Look I'm already on the internet again! Babati is awesome! haha
So first week in Babati has been going well. We talked to all the restaurants and bars and asked them when they would like us to teach their staff as well as asking permission to put permanent fliers up advertising the importance of using condoms and getting tested. We've already taught at 3 restaurants and they all ask really good questions and seem really interested in learning.
We also had a testing yesterday. Don't ask me why we psychotically had a testing after only being here for like 3 days when most people probably don't even know we're here yet and when we only really advertised for like a day but it still went really well and we tested 108 people. I think people here are just a lot more inclined to get tested. They're like "a free, fast way to know more about my health! Why wouldn't I do it right now?!" ...which I think is the proper response. :)
I got a request from Sonic asking how the test works. We use a rapid response test that looks for the antibodies to HIV in your body. So they take a couple drops of blood from the persons finger or the crook of their arm and put it in this little test. Then they add a solution to it and 10-20 minutes later some lines show up. If it's just the control line, then you're negative. If you have HIV, one or two additional lines will show indicating whether you have HIV 1 or HIV 2. The thing about the rapid response test is that it takes about 3 months for your body to build up antibodies (this is called the window period) to HIV so if you were infected very recently you might get a false negative but to combat that, we recommend that you get tested every 3 months if you're participating in risky behaviors. So since there was an SIC program here in Babati in May/June, we're kind of doing window period testing for those people now that it's a little over 3 months later. Any questions wanafunzi (students)? hahaha
My new homestay has been good. My mama is super nice and a really good cute. We get a starch, a meat like beef, chicken, or fish and a fruit platter with every meal which is SO much better than my last homestay. She just lives with her grandson who's like 16ish and then it's kind of a complex so there's a bunch of other families living there and there's a couple really cute kids so that's cool.
This morning, my group ran to the field office, did some yoga, had breakfast with the coordinators, and then ran back. It was super fun (it was like visiting my old roommates haha) so we're planning on doing that pretty regularly.
Since we're working in Babati now, we're only allowed to drink on the weekends so we're planning on all getting together tonight for dinner and drinks to celebrate a good first week. I'm super excited to hang out with everyone again, especially my old group and Joseph hasn't been here all week cuz his mom had her appendix out but he called me last night and is coming back today so I'm SUPER excited. Can't wait for tonight!!!
Next weeks going to be busy cuz it's World AIDS day on Tuesday so we're having testings Sunday through Wednesday and having special events all of Tuesday so I'll be sure to tell you guys all about it in my next post.
Love to all! Asante sana squashed banana!
Ilana :)
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Monday, November 23, 2009
Last 2 weeks in the Vill plus our week off
Let me start by saying that I'm sorry I haven't posted any pictures. I retardedly didn't bring the cord for uploading pictures from my camera but I promise to get them up ASAP when I get back.
Also, shout out to my Hellions! Amazing job getting 4th at Sean Ryan and 2nd at SoCal Warmup! I'm super proud of you guys. And thanks to Sonic for the update. Miss you all so much! :)
Last two weeks in the vill were amazing. We had a testing in Mpakani which was like right by our house with the Endodash clan and we tested 90 people which was awesome! We also had a second testing in the main part of Qash that was actually run by our peer educators and we got 80 people which was the most out of all the second testings other than the Mpakani testing which was a combined effort. In the end we tested over 1200 people and taught over 6000 so we're pretty happy. I don't have the exact numbers with me right now but I'll be sure to let you guys know later.
Peer educators ended up getting a lot better as well. We had them do some mock teachings to us that went very well and some of them came out to the testing to help walk around with us and advertise. It was so great to see them finally seem to be motivated. I hope that they actually keep up with teaching and testing now that we're gone because they have all the resources they need and a lot of potential. We're going to try to go out and check up on them but I'm not sure if we'll have time.
So 3 Saturdays ago we said goodbye to our homestay family and Qash village. It was sadder than I thought it was going to be although I think a big part of that was just knowing that the SIC program is coming to its final leg and I really don't want to go. I've gotten to be really comfortable here. It doesn't even feel like I'm in another country anymore. Every time I think ahead to when I'm going to have to say goodbye I just know I'm gonna lose it.
On a happier note, last week was our week off. 13/16 of us spent the first half of the week in Jinja, Uganda, rafting the Nile. It was AMAZING!!! It's like a 20 hour bus ride over crappy roads with a stop in Nairobi to switch buses in the middle of the night but it was SO worth it!!! We got there Monday morning and just chilled at the campsite of the program we went with called Adrift, which had a bar/couch area that overlooked the Nile. It was gorgeous! That day, a big chunk of the group went bungee jumping. I wasn't interested. I would skydive in a second but bungee jumping has just never appealed to me. Two of the girls went tandem and one was topless and one was completely naked. It was hilarious!
The next two days were full of rafting and it was SO much fun! We were all pretty nervous cuz it's class 5 rapids which is as high as it gets but once we flipped the first time we realized it wasn't that bad and just went with it. We went in two rafts and our raft ended up flipping 4 times over the two days. Our guide said that when we flipped he was the one flipping us though so I dunno. The highlight of day one was going down a 10 foot waterfall backwards and the highlight of day two was when the other raft flipped right in front of us so we lost all of our momentum and everyone fell off except for me, Jen, and our guide Lee. We ended up holding on for a couple extra waves "surfing" and then Lee flipped us. It was so frigging fun! And the food on the trip was amazing. Sandwiches, beef skewers, lasagna...it completely made up for the repetativeness of the African food.
The second half of the week 10/16 of us went on Safari. Day One was at Manyara Lake and Day Two was at the Ngorogoro Crater. Over the course of the two days we saw EVERYTHING...except leopards but they're hard to spot cuz they live in the trees. We even had a lion literally right outside our car that had just tried to get into a new pride and lost so it was hurt. It was crazy. The break was not much of a break since we were pretty rushed and didn't have much time to relax but it was SOOO fun!!!
Now we're back in Babati where we'll be working for the next 3 weeks. The groups got split up :( :( :( so now I'm in a group with Jen, this guy Robert, and this chick Vikki, a female teaching partner Stella and a new male teaching partner Yona (two of our teaching partners had to go back to school so we got new ones). This group is fine but it will never be the family that our last group was. Joseph and Gerald were pretty much devastated when they heard we were getting split up cuz them, Jen, and I are super close. I still got to have lunch and dinner with Gerald yesterday though and Joseph isn't back from Arusha yet cuz his mom's having surgery but I'm sure we'll all hang out tons once he's back. At least I hope so.
On Sunday, everyone was supposed to move into their homestays and I was supposed to be living with Stella at this one house but Stella wasn't back yet so it was going to be just me. But then there was some sort of mixup and the Mama wasn't there and no one else there knew anything about us staying there so I was homeless! haha It was cool though cuz I just stayed with the coordinators at the SIC office and had a slumber party for two nights til they found me a home. They finally found one last night and Stella and I moved in this morning. It seems nice. Although I'm going to miss living with the coordinators. It was really fun! :)
So our group has been put in charge of educating and testing all of the restaurants, bars, and guest houses. I think that'll definitely keep us busy plus we just have to do a bunch of testings and World AIDS day is a week from today so we're planning something big for that.
So that's pretty much all that's going on here. I can't believe I'm going to be back in less than a month but I'm so excited to see all of you. Thanks for all the shoutouts on facebook and such. I have a feeling some changes have been made to facebook again that I'm not gonna like but I guess we'll see. I'm so out of the loop! I don't know any of the new music and I haven't seen any of the new movies. Has anyone seen New Moon and if so how was it?!?! hahaha
Love and miss you all!
Ilana
PS for all you lion king lovers out there:
simba= lion
rafiki= friend
mufasa= courage
pumba= warthog (kind of; it's not the real swahili word but everyone calls it that)
Scar= bad guy (just kidding haha)
Also, shout out to my Hellions! Amazing job getting 4th at Sean Ryan and 2nd at SoCal Warmup! I'm super proud of you guys. And thanks to Sonic for the update. Miss you all so much! :)
Last two weeks in the vill were amazing. We had a testing in Mpakani which was like right by our house with the Endodash clan and we tested 90 people which was awesome! We also had a second testing in the main part of Qash that was actually run by our peer educators and we got 80 people which was the most out of all the second testings other than the Mpakani testing which was a combined effort. In the end we tested over 1200 people and taught over 6000 so we're pretty happy. I don't have the exact numbers with me right now but I'll be sure to let you guys know later.
Peer educators ended up getting a lot better as well. We had them do some mock teachings to us that went very well and some of them came out to the testing to help walk around with us and advertise. It was so great to see them finally seem to be motivated. I hope that they actually keep up with teaching and testing now that we're gone because they have all the resources they need and a lot of potential. We're going to try to go out and check up on them but I'm not sure if we'll have time.
So 3 Saturdays ago we said goodbye to our homestay family and Qash village. It was sadder than I thought it was going to be although I think a big part of that was just knowing that the SIC program is coming to its final leg and I really don't want to go. I've gotten to be really comfortable here. It doesn't even feel like I'm in another country anymore. Every time I think ahead to when I'm going to have to say goodbye I just know I'm gonna lose it.
On a happier note, last week was our week off. 13/16 of us spent the first half of the week in Jinja, Uganda, rafting the Nile. It was AMAZING!!! It's like a 20 hour bus ride over crappy roads with a stop in Nairobi to switch buses in the middle of the night but it was SO worth it!!! We got there Monday morning and just chilled at the campsite of the program we went with called Adrift, which had a bar/couch area that overlooked the Nile. It was gorgeous! That day, a big chunk of the group went bungee jumping. I wasn't interested. I would skydive in a second but bungee jumping has just never appealed to me. Two of the girls went tandem and one was topless and one was completely naked. It was hilarious!
The next two days were full of rafting and it was SO much fun! We were all pretty nervous cuz it's class 5 rapids which is as high as it gets but once we flipped the first time we realized it wasn't that bad and just went with it. We went in two rafts and our raft ended up flipping 4 times over the two days. Our guide said that when we flipped he was the one flipping us though so I dunno. The highlight of day one was going down a 10 foot waterfall backwards and the highlight of day two was when the other raft flipped right in front of us so we lost all of our momentum and everyone fell off except for me, Jen, and our guide Lee. We ended up holding on for a couple extra waves "surfing" and then Lee flipped us. It was so frigging fun! And the food on the trip was amazing. Sandwiches, beef skewers, lasagna...it completely made up for the repetativeness of the African food.
The second half of the week 10/16 of us went on Safari. Day One was at Manyara Lake and Day Two was at the Ngorogoro Crater. Over the course of the two days we saw EVERYTHING...except leopards but they're hard to spot cuz they live in the trees. We even had a lion literally right outside our car that had just tried to get into a new pride and lost so it was hurt. It was crazy. The break was not much of a break since we were pretty rushed and didn't have much time to relax but it was SOOO fun!!!
Now we're back in Babati where we'll be working for the next 3 weeks. The groups got split up :( :( :( so now I'm in a group with Jen, this guy Robert, and this chick Vikki, a female teaching partner Stella and a new male teaching partner Yona (two of our teaching partners had to go back to school so we got new ones). This group is fine but it will never be the family that our last group was. Joseph and Gerald were pretty much devastated when they heard we were getting split up cuz them, Jen, and I are super close. I still got to have lunch and dinner with Gerald yesterday though and Joseph isn't back from Arusha yet cuz his mom's having surgery but I'm sure we'll all hang out tons once he's back. At least I hope so.
On Sunday, everyone was supposed to move into their homestays and I was supposed to be living with Stella at this one house but Stella wasn't back yet so it was going to be just me. But then there was some sort of mixup and the Mama wasn't there and no one else there knew anything about us staying there so I was homeless! haha It was cool though cuz I just stayed with the coordinators at the SIC office and had a slumber party for two nights til they found me a home. They finally found one last night and Stella and I moved in this morning. It seems nice. Although I'm going to miss living with the coordinators. It was really fun! :)
So our group has been put in charge of educating and testing all of the restaurants, bars, and guest houses. I think that'll definitely keep us busy plus we just have to do a bunch of testings and World AIDS day is a week from today so we're planning something big for that.
So that's pretty much all that's going on here. I can't believe I'm going to be back in less than a month but I'm so excited to see all of you. Thanks for all the shoutouts on facebook and such. I have a feeling some changes have been made to facebook again that I'm not gonna like but I guess we'll see. I'm so out of the loop! I don't know any of the new music and I haven't seen any of the new movies. Has anyone seen New Moon and if so how was it?!?! hahaha
Love and miss you all!
Ilana
PS for all you lion king lovers out there:
simba= lion
rafiki= friend
mufasa= courage
pumba= warthog (kind of; it's not the real swahili word but everyone calls it that)
Scar= bad guy (just kidding haha)
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