Greetings from Hellshire!

(For a bit of context, this was written on March 23^rd)

Greetings from Hellshire, Jamaica! I’ve been in country for just under a week, and I am still really, really liking it here. I feel like I really lucked out with this placement – the staff seems pretty on top of their game, the people in my training class are great, and on a whole, Jamaicans are really warm and friendly. And, they cook a mean baked chicken.

We’ve spent the past 4 days in a community called Hellshire, about 45 minutes west of Kingston. The group of 36 of us sort of took over this neighborhood...there are at least 2 of us on every block and no one is more than 5 minutes away from anyone else. It’s a really nice way to ease into Jamaican culture and to prep for the home stays we have coming up in April, where we’ll most likely be the only American in our community. The whole town has really embraced us, and we all feel safe and comfortable here. Although it’s barely been a week since I left the states, I feel like I already have so much to talk about! For now, I’ll stick to the highlights, and I think I’ll start with my family.

I have a mom and dad, and a sister. There are a few more children, but they no longer live at home. My mom is really sweet and has definitely made me feel welcome- from day one she was introducing me to people as her new daughter. She’s really easy to talk to, and seems really happy.  She’s always singing something – usually connected to whatever she’s doing/thinking at the moment, i.e. – “I have to wash the pot”, “I need to buy some carrots”. I don’t know what it is, but there’s just something about hearing someone singing for no particular reason that makes me smile.

I also really like my sister - she’s 14, and is really sweet as well. She wants to be a pediatrician when she grows up, and she spends a lot of time studying. She gets up at 4:30 every morning to get to school on time and seems really dedicated. She also loves Miley Cirus, so we bonded over that a few nights ago. She bakes and cooks a lot as well, so I think we’re going to plan a night to bake something together, which will be a lot of fun. 

My dad is definitely the quietest of the 3, but I really like him too. He’s a deacon at the church that we go to as well (yes, I did go to church yesterday…) and works night shifts as a security guard in Kingston. I haven’t gotten a chance to talk to him too much, but I’m hoping that will change in the next few days.

We’ve spent the past few days in class learning Patois (it’s a really cool language to listen to, and fascinating from a linguistics viewpoint), learning about Jamaica, about PC policies and about our particular sectors – mine being environment. The classes are pretty boring, and the lectures are really long and usually run over. Classes are from 8 am – 6 pm, so we are all pretty exhausted at the end of the day. But our pace will slow down a lot once we are done with training, which will be really nice. But from stories I’ve heard from other volunteers, it sounds like our training is pretty painless over all, so I’m trying to focus on that. And I really like my host family and training class, so that makes it easy as well.

In about 10 days, we are going to be getting our site assignments, so I’ll be finding out exactly what I’ll be doing and where. I’m really anxious about that – there’s a lot riding on it, and they really didn’t consult us as much as I thought they would. They pretty much had all the sites planned out before we got to Jamaica, and are using the first few weeks to make sure their placements are right. It’s a little frustrating that they aren’t telling us, but I guess that’s where flexibility and patience comes in, huh? Until we find out, I’m just trying to enjoy the time with my family and fellow trainees.

There are a couple things I don’t have space to get into here, so look for another post soon! I do want to tell you all about my first Jamaican church service, as well as a little more about Patois and Jamaican culture. Oh – and I have had so much delicious food to talk about too! But, it’s getting a little late for me, so I’m going to save all of those things for another entry. Until then… 

Nothing but smiles (phone # and revised address too!)

I know I've only been in Jamaica for about 36 hours, but I'm absolutely loving it so far. They've kept us pretty busy so far, and there's been a whole lot of information thrown at us in the past few days. I won't bore you all with the details of safety and security, medical stuff and PC policies, but there's a whole lot of information to take in. If only for the policies and paperwork alone, there is absolutely no doubt that PC is a government agency. 

On the bright side, the policy lectures have been the only boring part so far. My training class is great, and the staff all seem really excited and really positive. I'm sure I'll have frustrations with some of the people around me soon enough, but for now I'm just enjoying all the excitement floating around on all sides. There's nothing too substantive to update on now, seeing as I've only been here for a day or two. But yes, I am safe and I am enjoying myself. Thank you all so much for the messages of good luck and all the terribly nice emails and letters. They really have meant a lot to me. 

Tomorrow night we are heading into our first home-stay, and will be there for the next 2 weeks. The Internet connection there will be spotty, so I won't be too quick in responding, but feel free to keep the emails coming! 

And as promised, I have some updated contact information. The old address will still work, so no worries if you sent something to the old one, it will just take a lot longer. So use this one in the future:

Melissa Dentch

c/o Peace Corps Country Director, 

Leila Webster

8 Worthington Ave

Kingston 5

Jamaica, West Indies 

Phone Number: 876-488-0542

876 is the country code, and I will post more information on the best ways to call after I test out some methods with people back in the states. 

I'll try to update again soon, but I miss you all and hope you are all doing well!

Some pre-departure thoughts

As most of you know, I will be leaving for for Jamacia on Tuesday (3/17) to join the Peace Corps. I'm flying to Miami, where I'll meet the rest of my training class and have a bit of an orientation about Peace Corps. On Wednesday (3/18), I will fly to Jamaica with my training class - about 30 or so people. From there, we'll have about 2 months of training in the language (Patios - a creole), technical skills and Jamaican culture. Then, on May 16th, I will be officially sworn in as a Peace Corps volunteer (PCV) and begin my two years of service. I won't know my exact placement or job until a few weeks into training, and I'll be sure to keep you updated on all of those details. 

A lot of people have been asking me lately how I'm feeling - excited? nervous? scared? anxious? The answer is all of the above, and more. The best way that I can describe it is that I feel like I'm about to jump of a cliff. Now, keep in mind I like that sort of thing - cliff jumping, roller coasters, etc - I'm one of those people who likes the rush that it brings. But it's an action that is simultaneously exhilarating and terrifying, an action that is fun precisely because it is so scary. For the past few weeks, with all the goodbyes, and packing and what not, I feel like I've been getting a running start on the jump - and there definitely has been a small part of me screaming to stop and turn around. But as with any leap, you just have to let your momentum push you forward, and commit to it, knowing you will be happy you did in the end. And once you do jump, you can start to relax - there's nothing you can do to change course now, so you might as well enjoy the ride, right? Eventually, you land in the water, swim to the surface and enjoy the afterglow that comes when you push yourself despite all of your fears and doubts.  

I know that the next few years, and specifically the next few months, will be a huge challenge, but it's one that I know I'm up to and one that I have been looking forward to for a long, long time. It definitely helps to know that I have an amazing support network in the states. I have some amazing friends and family, and you all have been so supportive and so wonderful - especially lately. I am very lucky to have you all, and I owe you all a huge thank you.  

And finally, for those of you who have asked, some contact information. My address is below - it's the address for the main Peace Corps office in Jamaica. I will have a more specific address when I get to my site in a few months, and I'll be sure to send that along when I get it as well. But for now, feel free to send letters or packages to:

Melissa Dentch

Peace Corps

8 Worthington Ave

Kingston 5

Jamaica 

Email: mdentch@gmail.com

I realized the other day that it has been a long time since my last post, and I apologize for that. I have been super busy and have not had a lot of time to write. I will write a longer entry (or 2) when I get back to the states though to get you all updated on the last month of my stay in Kenya. But for now, just know that ISP went very well, the paper, the presentation and just the experience in general was amazing. It was really hard to leave Kisumu, and I am hoping that I will get to go back sometime soon. But we'll see if that happens...

Speaking of my return, I guess I should let you all know what the deal with that is. I am flying out tomorrow (Saturday) night, getting into NYC on Sunday evening around 6. So starting on Monday I will be fully accessible by American standards! My cell phone should be back on in the first few days when I am back, and I will be back to my old obsessive email habits.

And, I think I should also let you all know what my plans are for this summer, since several of you have asked. I am working with an organization called the Student Conservation Association (SCA). They place students in national parks around the country doing various conservation efforts. I am going to be in California working in the Inyo National Forest, about 150 miles north of LA. I will be working with 5 other college kids and 1 team leader, doing reforestation to prevent off road vehicles from going off their designated trails and ruining the surrounding environment. I will be camping for most of the summer, which I think will be really really fun. It will be an adventure for sure, but one that I am really looking forward to. I fly out to start my job on May 29, leaving only about 8 days in Fishkill...

I definitely have a lot of mixed emotions about coming back home. I am really excited, but also really sad to be leaving. And I'm not really sure yet what's gonna hit me in terms of reverse culture shock, but I'm sure it will be an interesting experience, and I'll let you all know how it goes.

The other side of Kenyan life

Just as a disclaimer, this entry might be a little bit of a downer. It’s not that I have started to get depressed or overly homesick or anything, but there are a lot of things about living in Kenya and Kisumu that get me down sometimes, and I wanted to share them with all of you.

I’ve said several times how much I like Kisumu, and this is true. It’s a great little city and it’s got a great atmosphere – most of the time. But like every other area of Kenya, it has its own set of problems and issues.

The poverty here is very different than the poverty in Nairobi, and while I did have some exposure to the extreme poverty there, for the most part I wasn’t around the poorest of the poor. In Nairobi, my house was in a pretty good neighborhood, and yet it was only about a 5 minute walk from Kibera slum. That kind of poverty is really overwhelming and in your face, but at least it presents itself all at once. So it may knock you over the first time, but after that you can start to accept it and get on with things and you know what to expect next time. In Kisumu, it’s a little different. The poverty here reveals itself a little slower, and doesn’t really give you a chance to fully digest it right away. Just when you think you have started to get a handle on it, you see something else that knocks you right back off your feet.

The first thing I noticed about the poverty here was the street kids. As the name suggests, these are kids that have no home. Most are males, and are either orphans, or have been abandoned by their families for various reasons. In America, these kids would have foster homes, orphanages or other places to go, and while these places may not be the best, they are better than the streets. I’ve seen kids as young as 6 or 7 and it’s heartbreaking every time I see them, no matter what age. They all huff glue and turpentine, since being high and passing out is easier then feeling lonely, hungry, cold and depressed. Many of them walk around high all day and just stare at people with glazed over eyes. If they are sober enough when they see me to realize that they are looking at a Mzungu (a white person), they usually ask me for money or food, or say some incomprehensible insult. I have a policy of not giving out money to anyone, and usually do not have any food on me, so I just walk by them. That is one of the most heart breaking parts. I want to help all of them, but I know they will just use the money to get high, and that’s not helpful. There are a few rehabilitation programs for them, but no where near enough. One of the guys that my roommate works with used to be a street kid, and actually went to one of these homes. Now he has a wife and a baby and is helping to run a youth football league here that is helping a lot of kids (much like MYSA from a few weeks ago). So there is some hope, but it’s hard to see that when I have to walk by a group of 5 street kids on my way out of the grocery store who are just waiting for handouts.

Many of these kids spend their whole lives on the streets. And when they get older, their adult life is no better than their childhood (if you can even call it a childhood) was. I see many of these grown men walking around downtown. Their clothes are just as tattered as their young counterparts and I have yet to see either one of these grown men or a street kid with a pair of shoes or sandals. Their hair is disheveled, and they carry the few possessions they have in old bags over their shoulders. There are no programs that I know of for these older people, they just seem to be forgotten about. They will also ask me for money just like the younger kids. I had a banana that I tried to give to one of them, but he told me that he didn’t want it and asked me if I had any money. I wonder what that money would have gone to… Many of them are not even lucky enough to have clothing at all. Some walk around wrapped in plastic bags, and my friends have even seen people walking around in just a T-shirt.

These people have no where to sleep but the streets, and it is not uncommon to come across several of them either downtown or a little bit further out, where I work. They sleep at any time of the day and are usually passed out from some kind of drug or drink. I was eating lunch at a small café near where I work, and I saw a woman just lying on the side of the road, passed out. No one was paying her any mind, and I couldn’t help but wonder if she was even alive. A few minutes later I saw her head move, so that fear passed. This is not an uncommon sight here – people passed out anywhere they can find some grass and some shade. Some on cardboard, others just sprawled out where ever they happen to fall over. It’s so hard to walk by these people every day and not do anything – but what can I do? I know that is kind of a cop-out, but I can’t give them money, I can’t start any kind of program, and while I may be able to give a few of them food, that won’t even make a dent in the larger problem. So it’s been hard.

Another thing that has been getting to me is the prevalence of HIV/AIDS. I talked about this a few entries ago when I talked about the village I stayed in, but it’s worth mentioning again. While HIV is big a huge fact of life in the US, I haven’t really been too exposed to it. But here it is a constant fact of life. The prevalence rates in this area are probably over 30%, the highest in Kenya. It’s really sobering to be sitting in a room and suddenly wonder how many of these people are infected with HIV/AIDS. And it’s not if anyone is infected, but rather how many. And there are programs where people can get free treatment, but there are never enough drugs. Another issue with this is that the drugs need to be taken with food, something that is a big issue for many people. So they stop taking the drugs or take them irregularly, which can have larger consequences of drug resistance, spreading the disease, etc. So curbing the affects of HIV/AIDS will take a lot more than just free drug programs, abstinence only education and charity. It’s an overwhelming problem, as are most issues in development.

Like I said, I do really like it here, both Kenya and Kisumu. But there are some facts of life that I haven’t (and hopefully never will) get used to. And so while most of the time I am optimistic about the future of these places and have great experiences here, I would not be giving you all a fair portrayal of my time here and my experiences if I did not share the hard aspects as well as the good ones. While there have been a lot hard things about living here, it’s the hard stuff that you learn the most from, right? And I can say with confidence that my good experiences in Kenya have outweighed the bad, and even the bad ones were not a total loss, since I have learned so much from them – both as a human being and as a development student. So don’t let this entry get you down, once I finish school, I’ll be back here to change a few things!

The ISP continues...

It’s been about 2 weeks in Kisumu, and I still really like it here. It’s a much more manageable city then Nairobi – you can walk around the whole downtown in less than an hour and after only about 2 days, I knew my way around (and I’m awful with directions – I still get lost in DC sometimes…). My 3 roommates and I usually cook dinner about 4 nights a week, usually some sort of carb (pasta, rice, bread, etc) and fresh veggies cooked in various ways. And I was talking before about how cheap it is – all the veggies for a meal for 4 usually don’t cost us more than $3. And fruit is also just as cheap, and so good and fresh. Even going out to dinner doesn’t cost us too much – if we pay $6 for a full meal, we are seriously splurging. What am I going to do when I get back to the states and I can’t get a whole meal for under a $1?! I’m not looking forward to it… And just to give you a taste, here is the view of the sunset over Lake Victoria from our balcony:

And my ISP is also going great. I am working with the Kisumu Innovation Center of Kenya (KICK), and they have been great so far. They have about 30 artisans working for them making handi-crafts that they export to the US, Canada, Australia and a few European countries. They have basically taken me on as an intern, and part of my time is spent doing various odd jobs for them, like sorting through products to make sure they are of good quality, taking pictures of products, etc. But my major project is doing Artisan Profiles of most the artisans. The manager and I made up sort of a questionnaire and I get to go around to the artisans and interview them. I’ve done almost 20 so far, and it’s been so interesting. They are all really open to talking to me, something that I was worried about, being that I am a white American female. These profiles serve a dual purpose – I am using them as raw data for my ISP and KICK is working on making a website (don’t worry, I’ll post the link when it’s done) and a section of that is going to be the profiles of all the artisans so that buyers can see them. Pretty cool, huh? It’s really comforting to know that the work I’m doing is not only benefiting me, but that KICK will also get something out of it.

As far as what I am getting from the artisans, that has been the most interesting part so far. Thankfully, they all speak English, and most speak very well, so I don’t need a translator. They are all really smart and all have a lot of talent. Many of them come up with the products themselves and then bring to KICK who help them to perfect the product. KICK then markets them to these companies like Ten Thousand Villages, Oxfam, and other smaller ones that (hopefully) buy them. For example, one of the guys I was talking to today harvests and dries hyacinth, a plant that is taking over Lake Victoria, and uses it to make paper, frames and books that are absolutely beautiful. And he does the whole process himself – getting the plant from the river, drying it, making the paper and then making the final product. A lot of them also train women they know to make various things to market and sell. One of the questions that I ask them is what KICK can do to help improve their lives, and everyone so far has said the same thing – more orders. The way it works is that KICK gets an order from a company, finds an artisan that can fill it and pays him/her 50% upfront. Then, upon completion of the order, the artisan gets the remaining 50% (this is pretty standard practice in the Fair Trade world). So if there are no orders, than an artisan does not work and does not get paid. Many of them also work doing other things, so there is some income when they don’t have orders from KICK, but many of them have said that they prefer working for KICK because the wage is better. The second most common answer to the question of what KICK can do to help them is more training. Some of them want training in painting, wire work, and even computer design or management training. The bottom line is that they all just want work. They want to do everything they can so that they will get more orders from KICK and continue working for them.

One of the most interesting questions that I ask them is whether or not they know a lot about Fair Trade. About half know at least a basic idea, which is good. But there are some that do not know anything about it at all and some also give me a very elementary definition, mostly using the words fair and trade in the definition. Something like, “Yes, yes I know. It is when the people who are trading the products do so in a very fair manner.” And then when I follow up asking them if they would like to know more about it, every single person has given me an emphatic yes. Even though they don’t really know what Fair Trade means, they can see that with KICK they are treated better, paid better, are given more artistic license, and perhaps most importantly, can support their various family members through school, with food, medicine or other necessities. Many have told me that with KICK they were able to save money to go back to secondary school (which is not, and has never been, free in Kenya), send their children or siblings to school, pay their rent, and one even told me that he makes enough money to “spoil” his nephew – which most likely means that he can buy him clothing and shoes that aren’t tattered and food that is more than just the bare essentials. So even though they don’t understand what Fair Trade means, they know that it is helping them, and understandably, they all want to know more about why it is helping them. I talked with Isaac, the manager of the company, about doing a mini workshop on Fair Trade for the artisans, and so we are planning to do it next week. It’ll be a little daunting giving a lecture on Fair Trade to the artisans (I’ve never even given one to other students), but I think it will be a really interesting learning experience and I am especially looking forward to the Q&A session afterwards – it’ll be interesting to see what kind of questions they ask and what they want to know more about.

All in all, it has been very encouraging to hear their answers. From their hunger for work, to the benefits they have seen through Fair Trade to their creativity it has been a great experience. I was really worried that I would find the opposite – that Fair Trade is just a name that doesn’t actually make much of a difference. But luckily, that has not been the case. Working here has been a great inspiration for me, and I’m so excited to take the inspiration and momentum back to GW and GWSFT next year!

An interesting weekend, for sure

I know that last time I said I would talk more about KICK and my ISP, but I'm putting that on hold until next time so that I can share with you all my wonderful weekend...

I took a break from ISP and had one of the coolest experiences yet in Kenya. As some of you might know, Barack Obama is Kenyan. His father was born and raised here, in an area about an hour or 2 from Kisumu. His grandmother still lives in that village, and this weekend 3 others in the group and I got to meet her. Yes, you read that right. We met Obama's grandmother. It was so awesome. She is about 85 and still alive and kicking. She still does all the work in her farm, takes care of her household and is totally still there mentally. She speaks Duhluo (the Luo language) and Kiswahili, but no English. We showed up at her house completely unannounced, yet she still welcomed us in and spoke with us for about 2 hours. She talked to us about Obama’s father, about him and also asked us about ourselves. Our translators were SIT’s home-stay coordinator who lives a few villages away and a friend of his who is principal of a local school. We thought that they knew her and had worked it out, but this was actually not the case. And when we apologized to her for just showing up, she said that since we were the Senator’s guests, that we were welcome at any time. And since Obama and his father have the same name (which isn’t uncommon in Luo culture), he was always referred to as “the Senator”, which we all thought was kind of funny.

She told us about Barack (the father) and how he was always so smart and had such determination, and how Obama has the same characteristics. He wasn’t that close to his real father, who died in the late 70’s. Oh, I also saw his (the father’s) grave, along with the grandfather’s – they are buried on the family compound. But he is pretty close to the family. The first time he came to Kenya was for his father’s funeral and he has been back multiple times since. He also flew his grandmother to D.C. for his inauguration into the Senate. I was not aware that he had been so many times, and had kind of thought that his last trip was just a political ploy. But it was good to hear that this was not the case. The first time he was here was as an undergrad (I think), and he stayed for about a week. He is in pretty regular communication with a cousin here, who then gives the news to his grandmother and the rest of the family. He has visited pretty regularly since then, and even took his wife to meet them before they were married. The grandmother told us that before he makes and really important decisions, i.e. running for the senate or for the presidency, he consults them. From what she was saying, he sounds like a great guy with a good head on his shoulders. And yes, I know that this is how any grandparent would talk about their grandchild, but it seemed really genuine from her.

She had pictures of the whole family around the sitting room, and many included Obama. One of them was him on his first trip here helping her to carry her vegetables to the market. There were other more formal family pictures, as well as an “Obama for Senate” sign that he had signed for her. There were also other family members, his father, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. The house itself was really nice – well built with electricity. The chairs and couches were really nice and there was even a TV. I got the impression that the family has always been relatively well off, by rural Kenyan standards at least. It seems like they are a family that has always been really hard workers and really determined to get what they want. Despite all this, it struck me how self-less this woman was. Apparently, she told Obama that he should do whatever he can to help the people of Kenya – not just her area. The main things that she kept talking about were development (I got the sense that she meant in terms of infrastructure – roads, communication, schools, etc) and medicine. The 4 of us are studying different things – mal-nutrition, medicine, politics and trade, and she told each of us that she wanted us to come back when we graduated to help the people in the area. She also wants me to come back and help her improve her business of selling vegetables. An offer I would have gladly taken her up on, but once again, school gets in the way. Oh well, maybe next year. By then maybe we’ll go from being the Senator’s guests to the President’s guests. One can only hope…

It was a pretty surreal experience. She told us that the US Ambassador was coming on Monday, and I couldn’t help but wonder what this woman’s life will be like if Obama does actually make it into the White House. Picturing her walking around the White House made us all laugh a little bit – an old African woman who has lived her whole life on her farm in Kenya getting waited on hand and foot by White House Staff. It would be pretty awesome, I think. I know the primaries are still a long way out, but after our talk with her, I think I have finally decided where my loyalties are this election…

The rest of the weekend was pretty good as well. We stayed for 2 days with home-stay coordinator, and it was an interesting experience to say the least. He has 2 women, about 20-ish years old, which is actually pretty typical here actually. I was a little upset at how they were treated – they were definitely treated as the hired help. And since they are women, they are treated a little worse. Nothing terrible, but their hard work was not appreciated at all, and they are definitely taken for granted. Unfortunately, that is also not uncommon here. Men are definitely superior, and that has been one of the hard things to get used to. Seeing the way they treated these women was just another reminder of that that I could have done with out. The house itself was also interesting. It was a very nice house, but there were some major design flaws. Like not having screens on the windows and having fluorescent lights. Oh, and just in case that didn’t let in enough bugs, they would also leave the front door wide open in the evening. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that many bugs in one place in my life. And above the walls of the rooms, the ceilings were completely open throughout the house. So when the house help decided to turn the radio on (loudly) at 6:30 in the morning on Saturday, it might as well have been right next to my bed. Oh, and as if all that wasn’t enough, there were about 792 rats running around on the rafters above our heads. I was waiting for one to fall on us all weekend. Thankfully, that didn’t happen. Staying in the house was definitely an interesting experience…

Despite all this, we did have fun. On Saturday night, our host arranged for a traditional Luo musician to come and perform for us. He played an instrument that is kind of like a guitar, but has 8 strings and is played in a sitting position, with the instrument on the ground. He sang mostly in Luo, but had a few songs in Kiswahili, with some English thrown in for good measure. He sang about Kisumu, Obama, women, and Idi Amin, the former dictator of Uganda who was a really great guy (ok, so sarcasm doesn’t really work in this medium – but speaking of him, you should all see The Last King of Scotland). Because of course, why wouldn’t you sing about an oppressive, tyrannical dictator who killed thousands of his own people? There were also a lot of friends and family in the room, and they all thought all of his songs were so funny. But the humor of Amin, getting a woman pregnant then leaving and getting drunk all the time was kind of lost on us 4 Americans. I don’t know, but Kenyan humor is something I still don’t fully understand. But other than his choice of topics, it was a pretty cool show and he was kind of (ok, really) drunk of Kenyan moonshine, so if nothing else, we could always laugh at him.

Like I said, there were about 20 other friends and family members in the room, and for some reason I had a really harsh realization during the performance. I couldn’t help but wonder how many of these people were infected with HIV/AIDS. The area we were in has by far the highest HIV rate in Kenya. This is largely due to a highway that runs through the village that is the main route for transporting oil from the coast of Kenya to the inner African countries. As a result of all the truckers, prostitution in the area has skyrocketed, and with it the HIV rate. That coupled with the extreme poverty in the area (for a variety of reasons), and we were told that the rate in the area was 65%. I think that estimate is a little steep, but it’s probably around 40% or so. So with 20 people in the room, that means that anywhere from 5 to 10 people in that room probably had HIV. It was a sad thought, and I’m not really sure what brought it on. I obviously don’t know for sure if anyone in the room was infected at all, but just the possibility was enough to shock me and bring my mood down a little bit.

And on that note, I’ll wrap up. Sorry to leave on such a morbid note, but I promise, my next entry will be much happier!