A Most Important Night - HIV Questions

It occurred to me about a week ago that the teens might have questions about HIV/AIDS and need more time and answers. It is a logical assumption that every
person, even at home, absorbs only part of what they are taught. I had the feeling
there might be more problems here if the teaching had been in English in the past.
Phil disagreed, saying they have had it multiple times. Taking a gamble, and with Sister Victoria’ s blessing, I put out an anonymous question box and said I would answer all the questions on Saturday night coming. The box was full Friday and I was pleased and slightly intimidated….my idea had been a good one, but the questions were intense. I had to make a few calls to get some of the answers, and steel myself for the session.

I was feeling this may be the most important thing I have done here, as I was seeing an opportunity to impact the teens and perhaps save even one life. I phoned around and got all the answers. Saturday night came and I had prepared a short true and false quiz, which indeed they did well on. I also prepared two charts- one on transmission
and the concept of viral load and how HIV turns into AIDS. The questions varied from where did HIV come from, to can a couple with one person HIV positive have a baby? There were a lot of questions about particular types of sexual risk, many about sharing razors/clippers etc, and another about other STDs. It was a fantastic session.
We limited to 14 yrs and up, threw in some humor and I think most people understood my accent. In slow English and very directly I answered all the questions and we went on to watch a movie with no further ado. I am so glad I tried it. I put the question box back and said before I left I would answer all the questions in it, and invited other topics. Lets see what happens.

Last year the kids were all tested. There is one little girl here, one of my favorites, who is positive. She keeps her secret, and is not depressed. She goes off to the clinic for CD4 counts on her own now. It is more testimony to the Sisters skill and human resilience. I cannot help but worry about what her life will bring her, but if she isn’t sad, I must not be.

On a lighter note, Friday night I proposed a Limbo contest, having tired of making Bingo cards. It was a hit and we used a long piece of bamboo and sang the limbo song. We had two groups - best older boy and girl won and the best younger (under 5 ft) boy and girl also won something. Pens and candies are the staple, but a head bandanna was the coveted offering. They were good at it and the Hip Hop dancing they did later was even better. It was a fun and raucous blow out kind of evening.

Schedule now very busy with Phil gone. Do the eggs, preschool, painting the mural, eggs again, and two hours computer lab every afternoon after school. I have break then two hours for homework tutoring. I wonder how it will all go when I leave as there is not another volunteer lined up. The computer training and the homework are so important -some of the kids don’t know what the Internet is. A book I read said grassroots Africa may be in danger of missing out on the information revolution unless there is a miracle, and that’s really one of the smaller of many serious problems. However, there are many times, here at the orphanage, when I see these kids dancing, playing, learning and getting three meals a day that I know they are luckier than many others .Hopefully, for the most part, they will be alright…