The fight against AIDS

So this week we spent at conference in Moshi to learn Aids education. I was pissed to miss school (not as angry as my students who had to take tests in my absence) but it ended up being a really educational, extremely motivating experience.

PEPFAR, our presidents emergency plan for aids relief, has a liason at PEACE CORPS to teach us about how to educate and get grants for teaching ect. So about 20 pcvs from the north and south got together, each bringing a tanzanian from their school. I brought Eva, my next door neighbor and an incredibly intelligent woman. She speaks like 5 languages and is always a good time to hang with. Point being, it wasn't as awkward as I thought it would be, and the whole week was a mix of cross-cultural exchanges and high school sex ed. We also got to know the girls who go to school/work at the YMCA here, where we had the conference. By the end of the week we were like "hey, there are about 40 young girls between the agest of 17 and 21, we should really teach them for practice" so we had two sessions and it was awesome. The first one was more lecture, but the second one we had group discussion in Kiswaenglish and they really opened up. Teaching sex ed is totally not as hard as I thought it would be, if you suck it up, and doing a condom demo is not nearly as uncomfortable as watching one (thank you sarah, I will hold your banana again any day). I feel totally motivated, and can't wait to go back to lomwe and spread the info there as well.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank american men. You are well informed, respectful (for the most part) and overall pretty responsible people. In experience, you always understand when a girl just says no, and that is pretty freaking awesome. so thanks for that. I would also like to thank all the R&B/Rap songs which mention female pleasure in their songs. Never thought I would be thankful for that, but if you come here you realize it is not even on a guys mind. So brag it up. And lastly, thank you R Kelly for your R&B opera "trapped in the closet". Its perfect for AIDs education as well as personal entertainment. Don't bust it until you try it. Hell, in 300 years, it could be like puccini.

Peace