N. Aurora HIV Training

"Na fekete ABC"--Tutufolo's Poster: Abstain, Be Faithful, Condoms for HIV prevention

Over the course of my first year I have been distributing condoms to local boatman who live along the Upper Suriname River. This system was initiated by the previous volunteer in Gunzi, Kadjoepai (Cashew-pai, named for a previous village of the Gunzi residents before the flooding of the lake). Once one reaches Atjoni, the port of entry for the Upper Suriname River, you must find a boat to take you to the villages that lie south of Atjoni along the Suriname River--no cars. Every morning, boatmen drive their boats down the river (North) to Atjoni and then return to their villages up the river (South). The aim of this project is to distribute boxes of condoms to the boatmen when they arrive in Atjoni. They will then bring them to their villages and distribute the condoms to their villagers. Due to the sexual habits in the interior our HIV trainings mostly focus on the C(ondom).

During my first year of service I have distributed condoms to six boatman in my area and have wanted to expand and formalize this project since I arrived in Suriname. Recently, I have begun to expand this project and I gave my first training at a winkel (local store) in one of Gunzi's neighboring villages, Tjaikonde (Translation: The sad village). Peace Corps Volunteers accompanying me on this training were Catherine aka Tjaigowtu(Tjaikonde's Gold) and the recently arrived Tutubala(Brother-in-law of Tutu), on rare occassions I call him Josh. The three of us arrived at the winkel of a man named Bamos, a big burly boatman in his 20's whose younger, more trim brother Asonu helps run the winkel in Tjaikonde. We gave both Bamos and Asonu a pre-test on HIV transmission to find out what they knew. Asonu aced it and Bamos was pretty close. After the pre-test, we ran through a quick and relevant HIV lesson. We reviewed and taught basic HIV transmission such as whether or not HIV can be transmitted through a mosquito--this is a common misconception here because of the present mosquito born illnesses like dengue and malaria. We then reviewed how to put on a male and female condom and talked about how and where to properly dispose of the used condoms. We wrapped up with a post-test and this time both guys aced it. Success! So, we gave them two boxes (144 condoms/box) of male condoms and 50 female condoms to distribute. In order to begin collecting some semblance of formal data, we asked them to keep track of how many people came in and asked for condoms. Also, we needed them to contact us Peace Corps Volunteers when the condoms ran out so we know in the future how many boxes of condoms we will need to continually supply one winkel per week. At the moment, the winkel is distributing about one box (144 male condoms) per week.

The future of this project looks potentially bright but will fall on the shoulders of the continual motivation of the boatman, the coordination with the local medical post in the Atjoni area who will begin to distribute condoms to the boatmen and the organizations in the city who will have to help transport the condoms into the interior. I don't know if it will work but everyone ta mbei moiti (is making the effort), as we say in Saramacan. With the help of Suriname's Medical Mission, the name of the local medical posts, we are putting together informative HIV posters and beginning to set-up a formal training day and system to distribute the condoms to the boatmen. If all goes to plan, in early November I will help train at least 15 boatmen on the Upper Suriname River to distribute condoms in their villages.