Teaching about HIV/ AIDS in Kanyawegi, Kenya

Yesterday, we started teaching about HIV/ AIDS in high schools.  They asked really great questions.  One student asked about the prophylaxis process and what the difference is between that and taking the ARVs daily.  Another asked what the process is if the wife is HIV+ and husband is HIV- but they want to have a child.  There was also a question about where HIV/ AIDS originated from and why it is so deadly in human beings but not in chimpanzees when we are both mammals.  We tried to explain to them that DNA mutation occurred in humans and some viruses are more deadly and are able to replicate more effectively than others but.. I don’t know if they fully understood.  We recommended that they study science once they enter University! I hope they can learn more about it in depth in the future.   I think as volunteers/ teachers, it is important to empower the students and guide them in the right direction and I hope we did this by showing expertise and motivating them to learn more about the topic in further studies.   

This morning, my teammates told me that 2 students who were sitting in front held each other’s hands tightly when we were talking about HIV statistics in the area.  We are assuming that maybe because one of them is HIV+.  In the Nyanza province, 1/3 of the population have HIV.  Mostly due to the practice of polygamy , jaboya system (sex for fish system) that exists near Lake Victoria and also lack of education on this topic.  We always wondered how many children have HIV whenever we teach but this information is of course not disclosed.  One thing that was obvious in high schools students was that they seemed to take the lesson more seriously.  It may be because they personally experienced HIV in their lives whether it was their family member or friends and understand the seriousness of the problem.  I hope our lessons are helping them and they will make safer and smarter choices in the future.  The effects of such teachings are not immediate but what we hope is that in 5 years, 10 years or so, the prevalence of HIV will decrease in this area. 

This year, we went into 17 primary schools and 5 high schools.  GIVE integrated the HIV/ AIDS curriculum to the Ojola zone 7 years ago and this year, our main goal was to analyze its progress.  We are hoping that the community can take over the project in the future so we are trying to discover a sustainable method to hand over project.

 Stephen and Rashma, testing the students

Osaore Kanyawegi

June 20th 

We left Amsterdam, carrying 37kg backpack in total.  We thought we couldn’t make it to the metro and was tempted to just get a cab. We were told that the cab to Schipol would be around 40 euros which seemed insanely expensive for a poor student like myself.  We decided to suck it up and carry our monstrous bags for just 6 euros and save up.  Upon arriving in Schiphol, I was so frustrated that it didn’t have unlimited wifi.  Maybe it is not a common thing to have in Europe.  We waited about 3 hours for our plane, becoming slightly anxious for the actual part of our trip.  KLM and Kenya airways have a partnership so we went on Kenya airways.  The plane was extremely spacious and more comfortable than KLM which was a surprise to me (for some reason). Possibly because I associate Kenya as a developing country and expected their services to be at a lower quality. 

At Schipol.  We were so tired and didn't really care about what others thought of us sitting on the ground. 

June 21st 

The moment I stepped out of the Kisumu airport, I finally felt like I was in Kenya.  The soil was reddish brown, and green everywhere.  People riding in mutatus, motorcycles (Boda bodas), goats on the roads, scorching hot sun and people honking and waving at us because we are muzungus (white).  The children were especially excited to see us.  They waved, yelled out “How are you” and everyone in the community wanted to shake our hands. This place definitely knows how to make you feel welcomed.