The Dirty South

I actually feel like a legitimate volunteer now! I just got back from a business trip where me and 4 other volunteers from my stage gave health lessons about HIV/AIDS, STIs and condom use to the classes of our fellow education volunteers living to the south of us.

What we talked about:

Myths and Facts about HIV/AIDS - We blew up condoms with strips of paper inside, tossed them to the students, then they had to break them and decide if the statement was true or false

How HIV/AIDS effects the body - Had volunteers to come up; one representing the body, 6 others in a circle around the first to represent the immune system. Had 2 others try to attack and touch the first to represent maladies like the flu. Then I went round as HIV removing the immune system, the 2 volunteers would then try to attack the body again.

Transmission - Used a hand-shaking game to demonstrate how quickly diseases can spread, the importance of testing and prevention and that there are no visible symptoms of HIV. We talked about transmissible fluids, pathways for fluids, risky behaviors and the life cycle of the disease

STI - those present in M/car, symptoms to go to the doctor for

Prevention - ABCD: Abstinence Be faithful Condom use Detection. Aleo Misoroka Toy Izay Mitsabo: It is better to prevent than to treat

Condoms - Don'ts: Don't use expired condoms, don't use more than one at a time, don't leave them in a hot place, don't open with scissors. This was followed by us doing a demonstration and then we had the students do a condom race.

Interesting notes:

We got asked a lot about the female condom, how AIDS started and got to M/car, how the medicine works, other contraceptive methods (including the withdrawl method), condom use is low here because they say it spoils the mood


Great trip - Great experience