Projects

I think I blogged about the PEPFAR grant I got awhile ago (PEPFAR = President´s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief). The first part of the project has been working with a group of 14 girls in their early teens from two neighboring communities about an hour from Danli. I take a bus that leaves Danli at 11:20 and arrives around 12:20. It´s dirt roads most of the way and since it´s been raining so much lately, it´s pretty slow going (and bumpy!). We started classes in September and have been meeting once a week for 2 hours. The manual we´re using is the manual I helped write and edit. The class has really been enjoyable for me and for the girls. We´ve talked so far about good communication, self-esteem, abstinence, and anatomy. There are still about 8 chapters left to cover. The goal is to finish the class by mid-December. Here are some pics of the girls:

Working on drawing a self portrait for a self-esteem activity

One of the girls doing an activity

We did ¨trust falls¨one afternoon

They really got into it and started passing the girls down the line

The second part of the project is training 24 9th graders at the middle school in the same community in HIV prevention. The goal is to train them so they can train the younger grades. Last week we did 4 hours of training and then on Friday we divided them up into 4 groups and they each received their training manual. They had to go through the manual and decide who was going to do what activity and then fill out an ¨Action Plan¨. When they finished with that, they got the necessary materials to be able to complete the HIV training themsleves (bascially the same one we had given them). They were very excited to get their materials and got to work right away. Tomorrow they have an exam that they have to pass with 90% or above to be able to participate in the training of the 8th, 7th, 6th, and 5th graders next week. Hopefully they do well!

Working on doing a transmision activity

Busy cutting & coloring

Weekly market trip (minus the cat)

After I went to the market last week, I decided to take a picture of what I bought. Tito, our cat, decided to get in the picture as well. There are three grapefruits in the back - citrus fruit is in season now and very delicious. Luke loves popcorn so when I remember, I'll pick up a couple bags (front right) when I go to the market. Corn harvest began in August and continues...in the back left you see small corns called "jilotes" here. In the US, we usually only see them canned. We really like them in soups and stirfry. I can't remember exactly how much I paid for everything but below the pic is a pretty accurate estimate (remember L19 = $1):

Grapefruit = L3 each

Jilote = L15

Red onion = L 15

2 lbs tomato = L 14

Head broccoli = L12

Carrots = L10

Popcorn = L10 per bag

Flour tortillas = L 10

Cucumber = L 3

Zucchini/squash = L5