HIV Testing and Awareness Day

Had a great weekend! On Saturday, I went into Kakamega for a workshop about the Kenyan perspectives of aid – very interesting workshop. Many Kenyans believe that the country should not receive aid because it hinders their development. It causes Kenyans to become dependent on aid, and work less hard knowing they will receive donations regardless of their work effort. Plus, much of the aid is conditional and opportunistic (such as the U.S. expecting a reduced price for exports from Kenya). However, the Site Team and the rest of the interns agreed that aid is completely beneficial in emergency situations. For example, a government cannot sufficiently support its citizens during a famine and needs overseas food sources.

After the workshop, I met my host mom in Kakamega to go to her niece’s wedding. After waiting about two hours to find out that her son’s car had broken down, we picked up a matatu and arrived at the wedding with one hour left. Kenyan weddings are amazingly similar to American ones! The church service is in the morning from 8-11 and the reception lasts from 3 to 6. When asked why the reception is so early, my host mom replied that it gets dangerous to travel at night. The reception was in the backyard of the groom’s house, where about 5 tents were set up, balloons, and pictures of the bride and groom. The bride was wearing a white gown and all the groomsmen were wearing tuxes. Because we arrived with only one hour remaining, we were only able to witness speeches from the family and the cutting of the cake. The one main difference between a Kenyan wedding and an American one was the size. It is tradition for Kenyan weddings to be HUGE. Invitations are sent out to friends and family, but when the day comes, the entire village is welcome (apparently, many come just for the free food). So there were hundreds of people there! Some were dressed up very nicely, and others not so much.

On Sunday, two of my friends and I went to the HIV Testing and Awareness Day organized by my hospital! The volunteers organized it and schedule one every three months with music, games, and of course, HIV testing. After a short discussion amongst ourselves, we agreed to be tested, seeing that we can only truly be advocates of HIV testing once we ourselves are tested. (Don’t worry – it was completely sterile!) Afterwards, we watched tug-of-war, and then joined in for the bottle race. We were supposed to walk from one end of the soccer field to the other with a glass soda bottle on our head. Believe it or not, we lost MISERABLY. I could not even walk one foot with the bottle not falling off! Apparently, my hair is too “slippery.” Not too many people showed up (a total of 18 were tested), but it was a fun day nonetheless.

Here is me getting tested:

And Dylan, Matthew, and I preparing for the bottle race: