Camp and moving days

It has been a while since I last posted. I have been bouncing all over the country in the last month. I am wiped out and really glad to be home for a while.

Let's start back at the beginning of the month.

Camp Espoir training of trainers started the 4th. Camp Espoir is a camp that Peace Corps Togo has put on the past few years for kids infected or affected by HIV/AIDS. We work with the associations that already exist in each of the regions and bring kids from each region together for a week-long camp in Pagala at the Peace Corps Training Center. Training kind of put a damper on celebrating Independence Day, cooped up in Peace Corps' idea of a sleep away camp. I wish I could have been at home watching the fireworks over Mirror Lake like I have been doing forever! TOT was torture. It was mostly for the Togolese who were working with us to learn what camp meant and activities that teach kids but not in a school setting. The Togolese think that the only way to learn in sitting in a desk copying notes, word-for-word from the teacher and then memorizing the information. Camp helps teach them that there are other ways to learn and that learning can be fun. By the end, I think some of them got it.

Monday morning when the campers were supposed to arrive I felt really sick. I had had a fever all weekend and bad stomach problems. So I called the Med Unit and they told me I had to come down to Lomé right away. I was a bit concerned that I would be missing camp, that I had spent so much time planning for. But I didn't want to be sick around the kids, with no energy. So I got a car down to Lomé and was in the Med Unit until Wednesday. I ended up having amoebas. Not fun but bound happen with the poor water quality in this country.

So I got back up to camp Wednesday afternoon. I was a counselor in a cabin with girls ages 12 to 15. Two of the girls were taking ARVs. There other 8 were either affected by HIV (orphaned) or they didn't know their HIV status. It was difficult to talk about the disease but not openly talk about ones status. We kind of had to talk around the subject when we were discussing HIV. The two girls that were taking ARVs, we had to watch them take the medicine every morning and evening. We were in a particular situation where we had the ability to monitor their taking of the meds. But at home it is likely that there is no one making sure they are taking them correctly. It is a conflict I often see when working with people living with HIV/AIDS. Everyone who knows their status wants the meds that will help them have healthier lives. But people here don't always understand how they must take the meds. They must be taken every day at the same time, EVERY DAY. If they don't do that, they don't work. Maladherence to the drugs is all too common. I am often conflicted as to whether it is the best things for people to receive free meds for HIV from these associations, even though it is pretty certain they will not be taken the way they need to be.

Sorry for the that side note. Back to camp. The last two days were the days I planned. The activities I planned were how to succeed in school, planning for the future, human rights, and trust games. I worked with a Togolese counterpart and we planned fun but educational activities for the kids. I think they got a lot out of it and had fun doing it. I must say over all, Togolese kids love putting on skits. They must have put on like 4 just while I was there. And they were funny! It was sad to leave the kids by the end but we were all really tired from the kids high levels of energy all week.

I ended up getting back to village that Sunday. I saw my neighbor Juliette while I was in the market and she told me that she was moving houses that night. She had been having problems with her host family and ended up having to move back to the original house she had been living in. The Togolese custom is that you move at night. This is to hide what belongings you have in your house from all the neighbors. I think this is a really dumb idea, but I am not Togolese. So we started moving around 7 pm. It was already pretty dark out at that point. The first load was easy, just the light stuff and there was still a little bit of sunlight. We had to walk down these tiny footpaths for about ten minutes. I had to follow someone every time because I don't know them like the back of my hand like everyone else in the village. By the time it got dark it was really hard. Anyone who knows me well, know I have terrible night vision. I had my head lamp but the batteries were almost dead so it wasn't much help. Carrying heavy loads on my head, small footpaths and darkness made it almost impossible to get the stuff moved for me. I twisted my ankles several times. But eventually, some local guys showed up and helped Juliette and me with the heavy stuff. They carried everything on their heads and with ease. A whole wardrobe, a couch, tables, chairs, a heavy gas tank, everything. All on their heads. And they did it about 50 times faster that I would have ever been able to do. We ended up finishing around 10 and I waited around on the road to get a ride home. I was so tired by them and was so excited to sleep in my own bed after being away from home for two weeks.

I am glad to finally be back at home and get back to work in my village. I feel like I am a bit cut off from work here because all the work I was doing before camp ended right before I left. So now I am getting back into the grind, doing some trainings, working with the village development committee on the pump project and clinic project. I hope to have the proposal for the clinic done by the end of the month. I will let you know where to go if you want to help donate money! PLEASE HELP!!!

Hope to hear from all of you soon. Love and miss you tons!!! Alia

P.S. While some of you are sweltering in the hot weather, I am over in Africa enjoying the cooler weather. 85 and beautiful. (That is the coldest I have seen it here) I even have to wear a sweater at night!