HIV/AIDS Seminar

This message started as an email to my best friend Jolene...and then I guess I just had so much spiraling around in my head that needed to get out and it turned into this. It started as a thank you to my friends for being so open and having the relationship that we have so I have people around to talk to about relationships and sex and all the rest...

I realised this week during our HIV/AIDS Seminar how lucky we all were to have each other. We've currently got 21 young women from 14 countries around the world and we're talking about sex, condoms, HIV/AIDS, etc. and I don't think I truly realized how unique our situation and open friendship with one another is. There are so many girls here who can't even talk to their sisters, best friends, or husbands about it. Not about birth control or condoms. I just don't know what life would have been like to not have you guys around. I swear we were not only educating each other but we basically acted as counsellors too!

It's been a great experience though, we started off just talking about sex and when and where people first learned about sex, about HIV/AIDS, about resources, etc. Then we talked about the programs available in our different countries. And it was really interesting for me to note even the massive difference between the Canadian system and US system...after being here so long I forget that our cultures can be so vastly different. And then today I got to lead the session on condoms!! We started by playing soccer (european football), and told them it was just an energizer to get the day started. And after they were done we discussed how the ball was HIV, and if anyone noticed who had the ball before they got it, and if they remembered who they passed it to (they rarely can remember more than one or two people). Then that started people thinking about how condoms can be one method to avoid the risk of transfering HIV/AIDS.
So we got everyone together, pulled out the male penises we have here. One incredibly unrealistic one from India (Darshana’s mom is a doctor and got it for us), and one from New York that was again unrealistic in its own ways but better than the basic one. And we started talking about condoms. We went through the steps of how to use both the male and female condom and then broke out into smaller discussion groups. We talked about a lot of things, many people shared stories and questions and it was great to hear their voices from around the world. Everyone got a chance to put the male condom on the penis and pass around and check out the female condom. Then we gave everyone both male and female condoms to use themselves or for education or trainings in their countries. And we left it with a request that sometime in the week everyone here tries on the female condom to see what its like. Because then they can be a role model and have the experience to explain to their peers.

And its been a great week because we've been partnering with Deep Griha's Integrated Services for HIV/AIDS (DISHA), which is this incredible project where they do such great work. Their coordinator for DISHA is this guy Hans who is a really incredible speaker, very charismatic, and passionate. He truely lives his work and that makes all the difference when talking to people. We had him visit Sangam and do his speech on the DISHA project (Deep Griha’s Integrated Services on HIV/AIDS). He was amazing and went an hour over time but we loved every minute of it! Then we visited his organization, met his team of amazing DISHA staff and volunteers, and walked about the slum neighbourhood with the team members.

The next morning we visited Sahara, an organization DISHA partners with. Sahara is a care home for people in the final stages of AIDS, and a rehab centre. They can hold up to 40 people, but currently have 34 with them at the site in outside of Pune. It was a really overwhelming experience for me – and I’m still trying to sort out exactly why…
The home was beautiful and spacious enough for their clients. In every room there were paintings on the walls, and all the people there were kind, and happy to meet us. Even if they were in bed with the covers up to their faces you could still see them looking on and watching us. What really affected me was how the centre is managed and run. The people who volunteer at the centre are mainly people who have gone through the system themselves. One of the care workers is 12 years sober, and has been working at the centre in Pune for 10 years. They make a lasting impact on their clients so that they will continue to come back and give all they can. The staff and volunteers live on site, sleeping in the office and space available. They are there 24 hours a day, and have to cope with more than I could ever imagine. Hans himself used to work there, and he spoke about a time when they would have 3 clients expire (die) in a day. He says that has now gone down to 3-4 in a good month. I stood there trying to grasp how one manages those emotions and that kind of weight. It takes a strong spirited person to live that life.
There were many times when Hans told me about the realities of the organization that my emotions got to me and I started to get tears in my eyes, but it wasn’t until Phuong (a participant from the USA) thanked the staff and volunteers as we were leaving that I was overwhelmed by it all. Hearing her words made me realize just how valuable these people were, and made me realize how valuable this past week has been to our participants. I felt really overwhelmed with the feeling that they “got it”. It was nice to see people who were apprehensive about sharing their thoughts on the subject of sex, condoms, and HIV/AIDS be able to speak so freely by the end of just 7 days. I’m lucky that I’ve always had that opportunity – with my best friends knowing anything and everything about me even when I’m so far away I still write them when I have that important news that only a best friend can appreciate.
I came home after that visit to Sahara and took a 30 minute break that afternoon and just lay in bed thinking. Like I said, it was an emotionally overwhelming day and I’m still processing exactly why…