Health Carnival Event

whoa, dang, its been a long time since my last blog post... its also been a long time since Ive had the head space to sit down and write one. But there's a little bit o' room up there right now so here it is for all you impatient assholes ( love ya!):

These past couple weeks I had been coordinating a "Health Carnival and 3.5K Fun Walk/Run" in my village, as mentioned in previous blogs. The two other people i had been coordinating with both fell ill for two entire weeks before the event, so i was left to coordinate the event all by my lonesome. While we had been holding stakeholder's meetings for a couple months before the event, very little action happens in regards to said event until right before it is to take place.. so not much had been done before my counterparts became sick, with everything left until three weeks before the event to follow-up and get moving on. I was trying to keep the Youth Centre open by myself, coordinate the Health Carnival, and attend the lay counselor's thrice weekly meetings ( which, by the way, is still going quite well). So needless to say I was having a hard time managing all three responsibilities.

Some how, though, it all came together and we had a fabulous event. Of course, it started over two hours late, the program was completely changed from what all of the stakeholders had agreed on, and some critical supplies that we had been told was approved in the budget was actually never approved. But these things were all expected to happen, because guess what? This is Africa. And thats how they roll here... so instead of fighting against everyone and demanding that things be the neat and orderly and efficient American way, I rolled with them. I had been been so stressed the weeks before the event, trying to make sure everything was covered. How silly all my stress was. On the day of the event it was so nice to let go of control, trust the people I had been working with, and just let the event happen. Maybe about 300 people showed up in total, mostly youth and Gogos ( grannies). Everyone had an amazing time, and we had sports, games, singing, dancing, performances, health talks,prizes, all in all a really awesome time. We also had an HIV/AIDS testing drive and a Diabetes testing drive. and get this... this is what i am most proud of :

154 people got tested for HIV at the health carnival!!

I am completely blow away by this number. I never expected this many people to get tested. We had six different rooms for testing, and they were full the entire time. and more people wanted to get tested after the drive finished. I am so proud of us. What a great way to start off my Peace Corps service. :)