HIV Health Fairs

Following the HIV/AIDS workshop that I attended in St. Lucia, a co-worker and I set up tables at health fairs in 2 poorer communities. We had a great turnout at both and were able to reach about 200 people in total, ages 16 to about 60. At the first fair, we conducted both male and female condom demonstrations and distributed approximately 1,000 condoms to the surrounding community, while educating them on HIV and STI’s. We found that the photographs of infected body parts were especially effective in getting their attention...you would understand if you saw them too. The small shop owners were very receptive to us and welcomed the information. At the second fair, we had an even larger crowd (and more men) and they were especially captivated by the visual tools illustrating the female anatomy and the female condom. It was exciting how many people showed interest and were willing to learn more about how they can personally prevent the spread of HIV.

Yo quiero tacos!

Peace Corps Goal #2. To help promote a better understanding of the American people on the part of the people served.

I brought tacos to my friends. Lisa and Junior had NEVER had them before, much less even knew what a tortilla was! What??? Ummm, you're welcome.

Tobago

This week I went to Tobago…as part of my job! I went to a Peer Counseling Trainers Workshop with 2 of my co-workers from Hope-Pals, an HIV/AIDS advocacy group I work with, and we got to stay at an all-inclusive resort (thank you Red Cross International)! The training sessions were really interesting and it was even more of an experience for me to hear so many stories firsthand from people who are HIV+. It made the material much more real. By the end of the week, I scored high enough marks on my exams and teach-back session that I received my Trainer’s Certificate!

Our last and only free day on the island consisted of me taking my 62-year old friend Keith and our taxi driver on a wild goose chase to try to find the sites where "Swiss Family Robinson" was filmed. No one I spoke with seemed to know what movie I was talking about, but oddly enough, the random taxi driver had grown up on the land where the film crew had camped for part of the time! Obviously a lot had changed since 1960, but he remembered most of the locations and I was able to narrate for him what happened in each spot. It was quite humorous, and cool to know I was walking where Fritz, Ernst, and Francis had roamed.