World AIDS Day

For many, World AIDS Day is a once-a-year reminder of the global effect AIDS has on people around the world. Some can go day-to-day not having to give much thought to the virus that affects so many. But, on December 1, the world stops to remember and raise awareness. In the past I honored World AIDS Day by: attending presentations, candlelight vigils and movie screenings to recognize the effect AIDS has had on so many people who I had never met. While I knew AIDS existed in the states I still felt removed from the topic. However World AIDS Day stood as a call to attention and a way to raise awareness for people who may not have otherwise known about the effects of the infection.

This year was a little different. I am surrounded by the virus and people affected by it. It is something I work with every day. Here in Mozambique, World AIDS Day is not just the one day where people stop to think about HIV, but rather an occasion to recognize the fight that continues. In the past, CACHES has had all-day events with different cultural groups presenting, lunch and hospital staff present to do HIV tests. However, this year, CACHES lacks funding so we planned something a little different. We had several brainstorming meetings and finally the activistas decided that we would do an exercises in the morning with the criancas at the CACHES, then a march through Chicumbane and end with a soccer game and palestra for the jovens of Chicumbane. We also decided that we would write a pedido to the hospital, a letter requesting condoms to distribute. CACHES already had several magazines and brochures in Changana and Portuguese that we could distribute as well.

During the week leading up to the event, we wrote the pedido to the hospital. And then we also wrote up a flyer outlining the events of the day. The activistas made glue and put the flyers up around Chicumbane a few days beforehand.

I brought the pedido to the hospital and they approved the request. On Friday, when I went to the hospital, I picked up the condoms from Enfermeiro Ricardo. He originally gave me 200. When my supervisor from EGPAF, Louis, saw that he only gave me 200, he said that I needed more so he asked Ricardo to get some more. This led to a bit of a problem because then we had to go talk to the Enfermeira Chefe (Boss) who then gave me a talking to on how could we plan an event about health without including a representative from the health field. She wanted to know who would be giving all of the statistics about why it is so important to get tested in Gaza. She was insistent that a technician from the hospital had to be present in order to give more information than any activista could give. She then asked me to leave the room while she spoke with Enfermeiro Ricardo. I am not sure what they continued to talk about, but after about 15 minutes, Ricardo came out and together we went to get 800 more condoms and then he said that the Director of CACHES would have to come down to the hospital to speak with him. I called Sam and he came down that morning. When he arrived, we spoke with Enfermeiro Ricardo, who explained that a technician from the hospital would go to CACHES in the morning to help with the event. Sam and I both apologized for the confusion and the conversation ended with all of us on the same page. Estamos juntos.

The schedule that the activistas had made for the day said it would start at 6 am. Knowing better after being here in Mozambique for six months, I showed up at 7 am and they were still just kicking around a soccer ball. I joined in and then around 7:30 am we started with the first thing on the agenda: exercises. I led the group for about 30 minutes doing a variety of exercises mostly from my P90x videos. We did lunges, squats, push-ups and sit-ups all separated with an interval of jumping jacks or jumping rope. And then Calvino took over leading a few exercises for another 30 minutes or so. And after the whole discussion at the hospital the day before about needing a technician, insisting on having a technician, no one showed up. And so it goes.

At about 8:30 am, we assembled the group distributing condoms and magazines to the kids and jovens who would participate in the march. We also took down some of the banners inside CACHES to carry as we marched. At first, I wasn’t sure how I felt about some of the really young kids carrying boxes of condoms to distribute. But, when I asked them if they knew what they were, they responded “proteccao.” Bom. It’s a good start. And then, I wondered if HIV is so widespread, is it ever too early to start prevention? We set out on our march, through Chicumbane walking down Avenida de Zongone, down to the market area, on to the hospital and then to the soccer field. As we walked the kids sang about HIV prevention and distributed materials to people we passed. They passed out just the magazines to kids, but condoms and magazines to adults. People joined in walking with us, and all welcomed the materials.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately, I had to leave when we reached the soccer field because I had to go to the wedding of one of my colleagues from the hospital. I heard later from the activistas that the soccer game and palestra went really well. They said they had so many jovens that they had to set up two soccer games. They distributed 500 condoms.

The wedding was a lot of fun as well. It was really neat to see how they transformed the yard into a banquet hall, setting up tarps with estocas (big posts) and several tables with decorated chairs along with buffet tables. There were probably about 200 people in attendance. And I know all the neighbors and family had been preparing for days. They had so much food: xima, rice, salad, potato salad, cucumber salad, cabbage and an array of meat: cow, pork and chicken. When I left with my colleague, Tininha, that morning I was under the impression that we would be going to the registry and the church ceremony part, but as it turned out we just went to the party. It was fun to spend time with my colleagues from the hospital outside of work. I didn’t recognize some of them because they were out of their hospital uniforms and all dressed up for the occasion. We enjoyed the afternoon eating, drinking, talking and dancing. And one of my favorite parts of the wedding is how they do the gifts. Instead of just setting gifts on a table in the corner, like we do in the United States, each person has to present their gift to the couple singing and dancing. I joined my collegues from the hospital in their presentation. It was a joyous way to spend World AIDS Day when my collegues work so closely with the disease and those affected by it every day. I traveled home with Tininha around 7 pm. On Monday morning, when I asked Louis how the rest of the party went, he said he left shortly after us because the beer had run out. And then he said, “In Mozambique, when the beer runs out, the party ends.” I said that isn’t just in Mozambique, but usually the case in the United States as well.