december

World AID Day 2010

Working in collaboration, as usual, with my closest CHAP volunteer, I held an event to commemorate World AIDS Day. Step 1: Request an absurd number of condoms from PSI. By an absurd number, I mean a couple thousand. So many that I was able to cover the entire surface of floor. So many that I still have a bucket left over. Step 2: Train Peer Educators and tchouk vendors. I held the training a week or so before the event. Abdel came to translate as the vendors are all women, none of whom really speak French. We talked about modes of HIV transmission, as well as testing and prevention. The Peer Educators practiced giving short presentations on these topics as well as doing condom demonstrations. Step 3: Marché day! My Peer Educators and I (with three CHAP volunteers and some counterparts) walked around the market distributing packets of condoms to the women who participated in the training. They were instructed to hand out one condom with each purchase of a calabash (dried gourd from which tchouk is consumed). The Peer Educators circulated to give demonstrations and answer questions.

It was, well, quite an experience. I am really glad I did it, but if I ever did it again, I would start earlier in the day. Marché is less about purchasing goods than about sitting around drinking tchouk and palm wine. So, by the late afternoon, everyone is pretty intoxicated. By the end of the event, I was hoarse from reprimanding tactless men over the din of the marketplace. I will save you the indignity of exposure to some of the colorful things drunk men might say to a young woman who is distributing condoms. Oh, Togo. Just use your imagination.

But a lot of good came of it, as well. It was a great opportunity to discredit some of the many false myths surrounding condom use and HIV. I remember being warned about some of these during training and have been asked about a few of them throughout the course of my service, but it still surprises me to hear them. The white man created the HIV virus and then implanted it in condoms, so using them is actually how you acquire the virus. Condom use will make you permanently infertile. Using two is twice as good as using one. And so on. As for the best question I heard that day, it was definitely the first time I encountered it: “So, if a dog eats the feces of a man who is infected with HIV, and then you eat the dog, will you become infected?” I made him repeat it three times to make sure I understood what he was asking. But in a country where humans defecate openly and where dog meat is widely consumed, I suppose it was a reasonable question. (The answer is NO, by the way. For a number of reasons.)

It was also a great opportunity to reach a population with whom I have very little contact. Most men spend all day in the fields and besides, I do most of my work with students. My Peer Educators were completely composed throughout, and the other volunteers really stepped up when I needed it. And I learned a lot about project implementation, so I think, in the end, benefits outweighed costs.

So, there is so much more, of course, but I think that is all I can handle at present. 2011 will have to wait for another trip. Oh, and please, please consider donating to Science Camp. Please.