World AIDS Day 2010

Last Wednesday (1^st December) was World AIDS Day. The HIV team and me took a break from our normal schedule and made the two hour drive to Kinango to take part in the community AIDS Day celebrations.

It was a great day full of dancing, singing and dramas, all performed by people from the local community. Each performance contained a message about HIV and AIDS. My favourite performance came from a men’s group who wore imaginative costumes and performed a number of dances, including one of a man playing a woman giving birth! There was also a drummer who was able to carry his huge drum using just his mouth!

It was great to see the topic of HIV being addressed with refreshing positivity and enthusiasm. People living with HIV in this community face an ongoing battle with stigma and discrimination so days like this are so important to raise awareness and encourage the community to support and accept each regardless of whether they are living with HIV.

Wednesday felt like a particularly hot day so I was grateful to have a seat in the shade to enjoy the performances and speeches. Of course one thing about the day was very ordinary; it ran on Kenyan time and as a result was four hours behind schedule. As we sat down at 2pm the speaker scheduled for 10am took to his feet!

Heat, Hearts and Hope

For various reasons (which I won’t bore you with!) my blog is not starting at the beginning of my trip. So you are joining me part way through this journey, but I hope you will still find my musings of interest!

I will begin where you find me....In Mombasa on a hot Saturday morning preparing to go to a wedding.

It is not often I get to put on nice clothes or makeup anymore so I was looking forward to attending the wedding of my work colleague named Kadzungo. As the wedding was an hour and a half’s drive away we were to leave at 8.30am so I dragged myself out of bed at 7.30am to get ready. I thought it was a good opportunity to wear some makeup-this was not a wise choice as most of it had melted off my face by the time we got to the wedding!

For the journey to the church we decided to see if we could break the record for the number of people you can fit into a 10 seater hardtop, the outcome-15 people packed in tightly like sardines in a can. It reminded me of the London Underground at rush hour, except that in this version at least we all had a seat!

In true Kenya style we arrived part way through the wedding ceremony, but I needn’t have worried about missing out as the service went on for at least another two hours after we arrived. This is the first wedding I have been to where people take a newspaper with them to read! We had a lovely day with lots of singing, dancing and good food. Then it was time to squeeze everyone back into the hardtop for the drive home.

On Sunday I went to Church, after the service I spoke to a lady named Joan who founded a Children’s Home about 10km from where I live, to ask if they ever need volunteers at weekends. And that was the start of an unexpected afternoon. Joan immediately said yes they always need help, she then asked if I had any plans for the rest of the day; I didn’t have the heart to tell her I had a hot date planned with a sun lounger and a copy of Hello magazine (kindly sent to me by my grandma). So before I knew it I was squashed into the back of a minivan with a lot of excitable children on our way to Tumaini (the name of the home which means Hope in Swahili).

As we drove towards Tumaini I found myself wondering how I was going to entertain these children with their seemingly endless amounts of energy. I needn’t have worried as the children soon took charge! We played games, read stories and played on the swings in the gardens. One little girl named Hope glued to my side from the minute I arrived until I left. As I sat with her looking through pictures in my magazine she became very animated at the sight of some of the pictures, it turned out Hope mistook me for a number of people in the magazine, including; a heavily pregnant Celine Dionne, a long haired Robin Gibb from the Bee Gees and Kate Middleton (I was secretly quite pleased by the last mistaken identity, now if only I could persuade Prince William of the same thing......). I unsuccessfully tried to explain to Hope that despite having the same skin and hair colour it was not pictures of me she was looking at!

The afternoon flew by and soon it was time for me to leave. All day I had a craving for salad so on the way home I get a Matatu (like a small bus) to a cafe I had spotted which I suspected would sell salad. To my delight I was right; I sat down to a lovely meal accompanied at last by a blissful hour with my Hello magazine!