Thanksgiving, AIDS Walk, World AIDS Day and MORE!

Thanksgiving
So, if you were wondering if I overlooked Thanksgiving, well I didn't. Meet Mr. Bojangles (to the left), or at least what's left of Mr. Bojangles. He was brought on the bike of a volunteers bike, live and squawking to what is called the provincial house in Choma where we gather as volunteers. And a few days later he was beheaded to serve as the centerpiece of our Thanksgiving table. The Volunteer who transported him, Scott, named the turkey Mr. Bojangles. We also had some other good food as you can see on the right. What did I cook? Mmmm... I brother white wine, and it was top quality too.


Southern Province AIDS Walk .... November 29, 2005
We also had an AIDS Awaremess walk that was coordinated by one of the other volunteers, Tim Cormier, and it covered the entire Southern Province visiting different towns, so he asked me to coordinate activities in my town, Choma, and so with the help of the United Nations Volunteer(UNV), Clement Moonga, who represents the District AIDS Task Force, we organized schools, a mission, the office of the district commissioner and a few other organizations to form a nice program addressing HIV prevention and education through drama, music, and talking. Here is a snap of the banner.


Here we are as a group marching down the main road in town center. (below)
Then we gathered outside of the district offices for the program. (below)

And different groups did skits and performance. This is one from my friends at NAPS (National Association for the Prevention of Starvation), they are a mission volunteer group who were my neighbors for my first six month at site. Sadly their mission has just ended but we keep in touch. (below)

It was a great event, oh and I was MC....

November 30, 2005

Then we had a candlelighting ceremony the night before World AIDS in the same place but I forgot my camera so I have no pictures of that. But it was a good event where community members who live in the town about 34km from my village came together and were reminded of the purpose of World AIDS Day and pledged to "Stop AIDS! Keep The Promise" which is the theme from 2005 - 2010.

I also spoke and encouraged people to remember those who were lost to AIDS as we watched the candles burn. It was a beautiful sight, very serious very reflective.

December 1, 2005

Then we had World AIDS Day in town! There was a huge march, with all the NGOs in the area. Everyone had their banner carrying it high.

Above you can see my dear friends from NAPS marching in the parade. We do a lot of marching over here. They were singing some great songs, but they were in Tonga and Bemba so I didn't understand most of them, except one which I sang along with. One of the two Tonga songs I know.

Then we gathered at the Choma Museum for a program with more skits, talks and the like. But unfortunately it was rained out. But we still got through at least half of it. There was one particularly interesting skit where two young me painted themselves in black and played "HIV". You can see the blood dripping from their mouths. That was to emphasize that it is a virus that attacks the blood and the immune system.

Here is a picture of a good friend of mine, Clement Moonga, and myself. He is the UNV as I mentioned earlier and has been a great support and help since I've been in Choma. He has helped me learn the ropes of how the town works so that I can more effectively advocate for my village. And he has introduced me to a lot of great people and players in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

We were both a bit drenched by then, but we were still happy to be there. We were also matching, the citenge was World AIDS Day 2005 printed on it, and he had a shirt made out of the material.

So that was the last few weeks of events in short. To see all the pictures and some random extras you can click this link:

http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2116072752

I'm afraid this is my last picture collection for awhile, my digital camera was stolen during a break-in while I was sleeping in town after World AIDS Day so hopefully I'll be back online in a few weeks or months. Don't worry I'm fine, just no camera. Hope you enjoyed it while it lasted.

One more thing! Please be aware of my change of address! Everything is the same except the PO Box Number which is changed to 630009. If you send to the old address it will be forwarded to that one.

Keep in touch, and thanks for reading!