Job Placement!

I woke up this morning to some great news from CCS!! I'll be working with a local women's group, Jipe Moyo women's group. The members of this group have all tested positive for HIV/AIDS and are learning to live with the virus. The women have all gone public and they must cope with the stigmatism that having HIV/AIDS brings. Teaching English and home visits are a large part of this volunteer placement, but I'll also be doing some of the following:

• Identify areas of cooperation with other HIV / AIDS groups.
• Advice the members on how best they can run their garden project.
• Share with them on areas they can support one another through creating other project.
• Share with the members on how best the community can be sensitized to accept the positive and do away with STIGMATISM
• Work with them and assist in Support Group
• Home Visiting and Home base care
• Educating the HIV/AIDS victims on how they can best live
• Fundraising for the sick
• Work with support group for women with HIV/AIDS
• Educate the community and individuals on free HIV / Testing.
• Counseling the affected

I'll get more details on my duties in the next couple of days, but for now, that's what I know. You can read more about the position and other volunteers placements by visiting the CCS women's group blog.

It's getting so close and becoming so real!!!

Back from my practice round!

I just got back in from what I've called my practice round of international travel. I went to Ireland for a long weekend holiday to see the sites in Dublin. Unfortunately, getting in to and out of Ireland was about the easiest air travel I have ever had, I'm not sure I got a good testing of the waters for the intense travel that is upcoming very shortly! The border security and customs process in Ireland was even easier than traveling into and out of Canada and Mexico. I guess I should bank on a rude awakening for my Rome, Italy to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to Nairobi, Kenya to Kilimanjaro, Tanzania in less than two weeks!

I'm getting really excited and have started talking to one of the other volunteers on the trip. She's from Pennsylvania and this is her first time doing something like this as well. We have exchanged a couple of emails and will likely talk on the phone sometime this week just to air out our excitement and jitters (or maybe I'm the only one with jitters!). Both are continuously mounting!!