And the winner is ...

Last Friday I had the opportunity to go with a
fellow volunteer to a nearby village to participate
in an HIV/AIDS testing awareness campaign. In
fact it was an event that had a few dignitaries and
even the national television network on hand.
As stated above the campaign was to have people
come out to have an HIV test to allow them to know
their status. Many people don't want to know.
So my fellow volunteer organized a raffle to help
motivate the people to get tested. The grand prize
was the bicycle that you see in the above photo.
People who tested participated in the raffle.
The person in the picture isn't the actual winner. It
was his sister and she wasn't on hand to receive her
prize. There were a total of 80 prizes and it took some
time to get to the point that the bicycle was waiting
with the crowd full of anticipation and with hope.
The campaign lasted for 2 weeks and had a total of
405 people tested. The last year's testing statistics were
that of about 19 per month or 228 for the whole year.
So my colleague's campaign almost doubled that in
a 2 week span.
It was a truly festive day and it was great to be there
to witness. There were three cultural dance groups and
they were very good.
Of course the goal of the campaign was to have people
get to know their status and the reality of situation is
that there were 9 women and 5 men found to be positive.
Despite the festivities the sobering fact that these people
were found to be positive just again delivered the message
that HIV/AIDS is a serious part of life.
With knowing their status the people receive counseling
and ARVs if their CD4 count is in the range necessary
to begin taking them.
Over the years I have participated and witnessed many
projects from fellow volunteers and this one is just
another of the successful ones that Peace Corps
volunteers have done or are doing ... unnoticed
and in anonymity out in remote regions of the world,
only known to family and friends.
Many are doing tremendous work as my colleague has
done with her campaign.
For me it was just fun to be there.