Love, HIV

Love, HIV

Written by: M. Rama

I am the name you hear

The one you loved to get

The one you hate to have

"Trust me"

You don't know me

My name is HIV

I come to destroy people

I enter in the blood

and destroy you

You cant hear me when I enter your body

You feel it as it happens

Yet you can't sense me at all

I cause death

To young and old

Please protect yourself from me

Camp YEAH! / Sunday Funday pics rolled into one

In a previous blog Life in a day of camp I briefly touched on one of my Secondary Projects, Camp YEAH! (Youth Exploring and Achieving in Health). As promised I want to give you more insight on what exactly Camp YEAH! is all about.

To give a brief history and background Camp YEAH! began just a few years ago by 3 volunteers aiming to reach out and teach youth specifically here in the Kavango Region. Though the region has recently be divided into Kavango East and Kavango West, we still aim to cover the Kavango as a whole. In past years volunteers from the Zambezi Region (just east of the Kavango) were involved and this year was the first time Wambo Land (or O-Land) had some representation. In Namibia [as a whole] there are very high rates of HIV/AIDS and teen pregnancies, particularly in the Kavango Region.

Camp is held twice a year, once during the first week of the May holiday of school. Schools in Namibia close for about a month from the last week in April, to the end of May. This gives us the opportunity to facilitate a week long camp for learners. Each Peace Corps Volunteer active in YEAH! was able to bring 2-4 learners to the camp. During this week long camp we primarily focus on teachings about HIV/AIDS. We however also learned about pregnancies, other STIs, gender roles, stereotypes, and about what our bodies are doing in general. The learners also get a chance to ask us "secret questions" about our own experiences. We did everything from acting out scenarios to  interactive groups about the specifics on HIV/AIDS and other STIs to learning how to put on and take off a condom properly to how we can reference the Bible to help us with our attitudes toward HIV/AIDS and those effected by it. In Namibia the Christian religion plays a VERY strong role in the culture so its something valued on high by many of the locals. We even had an interactive obstacle coarse to simulate the concept of risky behaviors. Coming up in October will be a three day weekend camp with a focus on teen pregnancy which I must admit I'm very excited for.

One of my favorite parts of Camp YEAH! is the learning doesn't stop once camp comes to an end. All PCV involved in YEAH! are also required to hold health clubs at their schools. At first I only held a Girl's Club, and then the boy learners called me out for "discrimination" against male learners because they wanted to have a club too. This made me laugh, but also happy that they are actually learning their vocabulary words so I now also run a Boy's club with similar material. Initially I thought it would be awkward to have a female teacher running the club of all boys but so far its off to a good start. The 4 learners I brought to camp are my Club Leaders and LOVE to help teach activities we did at camp. It brings a little smile to my heart to see them with their Camp YEAH! shirts on at school telling their friends about this and that from camp. Over a month later its still something they rave about. Sometimes its the simplest things that make you go, ok maybe I'm not going to save the world by being in Peace Corps, but to see the excitement in learners voice as they share this knowledge with their peers, now that means the world to me!

When I use to work with Deaf students in the USA I would have them put their hands on their head like Bix is doing above to get them to stop talking and pay attention. One day at school I did that again with out even realizing it. Its actually the best strategy to get my kiddos here to quiet down in pay attention because they all mimic it back. It made me giggle to see my learners then doing it when they need the floor. 

TALENT SHOW NIGHT!!!!!! 

We made some awesome Tie-Dye shirts! 

One thing we learned about were gender roles and gender is viewed in the culture. Gender roles in Namibia are MUCH different from those in the U.S.A. The learners then had to act out short drama as the gender opposite of their own. Some of the boys wanted to dress like Memes, the girls rushed to wear bucket hats. It was an interesting experience to see how the learners viewed the opposite gender and lead to some great conversation as to "well why did you...." "why do we think.... about gender x".

Eddie and I both Representing Sweet Home Chicago 

Education

Education

Written by: L.H Pretty (Grade 9)

Education

The key to success

Education is the weapon to change the world

Education

The key to open the golden door

Guys, time is running out on us

It flies weather we focus on our studies or not

Boyfriends, girlfriends night clubs

the all equal fun...

for how long?

We have the confidence

We will make it

Let us be cool teenagers

Let us learn and change

Let us study

Teach us to become the best we can

Boy and girls

Remember education comes first

Lets make our books our lovers

Love wasn't meant for us teens

Lets take our books on dates

Read, and in the end you won't feel blue

Because it's too late to cry once school is threw

Study Study 

In the end we should delight our elders

Its never to late 

When you focus on the bright side

"Love"

"Love"

Written by: Eddie "Wiz Kid" (Grade 9)

"Love" is my name

HIV is my salary 

I kick teenagers out of their minds

Hurt, I am on their mind

Sex is never limited

"Love" is unlimited

Pregnancy is unheated

HIV is hurting us

My raise keeps increasing

You are decreasing

Just keep freezing

Feeling blue

HIV, sing for us

Pregnancy dancing for us

Music causing heat

Easy for us to meet

Death for sex

Abstain for health

"Love" for the making

When you reduce "love" for sex

I feel the need to brag for a moment

By far my favorite part of service is my learners. I've grown to really care about them. Sure, some days they make me want to scream, but over all they hold a really special place in my heart. I feel like part of what gives me some of the deepest insight on life in Namibia is via my learners. I would say I have a pretty close relationship with most of them. Between Girls Club, Boys Club, being a school counselor, teaching them and having them teach me, there is a level of trust between us. My learners keep these journals and a lot of it is basically to practice and be exposed to writing in English. These journals have opened my eyes to a lot. I'm always amazed to see what wanders threw their minds. Especially when their only prompt is "write about something you feel effecting your life", "write about the first thing on your mind", "write about anything". However, part of the learner's grades (as required by the Namibian Ministry of Education) is that they must do a short writing. This term I decided to make their short writing assignment writing a poem. So over the past weekend, after spending last week learning about different types of figurative language their assignment was to write me a poem about anything. Only rule, it must have figurative speech incorporated in some way at least once. As usual, some of them really blew my mind. My friends and family I talk to back home know I love to brag about my learners. I've grown up around English my whole life and even still I understand English is a hard language!! I've learned second, third and even fourth languages and, come on, learning a language in general is hard. To see some of the things these kids experience and can then in turn retell in a language outside their mother tongue amazes me. So over the next couple weeks I would like to highlight some of the work of my learners. Please note that each learner was asked first before I publish anything. They also got to choose their "display name". They are really excited actually! I do encourage any comments or compliments or constructive criticism people would like to offer my learners' works, I will happily deliver the feedback.

Sunday Funday Pictures!

It's that time of year where the Learners start preparing for their "Culture Competitions" in the Kavango. Learners collaborate traditional dancing, songs, and dramas together into a skit where they will compete with other schools. 

These are a couple of the traditional drums typically played by boy students. 

Since the Culture Competitions are a big deal in the area, and the drums can be heard through out the village, it attracts people to come watch their practices.

Little Miss Mariah here is one of my grade 8 English Learners, and one of our Culture Team's secret weapon. This girl can dance!!

Back to school! Term 2 of school has been back and at it for about 2 weeks. Winter is also upon us so people are layering up.

If you even (slightly) know me, you know I have a serious hot Cheetos addiction! Luckily my friends rock my socks and send me happiness in a box! If you haven't tried hot Cheetos with marshmallow cream, go try it, now! Lol trust me, it's great!

Flashback!!!

One of the local bands here Kolesa and my host sister invited a couple friends and I to their End of Year party last December. And recently sent me some of the photos they took. 

They are a GREAT band, I'm hoping to upload some of their music soon!

(Isn't my host sister so pretty? I'm couldn't ever ask for a better host sister!) 

Days for Girls Kits Distribution in Kasote Namibia

When this Peace Corps journey first began, in the days of Pre-Service Training, one of our activities included making a bubble chart of what makes us who we are. We drew one bubble in the middle with our names, with other bubbles attached to it with different parts of our identity. For exam, the things that I thought made me who I was were things like being Hispanic, an interpreter, a fit girl, a runner, outdoorsy, and a few different things. Not a single bubble said female. If I were to remake that chart now, a female would probably be one of my largest bubbles.



Sometimes here it seems like being a female gives you odds stacked against you. Girls are way more likely to drop out of school over the boys, for various reasons. When I first arrived to site and was trying to gauge what exactly I would take on as Secondary Projects a Girls Club was quickly one of the first projects to come to mind. Since then, Girl's Club has turned out to be one of my favorite parts of service!! One day, the LifeSkills teacher, Mrs.Muronga pulled me aside to tell me about a serious problem we have in Kasote. There is literally no where in the village for girls to get sanitary pads. Some families can afford to go to town to buy these items, but majority can not. Several girls reported  using rolled up tissue, mattress cushion, and traditional leaves as "homemade" pads. Not the most sanitary option, which would sometimes lead to infections. She asked me if I had any ideas of anything we can do about this. After doing some research I found this great program, Days For Girls. They had worked with other Peace Corps Volunteers in Namibia supplying kits of reusable, sanitary, effective cloth pads. The tricky part was funding them, and getting them to Namibia. Santa Fe Community Yoga and Personal Trainer Fred Martinez covered the fee for the pads, along with some of the shipping fees. Some wonderful individuals also helped ship these amazing kits for the girls. Please check out this amazing video of Kasote's need for the kits, and the distribution.