World AIDS Day!

World AIDS Day

Flexibility is a key word in the Peace Corps, and in my opinion it is one of the characteristics required to be a volunteer.  Those of you who knew me pre-Peace Corps know that I was someone who liked to schedule things to the extreme, and I liked to stick to plans very strictly.  Flexibility was not one of my strong suits to say the least!! The past 11 months, little by little, I have learned to be flexible and to go with the flow, and it has been very valuable for me.

On a Wednesday morning I was doing laundry, finishing up several “loads” aka about two hours. Note: washing clothes by hands, once you’re used to it, becomes rather therapeutic and enjoyable.  Something about the repetition and being able to turn off your mind while you do it is rather soothing.  Although, I admit I may go back to using a washing machine in 2017J  As I finished up my laundry, I got a call from Bantayehu, my great counterpart and coworker, saying we were just appointed to go give a presentation at the Elementary School for the students, for World AIDS Day.  In the ten minutes following the phone call, I changed into my Grassroot Soccer t-shirt, gathered some materials including two tennis balls (from Grassroot Soccer Training), and met Bantayehu to go to the school.  Along with Aman, my counterpart from Grassroot Soccer Training, we planned and discussed while walking along the dirt road to the school. 

Upon our arrival, a bit of chaos ensued, as the students realized that Hannah, a “ferenji” aka foreigner had stepped foot onto the compound.  Students of all ages crowded around, greeting me, giggling and smiling, as we tried to get an icebreaker game started to entertain them until our lesson began.

As class let out for the morning shift (students here go to school for half days only), about 400-500 students gathered, and we presented about HIV/AIDS by using True/False questions for the students.  Then, we proceeded to select 20 students, 10 boys and 10 girls, and in the center of the mass of students, we played a game from the Grassroot Soccer Manual called “Find the Ball.”  Standing in two lines, facing each other, standing shoulder to shoulder and with their hands behind their lower backs, students passed a tennis ball from one student to the next, while students sang a song in the background.  When the song ended, each team would guess where the other team’s tennis ball was. The second time we played the game, the ball represented HIV. Both times that we played the game, neither team was able to successfully guess who had the tennis ball.  The message?  You cannot tell if a person has HIV/AIDS by looking at them.

Today was a wonderful reminder of the importance of flexibility, and it also was a great opportunity to start sharing the great knowledge and skills I learned in Grassroot Soccer.  Shout out to Aman and Bantayehu, in Mezezo, for leading this lesson and program today!