April training

Yesterday we had another meeting for our trip, though it was thankfully shorter because it was on a weekday. We all met around 6 and started out by doing an activity outside, while we still had light and a beautiful spring day to work with. While in Africa we'll teach a lesson on drugs and alcohol and one of our activities features some pretty powerful beer-goggles. They look like huge safety goggles and people wearing them look hilarious because their eyes seem huge and distorted. We each took turns putting them on and being spun around a few times, and then tried to slalom between colored dots on the ground. It was remarkably hard to do! I'm sure we all looked pretty ridiculous, stumbling around. Thankfully Ytevia took off her awesome high heels and wore Rebecca's slippers, otherwise we may have had to end the meeting there with a trip to the hospital.

We also demonstrated another little activity that compares reaction time while "sober" by catching a pen or marker that someone drops into your hand versus "under the influence", by sticking your hand in a bowl of freezing ice water. I was the brave volunteer for this, although I think a lifetime of living in Wisconsin has trained me better than most at functioning with frozen and numb hands.

Our second activity of the night was making "power dolls", which was also a lot of fun. Basically, you write a message to yourself down on a half-sheet of paper (a goal, a reminder of something you've overcome) and then you crumple that paper up into a ball. This is the doll's head. Using some fabric and yarn, you make the body around that. I can see why the kids will enjoy it.

In case you're wondering why a group of grown women were stumbling around with beer goggles and sitting around making dolls, I should mention that all of the activities we'll be doing with the kids at the actual camps we do here and now in Wisconsin. It's a good experience because it's easier to teach and lead an activity when you've done it yourself. Some of it is a bit silly, like making these dolls, but meanwhile we were discussing why we did this and how we were going to present it to kids there. It certainly makes me more comfortable with the prospect of leading these camps.

After that we moved on to some more discussion. We went over some information we'd been given on alcohol and drugs in South Africa. It's interesting to think about because the environment is so different there. Even in Madison walking home while drunk can be dangerous, but in South Africa walking home while inebriated along a dark, narrow road can be much worse. The beer goggle activity may sound silly, but we're hoping it shows these kids how hard it is to walk when you're not fully in control, because they'll be traversing roads where even a little stumble could put you right in the path of a vehicle.

After this was some review on HIV (and I love this topic so much that I'm sure I ended up being very annoying. I kept wanting to answer all of the questions I knew about!) and a discussion on safe sex and healthy relationships. The discussion kind of put us in the roles of the kids we'll be teaching later, in that Rebecca was asking us a lot of questions about what we think healthy relationships are and what to say to someone who is pressuring you into sex or unsafe sex. It's one of those topics that I'm sure we all know pretty well, but it takes some getting used to talking about it. It was a good learning experience because watching Rebecca try to draw more information out of us showed how we can do it for these kids.


I'd just like to mention here that I'm trying to raise money right now for AYO. I've set a rather lofty goal of $1000.00, but I really think that I can reach it. I mean, if I can get 50 people to donate $20 each, I'll get there with no problem... and I know I have at least fifty friends! Even $5 is an awesome step towards reaching my goal. All donations are tax-deductible. This is a new experience for me, because I've always had a problem "selling" things, even when it was for things people loved like Girl Scout Cookies. This is even harder because there's no tangible good, but the cause is so much more important to me that I just have to try.

If you're at all interested in donating any amount of money, you can do so online through my FirstGiving page here. If you don't like donating over the internet you can make a check out to African Youth Outreach and either mail it to me (e-mail me at mariley2@wisc.edu for my address, I don't feel right putting it on the internet!) or you can mail it directly to AYO at

African Youth Outreach
C/O Alexander Kendziorski
406 Sethne Court
Monona, WI 53716
USA

Just mention in the memo line that it's for Megan Riley. Thank you all so much for all of your help, and I hope you keep reading my blog!

My journey so far...

I've started this blog today, March 30th, but I've been working on this trip for months now, and thinking about it for months before that.

Applying

Last summer my friend Ken spent a month in Ingwavuma, South Africa with AYO. Now, as a student of microbiology and one especially fascinated by tropical diseases, I've always had an interest in volunteering in Africa. I've read books by people who spent years of their lives working with people and diseases there, and it has been a dream of mine to do something similar. After talking to Ken and hearing his stories about his trip, not to mention looking at his great pictures, I decided that I would really love to be a part of this group.

I applied in December 2008 and went in for my interview in January, on one of the coldest days of the year. It was my first introduction to the founders of the group, Rebecca and Alex. I was nervous at first, but their relaxed personalities put me at ease. I don't know how they thought my interview went, but it can't have been too bad because a few weeks later I answered a call from Rebecca telling me that I'd be going to Ingwavuma.

Thus began the rollercoaster...

March 8th - First Meeting

Our first face-to-face team meeting was on Sunday, March 8th, which was nearly a huge problem for me. The Thursday before I travelled with a small group from the marching band down to Indianapolis for the women's Big 10 basketball tournament. Everyone I knew and everyone on the trip fully expected a Thursday loss and to be returning on Friday, but the Badgers surprised everyone and pulled out two wins that weekend, extending my stay until Sunday morning. I felt bad, but I was relieved when they lost to Purdue on Saturday in the semifinal, meaning that I'd be home in time for the meeting. It's one of the things we've discovered: trying to coordinate schedules between 8 very different people is a task that borders on impossible, and always absorbs at least a half an hour of our meetings.

Even running on barely three hours of sleep, the meeting was fantastic. I met the rest of the volunteers, three of whom would be travelling with me to Ingwavuma (Marilee, Machiko, and Jessy) and the four who would be going to De Wildt (Annie, Marsha, Ytevia, and Mary). I was surprised that we were all women, and at the large age disparity in the group, but they are great people and we all got along right away.

After the traditional opening icebreaking exercise, we also discussed travel arrangements and spent an hour learning Zulu, which I loved. Igama lami nguMegan (My name is Megan). I'm sure I butcher it when I try to speak, and I'll probably be hopelessly lost in trying to understand them there, but I like to at least try to learn the local language when I travel.

March 29th - HIV education

Yesterday we had our second meeting and it went just as wonderfully as the last. Because of a mix-up with my friend I ended up taking a cab there, but it just demonstrated to me how great all of my teammates are, because as soon as they heard they all insisted that I could call them if I ever needed a ride again. As it turned out, Marilee and I live only a few blocks from each other, so we'll probably be carpooling.

The main topic of the meeting yesterday was learning about HIV and AIDS, which I loved. Much of it I knew, because of my microbiology classes, but it was all fascinating to me. The best parts were learning about the common myths about the disease, because it really emphasized how much work we had ahead of us. Some of the myths, such as that "having sex with a virgin will cure you of HIV/AIDS" or that "condoms or antiretroviral drugs cause/spread HIV/AIDS" may seem laughable to us, but are dangerously pervasive in the area. Obviously, we aren't going to be able to make everyone listen to and learn from us, but I'm anxious to try.

The Ingwavuma group also had another hour of Zulu instruction, while the De Wildt team started learning Tswana. Ngihlala eMadison (I live in Madison). We had a really tough time with the "hl" consanant, which is like trying to make the "sh" sound through your molars... or something. It's very tough to explain.

As it's getting late and this post is getting long, I'll leave you all with this link to the donation page for AYO. We have a huge task ahead of us, and every little bit that people can contribute helps immensely. If you choose to donate, feel free to send AYO an e-mail saying that it was on my behalf, or using my donation page here.