Tanzania and the Beginning of SIC!

SIC has finally started! Right now we are in the middle of orientation. We have been reviewing the curriculum while staying at a Mt. Meru University just outside of Arusha. It is pretty cold here and at a high elevation so even walking up and down the hills leaves me huffing. Yesterday we had our first day of teaching practice; we tried to get the hang of working with our Tanzanian teaching partners who translate as we speak. I've learned a lot about teaching and lesson planning in just a short time and that it is important to say articulate and concise sentences that can easily be translated.

We spent our first few nights of SIC in a hostel in Arusha, just outside there were crazy dogs that roamed and howled all night long. At home I am a total dog lover, but here most dogs inspire fear. I try to say "shh" and tip toe around them as they growl and bare their teeth. Dogs are meant for protection and most people keep them tied up during the day and release them at night to bark at the sound of any stranger. Since everyone that works at the hostel goes to bed at about 9 pm, it leaves the volunteers to fend for ourselves against the dogs.

There are 18 volunteers doing VP3 from UCLA, Stanford, U of Washington and U of South Hampton in England. In about a week we will be dividing up into teaching groups of about 3 volunteers and 2 Tanzanian teaching partners each; each group will live in homestays within a village. Our goal is to educate a primary and/or secondary school in addition to community groups--soccer teams, village leaders, mama groups etc. We will also be educating peer educators to continue the teaching after we are gone and running voluntary testing and counseling clinics. The past week we have been reviewing the curriculum and I can't wait to share it with the community. In learning about HIV/AIDS in Africa I have not only seen what a huge problem it is in sub-saharan Africa, but I have also realized what a problem it is in the U.S. More than 1 in 200 people in the U.S. is HIV+ yet it is not nearly as discussed as the risk of pregnancy or STIs.

Orientation has been a great opportunity to learn a lot more about HIV and about Tanzanian attitudes towards the disease. At one point in class we were discussing how to talk about the origins of HIV in a classroom setting. Most of the Americans thought we could mention all the theories (hunter-monkey transmission, conspiracy, punishment, polio vaccine, flight steward etc.) then emphasize that the most widely accepted scientific theory is that hunter monkey theory. This theory suggests HIV evolved from SIV (Simian Immunodeficiency Virus) when a hunter exchanged blood with a monkey it was butchering in the DRC. Our Tanzanian teaching partners were very upset by the idea of teaching this as the only or even primary theory. The first question asked was "was it a white hunter or a black hunter?" Many Africans believe that HIV came from the white world, formed as part of a conspiracy by the American government. It is very difficult for us, as white Americans, to attempt to teach the hunter-monkey theory without appearing to be trying to blame Africans for the virus. Even many of the teaching partners saw this as trying to avoid talking about the conspiracy theory. This kind of tricky topic is what we have faced over and over again as foreigners trying to come in and teach about a very stigmatized disease.

Yesterday we also learned about the VCT (Voluntary Counseling and Testing Clinic) that SIC runs. I am so excited to work with the VCT. The leaders described people taking the courageous step to get tested then running out of the VCT skipping with joy when they found out they were negative. As I will likely get tested with some of my students to help them feel more comfortable about the process, I can't help but feel slightly nervous to find the result. I can only imagine this fear amplified 100 fold by someone who has a much much higher likelihood of having been exposed.

I have much more to say... will write in 3 weeks!

Avery