Archive for the Newsletters Category
World AIDS Day Review-Tanzania
Posted by johnson on Thursday, December 15, 2011 at 2:31 am
Support for International Change (SIC) volunteers and teaching partners huddled around a dala dala, decorating the mini bus with SIC banners, balloons, and ribbons. Behind it a goat, adorned with crown and cape, tugged restlessly at its leash, deathly uncomfortable with the attention it was receiving. With the volunteers’ cameras recording their progress, SIC prepared for the parade that they had been planning since their arrival in the village. While curious villagers, amused by these preparations, lined the road, SIC waited patiently for the rest of the parade to arrive. Soon enough, a procession of dala dalas and government cars began to arrive from Arusha. As the vehicles came to a stop, the passengers, beating their drums and singing, began to exit the busses. With their arrival, SIC’s World AIDS Day (WAD) celebration had finally arrived in Nduruma.
Nearly 100 people walked, dala dalas drove, goats kicked. Eight performance group marched to the event center where their dances and dramas attracted countless people. Intrigued by the drumming and singing coming down their normally quiet road, villagers filed out of their houses and began to follow the procession to the testing tents. Government leaders made inspiring speeches and SIC volunteers organized sack and chicken races. Most importantly, villagers had the opportunity to learn about HIV. It was a huge success. Over 200 members of Nduruma learned their status, many having been convinced to test by American volunteers with only 3 months of Swahili and a lot of hand gestures.
This year, World AIDS Days was a great collaboration between SIC and the Tanzanian government. And this time, the celebration was in the village. Much like the government efforts in fighting HIV, past WAD events have focused in the city of Arusha. Good planning (and good fortune) meant that this year SIC was no longer alone in the rural communities on this important occasion. Thanks to an early conversation between Mama Kibwana, Arusha Rural Council HIV/AIDS coordinator and SIC Board Member, SIC Coordinator Jeremy Isajiw and SIC Program Officer Johnson Gabriel about WAD, the Arusha Rural government met us in the village. Mama Kibwana led the Tanzanian government as they worked side by side with SIC, in the dusty village of Nduruma.
No Comments | Categories: Advocacy, Alumni, Donors, Events, HIV Support Groups, In the News, Newsletters, Staff, Testing, Volunteer Programs | Permalink | World AIDS Day 2011: More Reasons Than Ever Before to Celebrate
Posted by Kim on Thursday, December 1, 2011 at 6:52 pm
December 1 is World AIDS Day (WAD), an official worldwide celebration of how far we’ve come with HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment, & an acknowledgement of how far we still have to go in our fight. This year’s World AIDS Day is especially profound; it’s been a game changing year for the AIDS fight.
The 2011 UNAIDS World AIDS Day report, released December 1, 2011, & the 2010 UNAIDS Global Report, released November 21, 2011, give us more reason to celebrate this World AIDS day. The 2010 Global Report proudly proclaims that numbers of new infections are stabilizing. This means our efforts, both preventative and treatment based, are working effectively. According to the WAD Report, 2011 proved to be a benchmark year for new bio medical breakthroughs, political leadership and warranted noticeable results.
The 2011 WAD report tell us that 50% of people eligible for antiretroviral therapy are now receiving treatment, a change SIC works directly to support through our programs. The number of HIV infections have decreased 21% since 1997, while AIDS-related deaths have been reduced by 21% since 2005. The Global Report tells us 33.3 million people are infected and approximately 5 million are now being treated. The Global Report also highlights the tangibility of eliminating mother-to-child HIV transmission completely. New treatment options have adverted an estimated 2.5 million AIDS related deaths since 1995. The numbers in the Global Report prove that countries advocating prevention through awareness campaigns and anti-stigma movements have seen a notable decrease in new HIV infections. Additionally, new investment strategies have proved particularly effective. In the 2011 WAD report, Michael Sidibé, UNAIDS Executive Director, comments ”The investment framework is community driven not commodity driven. It puts people at the centre of the approach, not the virus.” A philosophy SIC couldn’t agree more with.
While there are still many challenges to eradicating the virus completely, the 2010 report shows us enormous progress in the fight, while the breakthroughs made in 2011 have been unprecedented. These advancements will surely boost morale of HIV activists and patients everywhere and set the stage to propel full speed ahead into 2012, committing even further to continue the fight.
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Read the official UNAIDS World AIDS Day press release HERE
Read the official 2011 UNAIDS World AIDS Day report HERE
Read the official 2010 UNAIDS Global report HERE
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SIC proudly supports World AIDS Day all across the world.
Here’s how some of our collegiate supporters are participating:
- VP4 2010′s WAD March in Babati Town
VP4 2010 gathers with some of the villagers who participated in the "Tuko Pamoja" march
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$12 for '12 Campaign
Wraping up in Maji Moto
Posted by johnson on Monday, November 28, 2011 at 4:35 am
This past week has been, by far, the busiest of the campaign. Along with our testing day in Maji Moto and “community day” in Marurani, we finished our teachings and worked on building benches and painting them with colorful HIV/AIDS awareness messages and slogans. They will be kept at the local dispensary after we leave.
From the left (Jennifer, Angelina and Kelvin) teaching Primary School Students
The Maji Moto testing day went quite well, we tested 60 people in our community for HIV! Fortunately, the Marurani teaching group volunteers came to help us in Maji Moto as we encouraged locals to learn their status. The day included talking to people in the community, lots of laughs, and many marriage proposals for the girls. Rachel, Jeremy, and Jennifer, in an effort to convince mamas to get tested, impressed locals with their own ability to balance objects on their heads. Most of the volunteers had never seen mamas laugh so hard. Fortunately, many of those who didn’t get tested in Maji Moto were able to do so on Community Day in Marurani!
The rest of our time in Maji Moto was spent finishing up teachings, working on our benches, and giving thanks to all the community members who contributed to the success of our program with their generosity and kindness. We also had a celebratory “Farewell” party with one of our homestay families. They roasted a whole goat for us!
Farewell Party
At the end of the week we were sad saying goodbye to Maji Moto as we head into our 10-day break. Then, it is off to our next village.
Contributed by: Michelle, Jennifer, Kelvin and Angelina
SIC Alumni Spotlight November 2011: Jess Warman
Posted by Meghan Corcoran on Wednesday, November 23, 2011 at 12:00 pm
Jess volunteered with SIC in 2007. She holds a Bachelor’s in Psychology and a Masters in Nursing both from UCLA. This summer Jess climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro with Caroline Mock with the Peaks Foundation, raising over $7,000 for SIC! On her trip, Jess was able to visit 3 teaching partners and her homestay family who remembered her and warmly welcomed her back to Majengo.
When she’s not climbing mountains, Jess works in group homes for children that have been taken by the Australian Department of Child Protection. Drawing on her nursing background, Jess will begin working in the operating theater at her local hospital next year. Volunteering with SIC helped Jess decided to pursue a career in nursing and medicine:
“I want to work in a career that can be used all over the world, and I hope to return to Africa as a nurse or doctor in my future.”
Please join me in thanking Jess for all her hard work for SIC and congratulating her on making it to the top of Kili!
VP4 Haiku of Marurani Village in Nduruma
Posted by johnson on Thursday, October 13, 2011 at 3:57 am
The wazungu clan
With safi teaching partners
SIC for life!
Teach the whole village
Pasha ! Tuko Pamoja
Preach the “ABK”
Map the lay of the land,
Marurani our new home
Survey Duka stands
Homestay, Karibu !
Churches, mamas, leaders too
Must stop HIV
Teach “fluids and doors”
Answer “swali” from the box
Promote testing day!
Walking everywhere
To reach far away places,
Babies we do scare
Spread the love and truth
There goes stigma, out the door!
Watoto galore
Good morning Madam!
Children call to us at night
Time, irrelevant
Eager to listen
Vocational students rock!
Tomato and green house
Dust up to my knees
Squats in the choo
Slow death by Makande
Kilimanjaro,
Beautiful view and people
Cows and goats, oh no!
All we can, we do
To “Kuushinda Ukimwi!”
3 more weeks to go
Haiku key (Swahili – English):
Wazungu- foreigners
Safi- cool!
Pasha- warm up activities used when teaching
Tuko pamoja- we are together
ABK- Abstinence, Be faithful, Condom
Duka- small shop
Karibu- Welcome
Swali- Question
Watoto- children
Makande- bland bean and corn stew
Kuushinda Ukimwi- To fight AIDS
Contributed By Laura, Kirsten (KP), Cristina, Emanuel, and Pachi
No Comments | Categories: Advocacy, Donors, HIV/AIDS, Newsletters, Prevention, Volunteer Programs | Permalink | Arusha 5k recap
Posted by johnson on Tuesday, September 20, 2011 at 7:45 am
SIC Staff lining up Before the Run
We hope most of you had a chance to see our Arusha 5K fundraiser video! Each staff member chose to run for one of the SIC programs closest to their heart. It was a great moment for all SIC staff, alumni and friends. Of the more than 800 people who participated in the event, the passion of 30 SIC staff, alumni and friends stood out in the crowd! Although we were there to compete, SIC was there for a common purpose. When the race began, everyone had in their heart our goal to raise money for one of SIC’s programs.
While we were running, we made a lot of friends from different companies and NGOs. We did not hesitate to tell them why we were running and how they could support SIC. Everyone we met gave us positive feedback about what we are trying to do. About fifteen minutes into the race some of us started getting tired, but we kept reminding ourselves of our goal and this made us start running again. Everyone crossed the line running as fast as they could.
Haji and Deo (SIC's drivers) Crossing the Finish Line
The exciting news is that Efrem (VCT counselor), 47 years old, led the SIC team from the beginning to the end. He finished before all the SIC staff, teaching partners and friends (we should congratulate Efrem!). Hopefully, this will motivate everyone to donate more to his program (VCT) since he won the race of SIC (we love you, Efrem, keep up the great spirit!).
First SIC Finisher - Efrem
The MOST important part was that all SIC runners completed the race and made it to the end.
After the great run, we all met in the SIC office in Arusha to have “ tuko pamoja chai (tea)” and to discuss the importance of SIC’s presence in the race and how much money and awareness we raised. We completed our personal goals at the race. This motivates us to again ask for support. To date, we have raised $4,300. We hope to raise $5000 to continue our support to the rural communities in Northern Tanzania.
Please help us reach finish line.
Written by Johnson Gabriel (Program Officer)
Tuko pamoja kuushinda UKIMWI.
1 Comment | Categories: Advocacy, Donors, Events, Newsletters, Partnerships, Staff, Testing, Volunteer Programs | Permalink | Moya Village Testing Day
Posted by johnson on Monday, September 12, 2011 at 1:20 am
Jeevon with his homestay family
Finally! We have reached the day our village of Moya will be testing our small community of 2,000 people. We have been told the numbers (amount of people tested) are not a measurement of the impact we have had on the Moya community, but at the end of the testing day we are left wondering; did we reach our community? Did we dispel any stigma? Maybe even inspire someone to get tested?
On the day of our testing day the Moya group met the testing staff of SIC at the primary school nearby the center of the village where we decided to have our testing day location. As volunteers within the community, our job at the testing day was to go out and advertise, encourage people to get tested, and bring those who were afraid to come with us. We gathered our drums and mega phones and marched down the roads to get to business. We also recruited primary school children to form a little army that went around with us to encourage people to come get tested.
Some people were easy to persuade to come test. We simply told them we were providing free HIV testing, and they went willingly. Others in the village were very difficult to bring in to be tested. They had many concerns about being tested. Some of their thoughts were; what if I test positive? What will I do then? How will I care for my family? How will I live a normal/ healthy life? We answered as best as we could, and many people were eventually convinced to come. A good number would only come to be tested if we agreed to be tested and go through the process of counseling with them.
Although we are proud of the amount of people we were able to test, it is the people who remain unconvinced and fearful that we worry about.
Despite the obstacle to getting unwilling people tested, the day was a success. We tested 100 villagers for HIV, men and women of all ages. We also were able to talk to the community leaders of Moya at the community meeting for over an hour about the importance of being tested and knowing your HIV status.
We realized that HIV is an international problem as we were all tested along with the Moya community. Because it is an international problem it requires an international solution, and our testing day confirmed our part in finding a solution to the problem. Since all are susceptible to acquiring HIV the only way to protect yourself and the community it to know your status.
Besides learning our own statuses, it was a moving experience to accompany villagers to be tested. Our encouragement gave them the courage and support for them to be tested. For us it summed up our experience with SIC and confirmed again our reasons for being here.
Moya Village testing day- by: Jeevon, Adam, Issayah, Glory, Kala
No Comments | Categories: Community Health Workers, HIV Support Groups, Newsletters, Prevention, Testing, Treatment Support, Volunteer Programs | Permalink | Manyara group’s extra project
Posted by johnson on Thursday, September 8, 2011 at 2:26 am
Now that the end of the SIC program is nearing, the Manyara group has been hard at work completing “special projects”. We are working hard to create Manyara village’s first HIV+ patients support group. After visiting several HIV+ patients in the previous weeks, we saw a real need in the community for support groups that would serve as a safe haven in which HIV+ patients can share their challenges and successes against HIV as well as ask for advice in a group of other patients. Because of the stigma against HIV in the community a huge source of stress on many HIV+ patients is the struggle to keep their statuses a secret. Many do not feel comfortable enough voicing their troubles. The goal is for the Manyara HIV+ support group to be a place where people feel safe talking about HIV surrounded by a supportive environment. The Manyara group hopes that the more comfortable the HIV+ support group feels about talking about HIV the more willing they may be to one day speak publicly and raise HIV/AIDS awareness. Another function of the support group is to raise money for a group emergency fund and to be used if a Manyara HIV+ patient needs emergency care and doesn’t have the resources to pay for it. Right now the SIC volunteers are working to fund and create a special project that will raise money and benefit the equipment necessary to make a village cell phone charging station. The station would have people pay about 400 TSh (40 cents) per phone and can charge up to 40 phones per day. Almost everyone in the village has a phone and there are only a couple charging places, so demand is high! The group has asked Baba Nema (Katie, Naki, and Idd’s Baba) if we would like to run the station at his home in exchange for free use of the panel plus a percentage of the profits. The rest of the profits will go into a bank account for the HIV+ patient group. One of the biggest challenges is raising money and finding local investors since the cost of the equipment is expensive. Our group has been learned a lot about team-work and communication during our SIC experience. If our hard work pays off and our goals are met we will leave Manyara village with an educated and motivated HIV+ patient support group equipped with an income generating project to help alleviate health costs associated with being HIV+.
Contributed by:
- Melina, Ali, Idd, Naki, Katie
No Comments | Categories: HIV Support Groups, Newsletters, Prevention, Volunteer Programs | Permalink | Daniel Craig-Farewell
Posted by johnson on Thursday, September 1, 2011 at 4:30 am
Daniel Craig, The former District Manger (Babati)
Dear Friends,
As my time with SIC sadly comes to an end, I want to take this opportunity to say a heartfelt thank you to everyone who I have had the pleasure of working with over the past two and a bit years. I have been incredibly lucky to have had this chance and I leave Babati and Tanzania a much richer person for the experience. The memories I have with SIC will last me a lifetime, and I can’t begin to express just how much I have valued your support and friendships along the way. I have learnt so much from everyone involved with SIC, and I depart assured that the commitment of those present and future will enable SIC to continue changing peoples’ lives through fulfilling its mission to lessen the impact HIV/AIDS in rural northern Tanzania.
Wishing you all every success and happiness ahead,
Written by: Daniel Craig
Greetings and mambo from Moya Moyoka
Posted by johnson on Tuesday, August 30, 2011 at 2:24 am
Moya Moyoka-Teaching Group
Greetings and mambo from Moya Moyoka; our new home amongst the elephants, monkey- inhabited mountains, and various national parks. When we first arrived here 3 weeks ago, our village families, Baba Felipo and Baba Lucy, warmly welcomed us. Since then we have come to call Moya Moyoka our temporary home. We look forward to our daily helpings of top-notch rice and beans (who knew we could come to cherish their daily spot on the table so much!). On our journey to and from school we are followed by packs of uniformed school children as if we are local celebrities, and we spend many an afternoon enjoying the view of dried up Lake Manyara where zebras roam in the distance from our unexpectedly “safi” (fresh) from lawn. Our typical post in the front yard of the village executive officer, has secured our position as the official neighborhood “wazunugu- chupa providers” (translation – foreigners water bottle providers) not that there is much competition. We are given boxes of 1.5 liter water bottles to drink and when we are finished with them the children take them to play with as toys, or to carry water or milk in. Neighborhood kids gather nearby from up and down the single dirt road to collect water bottles, and now with our added presence practice a bit of English. The post “rice and beans meal” afternoons spent on the lawn consisting of awkward “Swanglish” interactions and funny faces have become one of the many staples of our day. We squeeze in our lawn time between mornings of teaching with colorful posters, playing energizing activities, doing pathogen simulations at primary school and evenings of attempted cow-herding, cooking in the backyard with Mama and singing and dancing with our sisters and brothers (dadas and kakas). At night, under the bright African stars we hear moneys cooing nearby. Our time in Moya Moyoka has become more than just the SIC logos on our shirts. We have become part of the community; naming our favorite neighborhood kids, adventuring on a tractor ride through the jungle with our Baba, recognizing Mamas on the road that we taught, attending Sunday church ceremonies, and walking home for lunch everyday with our primary students. Saying goodbye to our students as we prepared to leave for our week off, were met with sad faces and “pole’s” (sorry). We must say we will miss them and their excited spirits in our classroom. I can’t imagine how hard it will be to say goodbye for good when we leave in 3 weeks.
Contributed by: Rachel Lindee, Kate Smith, Nema Hagwa, Drew Juhnkee, Gabriel Leonard
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