On feb. 22nd:
Today was fantastic. It was a non-program day, which is the one day a week when we don’t have classes or field lectures. These days are technically our days to “relax,” but really they are an opportunity to do cool things and explore. We all went with the askari guards on a group hike to Oloitokitok, a town slightly larger than Kimana and quite a bit closer to Kilimanjaro. The hike was absolutely gorgeous, and we passed through open cornfields with a complete view of Kilimanjaro, only to come to the edge of the forest and descend to a cool waterfall and peaceful river with lush green banks and towering trees.
We ate lunch there and explored (found a dead colobus monkey… sad and quite strange…) and then headed to the local AIDS clinic/support group, where a few women spoke to us about their experiences living with HIV. It was extremely sad. One woman was diagnosed with HIV and immediately rejected by her family. Others felt ostracized by the community, and one had a small son who was picked on at school because he had been born with the virus. I was told that the percentage of HIV-positive people in the area around Kimana is astonishingly high here: 30%. I am not sure if that is really true, (I intend to find this out) but either way I know that it is a very prominent issue here and it is extremely detrimental to those people’s lives in all aspects, especially within their families and relationships. It was interesting to talk to the women, who were very open about their experiences, and were so matter-of-fact about such a heavy topic.
We ate lunch there and explored (found a dead colobus monkey… sad and quite strange…) and then headed to the local AIDS clinic/support group, where a few women spoke to us about their experiences living with HIV. It was extremely sad. One woman was diagnosed with HIV and immediately rejected by her family. Others felt ostracized by the community, and one had a small son who was picked on at school because he had been born with the virus. I was told that the percentage of HIV-positive people in the area around Kimana is astonishingly high here: 30%. I am not sure if that is really true, (I intend to find this out) but either way I know that it is a very prominent issue here and it is extremely detrimental to those people’s lives in all aspects, especially within their families and relationships. It was interesting to talk to the women, who were very open about their experiences, and were so matter-of-fact about such a heavy topic.
After the AIDS clinic visit, we all wandered around the town a little and checked out the market, where I bought ten CDs for five dollars. It was very fun to buy them, and the guy who sold them to us recommended many songs to us and played them and danced around jokingly as we chose. I’m excited to play them all! Later we went to the tailor, where I designed and ordered an embroidered dress to be made for next week. Also very excited for that! I wish they had these types of tailor shops in the US!
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| The Market |
Side note: I later found out that one of the CDs carried a virus that almost messed up my computer, and only three others actually worked. So much for that. The ones that work are cool though…
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