 1 pm. There was a BBQ at the health center to raise money to build a garage for this new vehicle we got. It was fun, but we didn't stay too long. We were both worn out from the day before and disgusted with how closely some of the men (doctors and other professionals) were dancing with us. We stayed for a few hours to be polite, but then went back to my house, put our pj's back on, and read magazines until 7 pm. Haha. Lazy girls!

And just for the record.....3 weeks from today I'll be with Giff!!! I'm SOOOOOOO excited in case you can't tell. I miss you all and hope you're doing well.