The work begins...

This week I felt like I was finally beginning to accomplish something at my organization. As I have mentioned before, things move at a much lower pace here. It can be frustrating at times, but I am learning to work within it. I have developed a project plan and things are moving along, slowly but surely.

After talking with the staff here and assessing their current and prior projects, I decided that the most beneficial thing I could do in the community is develop a Peer Education/Trainers of Teachers program. COTFONE had done some peer education with adults and they also have a youth group of 9-13 year olds that meets sporadically. However, the teenager age range is virtually untapped. I feel like this is the most crucial age group to expose to intensive HIV/AIDS education. They have the greatest potential to change infection levels and stigma in this country, if they gain the knowledge before they become sexually active. Since I have some experience working with teenagers from my Young Life days, I feel like this age range is also a good fit for me.

The concept of peer education is a very sustainable idea and has been relatively successful in this region. Instead of me coming to Uganda for three months, training a few students, and then leaving, I will develop a training program and materials and teach a small group of students (about 18) how to teach their peers. Then this group of students can go back into their communities and disseminate the information to their peers, train future peer educators, and the cycle begins again. In theory, this is how the program will work. Although, I expect it might be a bit more complex as I begin the implementation phase.

Quick Story—I presented the program to a group of 60 male students at a local secondary school this week. After the presentation, one boy raised his hand and said his question was addressed to Ms. Maple. He said, “Ms. Maple if I become a peer educator and learn all of the skills you would like me to learn, then I teach all of the information to my peers, and then go back to my village and share the knowledge with everyone in my village also, like you want me too; may I then come back to your country and live with you and teach people in your country as well?” The rest of the class erupted with laughter. I turned to the COTFONE staff member with me for guidance as to how I should respond, and he offered no help. So, I laughed it off saying “I don’t think the country of Uganda has given me permission to do that, hahah.” The staff member then piped in saying “Well, if you study hard maybe you can go back with her and continue your studies in USA.” I’m thinking, “Great. I do not want these boys presuming that I am giving out free Visas to come study in the States.”

I am rapidly learning about HIV/AIDS education in Sub-Saharan Africa, as I am researching and developing training materials. COTFONE has decided to begin the program with an intensive three day training workshop next weekend. So, I have quite a lot of work to do preparing for that on such a tight timeline. Hopefully, electricity and internet access will work in my favor this weekend! COTFONE does not have very many resources to provide me with, but I have been utilizing a lot of Peace Corps materials I borrowed from the volunteer here.

Speaking of the Peace Corps volunteer at COTFONE, Mark, he has decided to leave the organization due to some conflicts that developed between he and the director over the past couple months. I am sorry to see him leave, as he has been here a year and was a great resource regarding both COTFONE and the community. I am trying to stay out of the politics of the situation, and I hope that tensions will ease now that he is gone. There is still one other PC volunteer in Kiwangala, JP, and he is very knowledgeable as well.

Anyway, I better get back to my preparations for next week’s training workshop!