Hope World Wide

Mambo! I started work at Hope World Wide on Monday. The first day was interesting, but I didn't really do much. My supervisor wasn't in the office so I went into the field and helped to set up a VCT clinic in a town in the north called Frere town. It was really interesting to see what the VCT counselors did, but because I'm not qualified to do any counseling, I ended up just sitting in the shade the entire day. It ended up being kind of boring after a while because not many people came as it was the first day. I was kept amused by my male co-workers who were shamelessly hitting on me the ENTIRE day. I can forsee that the gender disparities will be something that I will need to get used to and try to accept for the time being.
Yesterday was much better because I was able to meet with my supervisor, Salim, and hang out in the office with the other female volunteers. I've made fast friends with two women especially, named Risper and Winnie. During my meeting with Salim I learned that I will be helping with a new initiative to provide social/medical support (remind them to take their medications and provide them with tools to overcome stigma) for people living with HIV/AIDS...which made me VERY happy because it's exactly what I wanted to do while I was here.
Later in the day I met with Winnie, who works to provide communities and at risk populations (sex workers, men who have sex with men etc.) with prevention education. I learned that I will be traveling to a town on the South coast in November to do outreach and prevention education. I will be staying there for a week and I will work with high school students, muslim imams and at risk populations. I'm VERY excited about this. After our discussion, Winnie and I went to a community mobilizing event in Mikindani (where Hope World Wide is located, and where I live). It was very interesting. There was a youth group there playing loud music and doing skits to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS prevention. The community became very involved and were asked to answer some very hard questions. It was really great to watch (even though I didn't understand most of what they said:)
Today was the best day so far. I went to Likoni (on the south coast) with my supervisor (Salim) and one of the VCT counselors, Linet. We met with the head nurse at the Ministry of health in Likoni and discussed plans to spearhead our project to provide support for people living with HIV/AIDS. Tomorrow we will be meeting with a group of 15 patients (each with one family member or friend). We will conduct a needs assessment to see what type of support would help them most to take their medication.
I am VERY excited to go to work tomorrow and start getting immersed in my project! As for now, I must go and have some dinner.

oxoxo anna