Mwezi Mmoja (One Month)

Today, August 8, 2016, marks one month since my return to the U.S.A.  The two worlds that I have lived in lie in complete discord, and reconciling these differences is taxing.  The simplest things – crosswalks, food delivery, the size of onions – are bewildering.  Struggling to remember a simple English word, I’m often met with blank and unsympathetic stares.  Driving through the neighborhood streets that once were filled with the bikes, scooters, Hop-its, and laughing kids of my childhood, I see only locked doors and dark windows.  The neighbors who stop at home for conversation have dwindled to none.  I see people ambivalently detached from the paralyzing reality of approaching the election of a brash, xenophobic, failed business tycoon as leader of the free world.  Conversations erupt around me – plans about where to go out that night, vapid complaints about emails, gossip about new faces – and I fail to engage.  It’s not that I’m unhappy with where I am – the opposite is true.  Prolific, industrious, and altogether happy people in a place that they are deeply passionate about surround me.  Still, I’ve spent a lot of time reflecting and revisiting my decision to serve two and a half years ago.

One of the most difficult decisions of my life took place when two fantastic opportunities waltzed into my life within hours of each other.  I was offered admission to my top-choice medical school, followed closely by an offer to serve in the Peace Corps.  I faced an immense decision between two lifelong dreams.  Minutes felt like days as my thoughts raced, and my stomach somersaulted more than Gabby Douglas in Rio.  Eventually, I decided to have my cake and eat it too.  The medical school supported my decision, in essence allowing me to run free in the Peace Corps with the assurance that my seat would wait for me.

During my service, I felt pangs of regret a handful of times at my decision.  Now, however, upon matriculating, those pangs have become tangible.  Regardless of how warm and welcoming my peers are, it’s hard not to feel left behind seeing them two years ahead of me in their educations and in their careers.  Have I been left behind in life also, or am I living an existence more enriched?  One month ago, I would have told you that my service has enriched my life in a multitude of ways.  Today, the same is true, but the story is a bit more complex.  My service HAS enriched my life, and it is important to keep revisiting and identifying the ways.

Today, as I place my service in the context of my current life and in the context of my career, the world is still happening around me.  Today, I seek to engage in a life strikingly similar to my own before the Peace Corps, my heart seems far away.  Today, the first day of medical school lectures – what are amino acids again? – happened to me.  This month, meeting with old friends and encountering new ones happened to me.  Bills, budgeting, emails, schedules – these are also happening to me.  And, I guess it’s time to make things happen around me rather than happening to me.  It’s time to dive in headfirst, just as I did two years ago, renewed and ready to cope with the road ahead.

SKILLZ KILO!

In Tanzania, HIV/AIDS is a mind-boggling problem that few know how to tackle.  Many of my fellow PCVs in the Southern Highlands region of Tanzania serve in villages where 1 in 4 people is infected with HIV.

Let that sink in.

1 in 4.

All of these villages have received HIV/AIDS prevention education, life-saving anti-retroviral drugs, and counseling, and, thankfully, HIV infection rates have declined over the past ten years.  Still, the battle is far from over.  Grassroot Soccer is a South Africa-based nonprofit aiming to educate youth - changemakers of tomorrow - about HIV/AIDS through the one activity that really ignites passion in Africa - soccer.

Grassroot Soccer has partnered with Peace Corps Tanzania for a number of years now to empower and educate Tanzanian youth to stop the spread of HIV in their communities.  Zinduka, SKILLZ, and SKILLZ Girl are three projects that have been met with immense success in hundreds of communities in which PCVs serve.

Graduating from our Grassroot Soccer Training
October 2015, Iringa, TZ

In October 2015, two of my community counterparts, Wilson and Isaya, and I were selected to attend a training for SKILLZ in Iringa, Tanzania.  For both of them, crossing the country was a first - and what a journey it was!  Deciding to save money, and time, we opted to travel on the "local" style bus that would transport us there in one day.  6 am found us cramped together and bumping around on the rickety bus seats, 4 pm driving through an incredible national park in central Tanzania while sighting giraffes and elephants, 6 pm through endless stretches of pine forests, and 10 pm safely in our guesthouses on a cool night in Iringa.

From November - December 2015, we toiled to reach out to out-of-school village youth.  We successfully completed a SKILLZ intervention of 12 practices and a graduation.  Due to the multitude of challenges we faced along the way, we felt proud to graduate just seven youth.

Uswaa SKILLZ Graduation Ceremony that took place in my home - skits, speeches,
food cooked by the guys and gals, a playing-field cake, and even the Macarena!

My community counterparts, previously meek and apologetic, transformed into energetic but carefully calculated community forces.  In 2016, we organized con-current interventions with in-school youth at Uroki and Neema Secondary School.  This time, we knew what we were doing.

L: Pre- and post- student assessment is extremely important to measure our impact!

R: Signing a covenant is vital to the success of Grassroot Soccer

Check out the following picture snapshots of the amazing six months we spent with youth of

Uroki and Neema Secondary Schools.

Playing an activity called "Risk Field" - avoiding unprotected sex, multiple partners, older partners, and mixing alcohol and sex as demonstrated by dribbling around these obstacles.

A student favorite: a simple game explaining the science behind HIV immunocompromisation and the action of anti-retroviral drugs.

Playing HIV Limbo!

Grassroots Soccer uses soccer in addition to other games, as well as energizers and a positive, trust-building relationship between participants and their coaches to empower youth in Africa.

A shootout activity demonstrating the effectivity of male circumcision in reducing HIV transmission by 60%

I was overjoyed to receive this photo during a time when I had traveled with students -

my counterparts were confident and capable of running practices on their own :)

"Gender Stadium," an activity designed to foster vital communication between boys and girls.

In this photo, the boys in the inner circle are asked to answer a set of pointed questions, while girls

listen silently from the outer circle. When the girls get their chance to speak, they feel respected by their male peers, something unheard of for them.  This is an extremely powerful exercise to do in the traditionally patriarchal Tanzanian society

Coacher's Story: an amazing way to connect and gain trust of the students.  Every so often, the coaches share a real-life experience when they came face-to-face with risk for HIV infection.

Our much-awaited graduation celebration brought firsts for all of us.  The coaches were brimming with enthusiasm and pride of having graduated 60 changemakers at once.  Music, dancing, food, and guests of honor made it truly a day to remember for our young people.

1: Coach Wilson teaching an "energizer" to add fun in the day, 2: certificates presented by our Ward Counselour
3: A skit about HIV/AIDS infection, 4: a wonderfully choreographed dance to popular Tanzanian music

Required staples of the Tanzanian function: 1: cake fed to everyone, 2: presentation of cash if we've done our job right,
3: a proud party committee, 4: the necessary full group picture!

You can learn more about Grassroot Soccer here: http://www.grassrootsoccer.org/

Until next time!