World AIDS Day 2010
World AIDS Day in Tutubuka, again. 7 weeks, 32 new kids, 2 new teachers, 1 new Peace Corps Volunteer-Josh aka Tutubala, Catherine and I.
This year's lessons and World AIDS followed a format similar to the one the year before with a few modifications. We spent several weeks in the school, again, teaching the kids about what HIV and this year we talked more about HIV in Suriname--who's at risk, Suriname's prevalanece rate.
This year's class consisted of 29 girls and 3 boys which created some unique opportunities.
One of the new additions to this year's program, due to my vastly improved language skills, was the use of the radio to expand our potential audience. I already used the radio to promote and report on the boatman training that I hosted in early November. This year, I used the radio to advertise all 3 World AIDS Day hosted by Peace Corps Volunteers on the radio and I worked with a local health on a Saturday night show which we discussed HIV/AIDS information and other heatlh topics. But the biggest success was teaming with the host of the new Tuesday night show called "Time for Lovers", the Saramaccan equivalent of love-line. The show's host, my friend from Abenaston named A.S., reads letters, usually fictional, from distressed Saramaccans and he lets the audience call in and give advice. I arranged for one of the doctors at the medical clinic to write a few different scenarios-mostly having to do with testing for HIV, and had A.S. read them on Tuesday nights. The response was pretty good as the fictional letters were pretty juicy but addressed real-life scenarios observed on the river. The radio work wrapped up with me playing interviews from the World AIDS Day event and doing a T-shirt giveaway over the air for listeners who called in and could answer a question about HIV correctly.
After returning from the city on November 28 with the supplies for our event, Catherine and I spent all week working with the kids on the skits. On Friday, we ran through each skit twice and talked with the kids about Saturday's schedule. On Saturday, Catherine and Josh with the help of Mark and Ryan--two other new PCVs who came to help out, set up the community center with the school kids and the DJ we hired. I was an hour late because I basically had to drag the one kid I was responsible for bringing from Gunzi to Tutubuka. We ran through the skits two more times and then the DJ played music until some local women finished cooking lunch--rice, beans, chicken, cumbers with onions and vinegar, eggplant and it was friggin' delicious!
The event kicked off a little after four o'clock and the kids did a good job on the five-part play we had rehearsed. The two main characters names were Carla and Suti Lobi(Sweet Lover), Carla's boyfriend who was played by one of the 29 girls in the class since the 3 boys were too shy. The skits were addressed issues in today's Saramaccan culture--men leaving the village for work, taking another woman, catching HIV, transmitting it to their first woman and wrapped up with the two main characters testing, getting the results and what happened when they told their friends and family. Then, the kids added a little piece, I am not exactly sure what the hell it was about though. One of the lesser characters was now pregnant, everyone on stage was laughing, and it appeared someone was cussing out the male character, Suti Lobi. After the kids got done with the skits, they sang several songs they had rehearsed by themselves without any direction from teachers or the Peace Corps. This turned out surprisingly well and help conclude the kids' piece on a high note. The event finally wrapped up with some words from Catherine and one of the health workers from the medical clinic gave a speach.
My most favorite part of the day came after the skits and music had come to an end. No one was sure how this conclusion would play out, it was the idea of the health worker who had given the speach at the event. The health worker wanted to do a candle light vigil and we bought 200 candles in the city not knowing if this would actually happen. Everyone was directed to meet at a store on the other side of the village at 6:30 pm. As people arrived, we spent about 30 minutes passing out candles and lighting them. A walk was then led across the village of Tutubuka, population 1,500, and we arrived back at the community center with about 200 people where the kids began singing songs while holding their candles in the air. It was a truly beautiful sight, one I won't ever forget, and a great way to finish the day.
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