Condom Demonstrations

My big project for this last term has been doing condom demonstrations in all of the classrooms.  I luckily got in touch with a woman who works with the District Health Team in Molepolole (my district’s main village) and she hooked me up with a model penis, model vagina, and male and female condoms to use in the demonstrations.

Once I had the supplies, I got right to work.  There are seventeen classes at my school (meaning close to 700 students) and I needed at least two periods with each class.  Due to other projects I was working on, it wasn’t as simple as just going to all the guidance classes.  I had to figure out when I would be at school and when I would make up any classes I missed, as well as working around different examinations given by the school.  Also, the schedule has up to three guidance classes during the same period, despite the fact that we have only one guidance teacher.  Go figure.

For the male condom, my counterpart and I made signs with each of the steps to using a condom on them.  One side had English, and one had Setswana.  I was adamant about teaching this in Setswana, because incorrect condom use is a common occurrence.  We would have eight students come up and give them the signs randomly, and they had to work together to put the signs in the correct order.  I definitely have not reached fluency, but I think now knowing how to explain condom use ka Setswana is a good start.

After initially learning the steps, I would go over them again while demonstrating using a condom and the model penis.  (I taught over a constant stream of giggles – mostly from the boys, ironically enough.)  I would then have one boy and one girl demonstrate, although if no one volunteered, I didn’t push it.  It was really important to me to create a safe, comfortable environment so kids will stop being so scared to talk about sex and ask those really important questions.

And boy, do the kids have questions.  It was wonderful to see them opening up to me, and to know that I was helping to dispel some common myths.  Some things the students believe I expected to hear – condoms aren’t reliable, real men don’t use condoms, if you use a condom you won’t feel anything.  But other myths are truly astounding – condoms have worms in them that make you sick, the U.S. sends over condoms with HIV in it to try to wipe out African races, if you have sex with a girl on her period her vagina will bite you.

The following class I demonstrated how to use the female condom, which also got plenty of laughs.  Although I don’t believe many women use the female condom, there is a lot of interest in it, which is great.  I didn’t have enough female condoms for any students to also try, so after demonstrating and having a Q&A session we discussed different forms of birth control.

Most students had heard of the condoms, the pill, IUD, and injections (and, of course, abstinence).  Interestingly, almost every class also offered sterilization as a method of birth control.  While that’s true, I thought it was strange that students so young would have sterilization on the forefront of their minds.

We then reviewed bad forms of birth control, many of which the students believe to be effective:

• “Pulling out,” or withdrawing before ejaculation
• Having sex during the woman’s menstruation cycle
• “Safe period,” which means having sex during the five days after a woman menstruates.  They believe that since the woman is not ovulating, there is a zero percent chance of her getting pregnant, and this is taught in science classes.  I emphasized that while it is not likely, it is still a possibility, and condoms/birth control should still be used.
• Sex positions – i.e. if a woman is on top, gravity will keep the sperm from reaching the egg
• Different methods from traditional doctors

It was encouraging to see how engaged some of the students were.  It made me feel as if I actually was making a difference in their lives, and that being informed will help at least a few students make better choices.  After a year and a half of ambiguous reporting to Peace Corps, it’s a great feeling to know I have solid numbers (I’ve reached 680 youth this quarter!) to send to Washington, D.C.

More than just helping the students, it was a small epiphany for myself.  I loved doing these classes, and I’m already in the process of putting together sex education curriculum for next year.  After feeling somewhat irrelevant for a lot of my service, I’m getting excited again, and perhaps my interest and passion can guide my career choices when I get home in June.

World AIDS Day 2010

December 1^st is World AIDS Day, and I was lucky enough to be at the Tsetsebjwe Youth Forum for the event.  As I’ve mentioned, the Youth Forum is a week-long camp for orphans and vulnerable children (OVCs).

Roughly 150 children attended.  The children are handpicked from schools in the region as those who are the neediest and would most benefit from the event.  Over the week they played games and did activities to build skills such as leadership and to address issues such as child abuse.  They also are provided one-on-one and group counseling when needed.  As with anything here, it was run much differently than a camp in the U.S., but it was still an undeniably great experience for the kids.

On World AIDS Day, the Peace Corps volunteers got to run all the morning activities, which was a great chance for us to step up and take some responsibility.  There were some things we didn’t have control over – such as a sermon in the morning and a half hour of hymn singing.  After that though, we had a candlelight vigil in honor of those infected and affected by HIV and AIDS.  The kids were very respectful (even the youngest ones) and it was a really powerful moment. 

After, we showed the students a documentary about a teenager in Botswana, Keitumetse’s House.  It follows a teenager named Keitumetse, who was left the head of the household with two younger brothers after her parents died from AIDS.  Until their death, she had not even been aware that they had the virus.  It shows her struggle to stay in school, her rocky relationship with her brother, and her determination to volunteer in a youth group and keep her family healthy and safe.  After the movie, we lead a discussion.  

In a circle for the candlelight vigil

Two groups then performed dramas (or plays).  The kids all seemed to enjoy them, but to be honest I have no idea what they were about.  I’m definitely not fluent in Setswana yet.  At that point it was lunch time and we closed the World AIDS Day celebrations.

One of the two dramas that were performed

It was nice to hear from all of you back home who were honoring the day and also thinking of me and my students here in Botswana.

The STEPS movie series is a great program to not only educate people on issues of HIV/AIDS, but also to get them talking and, most importantly, encourage them to take the next step and do something about it.  Peace Corps provided training to any volunteers that wanted to become facilitators.  Check it out at: http://steps.co.za

Many people have been fighting for freedom.  I was still young when I heard about Apartheid, and about Mandela fighting for this and that.  I never took it seriously.  Now I believe that as long as we are still living with HIV and there is nothing done about it, we are not free.  We must go on fighting.  –Busi, from A Luta Continua, a STEPS movie

The Wisdom of Whores

I have been reading The Wisdom of Whores: Bureaucrats, Brothels and the Business of AIDS by Elizabeth Pisani (and by reading, I mean sitting in the sun devouring page after page in between hand-washing loads of laundry).  It’s a book that I absolutely recommend to anyone, whether you are well-versed on the HIV epidemic or don’t even know what the letters H-I-V stand for (Human Immunodeficiency Virus, by the way).

Although I have yet to finish the book, I have learned a great deal.  Mainly that the HIV epidemic is far from universal.  The virus affects different demographics in different areas of the world in different ways.  The “cookbook” manuals (as Ms. Pisani calls them) put out by the UN on how to address the epidemic and effect behavior change turn out to be… not so helpful.  Every region, country, and even city has its own sex and drug culture, which dramatically changes which population should be targeted and how said targeting should be attempted.  There is no one-way to behavior change.

Another important lesson: don’t blindly trust anything.  Not bare statistics, not UN-sanctioned reports, not the country’s political or religious leaders.  Numbers can be deceiving, or misinterpreted, or “beat up” to shock key people and organizations (another of Ms. Pisani’s terms). In order to get a true picture of how a disease is being spread, you have to go to the people.  It takes time, patience, and flexibility, but this book proves that policy-makers contained in comfy cubicles (or even the corner office with a great view) have no idea what’s happening on the ground.  Thus it’s impossible for them to make effective policies (unless, of course, they consult those who are on the ground and then actually follow their advice… but how often does that happen?)

After reading this book, I don’t feel so bad for the lack of hard data on my blog.  Although followers may be craving a more concrete outline of the HIV epidemic here in Botswana, the statistics only give a bare skeleton of what the situation truly is.  (And as long as we’re being honest, there’s hardly any reliable data in my region to begin with.  The most recent population records are from 2001.)  Instead, I’ll do my best to relay the down and dirty about what’s really going on, and we can discover the truth together.

Now really, go check your local library or Barnes & Noble – it’s a great book!

There is one thing even more vital to science than intelligent methods; and that is the sincere desire to find out the truth, whatever it may be. –Charles Pierce

Posh Corps

As with any organization, Peace Corps has stereotypes about certain regions and countries.  Botswana is not an exception, and has been dubbed by some as the “Posh Corps.”  I can imagine some of you back home agreeing with this (though you’d never speak it aloud), thinking, well, she does have electricity, not to mention internet.  Also, a large majority of the population speaks English, so she can communicate more easily.  Didn’t one of her entries mention that she can buy western clothes and high heels?  I thought Peace Corps was supposed to put her in a mud hut where she would sit under a mango tree and teach kids English! 

Let’s examine.

Posh adj.

1. Elegant; fashionable.
2. Typical of or intended for the upper classes; highfalutin.

Origin unknown.

First use: 1918.

Elegant

When I think of “elegant,” I think Grace Kelly.  I think little black dresses and pearls.  I think Baryshnikov and the Louvre and Carnegie Hall.  Gatsby, red wine and pasta, cruise liners, Steinway grand pianos. 

I don’t tend to think about bucket bathing.  Or squeezing four people into three seats on the combi.  Or summers without deodorant, squatting to wash dishes in a tub on the floor, or a permanent coating of red dust on my skin.  Also not entering my thoughts: scrubbing my clothes by hand until my knuckles bleed (and subsequently hanging my “personals” on a clothesline for all to see), sitting on the floor to eat dinner since I don’t have a real table, considering hitch-hiking the most reliable method of transportation, or going anywhere from two hours to two weeks at a time without any water available (I’ve since learned to always keep huge containers full of water, just in case).

This isn’t a list of complaints – these are by far the most minor challenges I’ve encountered thus far, and if it’s not an absolute joy to do my laundry, it’s not terrible either.  The actual lifestyle here is very manageable, but it’s certainly not “elegant.”

Fashionable

The situation in Botswana concerning HIV is not what I might call “fashionable.”  Beside the fact that action is being taken to attempt to remedy the epidemic, there’s nothing concerning HIV that any person or country would want to imitate.  Mothers who are fully aware of their HIV positive status continue to have unprotected sex and have further pregnancies, putting their unborn babies at risk.  Teenage girls fall into this category, and they are expelled from school if they become pregnant, even if it is due to rape or incest.  People are not taught how to use condoms, so the widespread condom use is ineffectual and the disease continues to be spread.  Alcoholism and unemployment are running as rampant as HIV itself, compounding upon the problem.  Furthermore, now that the government and other organizations have taken such a public campaign for prevention, Batswana (the younger generation in particular) are completely burnt out on the topic.  I don’t wish to speak poorly of the Batswana, I merely want to give an outline of the challenges they are facing.  Peace Corps volunteers’ overarching goal in Botswana is to find a new way to inspire behavior change.  And if there was a formula for that, well, we’d have world peace.

Upper Class

If we’re going to say that Botswana is Posh Corps, and thus upper class, let’s take a look at the economy.  At first glance, the national average income of 12,860 (Purchasing Power Parity, international dollars) ranks Botswana as a middle-income country.  However, according to a UNDP report, the richest 10% of Botswana owns 57% of the country’s wealth.  Looking closer at Botswana’s main resource, cattle, shows that the wealthiest 2.5% of farmers owns 40% of all cattle (Source).  Thus, it is obvious that there is a disparity between classes.  While this difference may be greater in other nations in the world, the realities in Botswana should not be downplayed.  Being statistically classified as a middle-income country should not lead to assumptions that the wealth is equally distributed.  Social classes must be examined in order to get an accurate depiction of the situation.  And frankly, I can’t imagine anyone coming to Lentsweletau and declaring it “upper class.”

Highfalutin

Neither “pretentious” nor “pompous” (synonyms for “highfalutin”) describe the Batswana.  Now, getting to know and understand Botswana’s social norms is what I have struggled with the most.  This is not an easy culture to understand.  All cultures are like icebergs, but I feel Botswana is even more so than most.  It’s like the iceberg that sunk the Titanic: the tip above water could barely be seen, but underneath lurked an unimaginably large mass.  There is so much that goes unseen and unspoken about here – topics ranging from HIV and sex to mourning and familial relations.  I’ve lived here for four and a half months now, and I’m still discovering nuances and learning new aspects of the culture on a daily basis.  As Americans, we live in a low-context culture, and it’s hard to imagine what it would be like to live in a place where things aren’t so obvious.  It’s impossible to explain; it’s something you just have to experience.  So please take my word for it: the Batswana may be difficult to read at times or may seem unexpressive (to Americans), but they are far from pompous or pretentious.

Alright, yes, I have internet.  I have a cell phone.  The majority of Batswana I see on a daily basis know at least some English.  I have electricity and when I turn on my faucet, water comes out (…usually).  When I needed a sweater, I hopped on a bus to the capital and bought a plain black V-neck.  But in the end, it doesn’t matter which amenities I have.  I’m still completely alone in a foreign country with only a basic understanding of the language and culture.  Some nights I’m so homesick I stare at the ceiling wondering how I’ll make it through the week.  When I feel lost, I don’t even always know how to ask for help, and I certainly don’t have the vocabulary to express how I’m feeling, or what I’m experiencing.

So go ahead, call it Posh Corps.  Call Botswana “the Country Club of Africa.”  But just as calling me Lorato doesn’t change me from actually being Tess, calling Botswana a country club doesn’t change any of the real, pressing issues it faces each day.  Regardless of what others may think, I’m determined to find a way to truly become a part of my community, fully grasp the culture, and maybe even try to make a difference at some point.  And I may hit a few bogeys on the way, but hey, that’s life on the green.

These people are amazing.  It’s so emotional I was thinking about wearing waterproof mascara. –Victoria “Posh Spice” Beckham