Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Carrots and Condoms

Today we had our HIV sensitization. We prepped all morning – making posters, writing scripts, and rehearsing our parts. At 1PM, we set out to the church and arrived early. It was a slow start to get a good turnout. Our VHTs only just showed up at 2:30. Around 3:15, we set out to mobilize to get more community members to come. We only got to a couple houses, but by the time we got back to the church, we had about 15 people so we decided to start. The sensitization itself went pretty smoothly. We had posters that depicted HIV transmission and prevention and the community members asked a number of questions. By the end, we had about 40 people total that came and listened to our presentation. We also handed out free condoms and demonstrated how to use them (no bananas so we went with a carrot). I think the people really enjoyed them because the two boxes of condoms we brought were all gone! After our sensitization, we walked to Kasambiika 1’s house to have a quick meeting about the school tippy tap project. We updated them on the progress and the school’s agreement to the drums and switching from soap to ash.

(Kenzie and Juliana presenting)

(Our VHTs, Fatuma and Ruth, handing out female condoms)



Walking back to our house, I stopped by the trading post by the borehole with Tina and Josie (from the K1 team). They bought some chapattis for their dinner. After saying bye to the muzungus, I walked back to the house. I spent some time at my favorite family’s house. It got pretty dark so I headed back home and on the way back, some of the boys escorted me. They are just too nice.