This week I flew out to St. Lucia for an HIV/AIDS workshop funded by the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, designed for some of the Peace Corps volunteers and our community partners who are working in the field of HIV awareness. Our facilitators were from all over the Caribbean and did an excellent job teaching and leading us in activities surrounding the topics of the biology of the virus, stigma & discrimination, prevention & intervention techniques, raising awareness, and planning specific projects for each of our communities. We also had 3 HIV+ guest speakers who bravely shared their stories with us and left some of us in tears. I was in awe of the bold approach they take on life and how they aren't afraid to speak out and be the face of HIV. HIV/AIDS is still such a fragile subject here and some have been practically ostracized from their friends and family once their status is made known, not to mention the treatment their children get, even though they made not be HIV+. All in all, the conference was exceptional and the trainers were great at what they do...very engaging and so much fun to learn from!
Then I got to spend the weekend with my good friends Lilly (a volunteer on St. Lucia) and Adam (St. Kitts & Nevis) down in Lilly's fishing village of Anse la Raye! We had so much fun just unwinding, cooking meals together, singing karaoke at the Fish Fry, hitting up the beach, and going on long walks. It was also great to see Lilly in her element with her community...teaching PE at the primary school, her daily walking club with whichever women and children want to come along, playing violin in her church, getting personal updates from her postman, and my all-time favorite...they have a town crier! You pay him a few bucks and at 5pm he starts ringing his cow bell and spreads the news! I love it! Needless to say, great times were had!
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