There is no Thanksgiving in Rwanda

So instead, my Thursday night dinner consisted of rice, a vegetable medley and some roasted potatoes. They don't really do stuffing here.

Thursday I had a long talk with the volunteer coordinator--and by long talk I mean cry--and all of a sudden she heard for the first time (though I have mentioned this a number of times) that I am a trained HIV Educator. So that afternoon I wrote an overview lesson, and taught it on Friday to 22 kids ranging in age from 9 to 16.

It actually went really well! I started with an icebreaker activity to address stigmas, myths and misinformation that they might have...a shocking response was that about 75% of the group responded "yego" or yes to the staetment "People with HIV/AIDS are dirty and/or sinful. So...that's a hurdle to overcome.
We discussed the basics--transmission, the ABCs of prevention, the general anatomy of condom use (without getting too explicit for cultural reasons)--and began to discuss stereotypes and myths. Some of the students had incredibly compelling questions.

Claire, the volunteer coordinator, decided it would be most effective to teach only those students 14 years and older (NOT my decision). So next week and the following week (I only have two weeks left!!!!) I will teach two lessons a week for about 1 1/2 hours each on HIV to Rwandan teenagers. I'm thinking that for Thursday I will prepare a stigma discussion, and then maybe an anatomy and sex-negotiating lesson for Friday.

SO EXCITED!

Today, Rachel (one of the other volunteers) and I went to Butare, a University town about two hours south of Kigali. It is apparently the most "US-like" town in Rwanda...I tend to disagree. It looked like a very large African town. On the bus ride there, the man sitting next to me quoted scripture at me in a discussion of why Jesus is clearly the Messiah, but was quite nice otherwise. The little girl sitting on his lap threw up on my pants, though. She coughed on my arms and then puked on my leg, and immediately thereafter I saw a skinned goat carcass out the window. Not quite as nice.

I will leave you with the DUH sentence of a lifetime, from the Thursday edition of the New Vision English-language newspaper here in Rwanda: "The 1994 genocide against the Tutsis really messed up the education sector of this country." Yes...thanks.